Portland Observer Thursday, Oeeemher 29. 1977 Page 3
From behind the wall
by Larry Beker *35021
O.S.P. Ce
f
There come» a "special evening" once a
year, when men wearng skins of black
neaa cannot afford to think thoughts such
as selfishness, hate and hardship. Men
who have been incarcerated by the State
of Oregon and are always under the
watchful eyes of guards, cameraa and gun
towers.
Neither can these men allow their
minds to become clouded with prejudiced
memories of the inflictions over the years
received by their families and “roots": as
their voices softly sing such songs as,
“Come All Ye Faithful," instead of "We
Shall Overcome." Where such lyrics as
"l‘m Dreaming of a white Christmas, just
like the ones I used to know," become
more important than just words.....but a
reality.
Nor can they afford to spoil the
beautiful, priceless picture that has taken
many hands, of many different colors, to
paint - in order to canture the slightest
reflecUQft pi - • childs simple smile.
This prison reporter will not attempt to
re write this Christmas story, or even
how it was first created - only that such
an event did occur, commencing at 6:45
p.m. on December 16, 1977.
No, it would not be fair to those
inmates, such as the O.S.P. Black Culture
Club President, his Business Manager,
Project Director, Joe Brown, and many
others, who spent many hours feverishly
working throughout prior months to
bring this night of “joy to the world” to
fifteen lucky youngsters ranging between
five and eleven years of age.
It would be impossible for this Corre
spondent to recapture the sincerity given
in the opening speech by Mrs. Susan
Forkner, who was called upon at the last
moment to replace the guest speaker.
It is hard to relate the emotional
message John Akin gave, as his lovely
wife sat in the audience reminiscing
about similar moments when he spoke to
his own children with such gentleness.
Nor could enough words of praise be
found to thank those who also contri
buted with toys, bikes, food and money.
Or to the prisoners and their Black Santa
Claus, played by Harold Hemmick, who
brought laughter to the fifteen children of
all colors and selected by the Oregon
Human Resources Division.
This wasn't newsworthy enough for
coverage by many of the local newspap
ers and TV stations (who had been
invited I - or would such news destroy the
stereo typed public image of the convict
ed Black criminal - of how to take but
never give. This Reporter knows fifteen
smiling childaen who will debate such a
subject, along with a handful of prison
officials and staff. Each and every human
being in that room gave something of
themselves, be it in the manner of a gift, a
speech, applause, or just being in atten
dance. It would be very hard to forget
the night of December 16th as the clock
struck 9:00 p.m. and "Jingle Bells" was
played as signal for the close of the
evenings festivities.
If this beautiful O.S.P. Black Culture
Club's "Operation Love" Christmas story
is to be. then may it be written through
out the coming year many times. By
those who were responsible in placing
priceless smiles on those childrens' lips,
as their eyes showed happiness and
repeated over and over. "Thank You."
Children who have yet to gain such
meanings of selfishness, hate, fear and
prejudice. May their "special moments"
on Christmas be an everyday affair.
And then again, who knows? Maybe
this full and complete Christmas story
"Operation Love T T will never be
written by anyone. How many people
want to actually believe or read the hands
of thieves had once touched the hearts of
children inside the walls of a prison? Or
better yet, that the Christ Child gave
birth in a manger in a little town called
Bethlehem?
Billv Whitmire «39007
On the night of December 22nd the
walls of the Oregon State Penitentiary's
visiting room felt, saw and tasted the
many heartfelt expressions from inmates,
prison officials, staff members and their
wives.
The savoring of the yearly
Christmas Program came to a close, after
many weeks of devoted practice from the
inmates at O.S.P.
It all became possible because of Mrs.
Raymond Helseth - through her faith,
patience, professional guidance, and
especially through her love for people.
Miriam Helseth. the wife of the de
voted Protestant Chaplain at O.S.P., had
spent many hours arranging the Christ
mas Program.
OR
60 DAYS IN THE HOLE
Depressed? You could say that I have now
Enter a stage of irreversible depression of
idiosyncrasies necessitated in the soundless
rhapsody of life - like
Strains of noteless melodies filtering through
Corridors of my mind in a continuance flow.
No nonsense, non-stop as the heart thump.
thump/ping, like the tick lock tick/tag of a
clock - wanting, needing to stop - but can't -
A butt laying in the corner thrown in a fit
of frustration in attempts to understand elements
of these surroundings, like a child’s toy top I
spin a wooden ashtray on the cement floor of
my cage and listen to the drip, drip, drip/ping
of a leaking faucet -- While asking the dreadful
question - am I dead, am I really dead? And if
So, then in here the dying are very much alive -
As alive as Joe; that's the name I gave to a
cockroach crawling down the wall in my cage last
night just before sending him or here to where ever
dead cockroaches go; and Jeff next door just sent
his lunch down the john searching for Joe.
While back and forth, back and forth - pacing, a symphony,
the eternal dilemma of loud words converging within
the core of my brain, seeking union with the tongue
and lips, and...conversation is really a poor means
of existence in here - so I’ll just be silent without,
making noice within - reach/ing.
by Julius D. Saewdea «36013
American State Bank
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Oregon State University engineers
have been enlisted by the U.S. Energy
Research and Development Administra
tion to help tap the hydroelectric power
potential of streams so small that they
were largely ignored until the present
energy crisis.
Coastal streams are seen as particular
possibilities for such small hydroelectric
plant developments in Oregon.
With a new $61,180 grant from ERDA,
three OSU electrical engineers will help
study the “Cost of Controls for 'Small'
Hydroelectric Plants” during the next
year.
The envisioned plants would be so
small that they would be instrument
controlled, says Pieter A. Frick, project
leader. “For such small site hydroelectric
plants, the presence of an operator could
not be financially justified," he explained.
The small plants have big combined
potential though, says Frick, "plus some
big technological problems that need
solving before the plants can become a
reality."
A recent report to President Carter
from the Army Corps of Engineers
indicated that 159 billion kilowatt hours
of electrical power could be obtained
annually from such installations in the
United States, saving about 727,000
barrels of oil per day, Frick noted.
This is the equivalent of 843 Bonneville
Dams.
'
The Corps of Engineers project identi
fied hundreds of undammed streams that
are potential candidates for small site
hydroelectric power generation, accord
ing to Frick. Some new, secondary sites
on rivers with existing dams could be
considered also, he noted, if “the usual
environmental and the unusual technolo
gical problems involved can be solved."
large hydroelectric plants generally
have “only relatively small variations in
flow and head and have a human operator
present to combat malfunctions and un
usual circumstances,” Frick said.
PORTLAND
CLEANING WORKS
lENOW'S
Inmates prepare for Christmas Party. Deone Washington, George Nul.ta, Richard
Bradbury, Mark Garrison [with guitar), and Ed Bradsaw [at piano|
and wished the evening could have been
open to the public.
Mrs. Whitley, wife of Prison Captain
Harl Whitley, expressed her enjoyment
of the beautiful evening. Many of the
inmates and correction officers were
asked to give their views of this Decem
ber night - many felt that not only
through the Christmas program, but
through other holiday programs the
inmates could give of themselves in a way
that could be beneficial to all. Not only
"Behind the Walls" but in society upon an
individuals release.
Prisons need to be an accepted part of
something humane, and such programs as
these have given the men a beautiful
chance to begin the destruction of the
“communications barrier” between the
two “societies.”
The evening was brought to a close by
O.S.P.’s Catholic Chaplain, Father Mike
Spauer.
Father Spauer closed with
scripture from Isaiah 61:1-2:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me;
Because the Lord has annotated me to
preach good tidings unto the meek; He
has sent me to bind up the broken
hearted, to proclaim Liberty to the
captives, and the opening of prisons to
them that are bound.
‘T o proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord and the Day of Vengence of our
God, to comfort all that mourn.”
And truly this is what Christ’s Birth
day. Christmas, is all about, for He has
done just this from the day of His birth
1 would personally like to extend my
thanks and deep appreciation to all those
who made it possible for this evening to
be such a great success. To the men who
devoted many hours of practice for this
evening.
And a special thanks to Mrs. Raymond
Helseth for making it all possible - for
her love and devotion to such a worthy
cause.
I feel in my heart that all 71 of the
people who witnessed this Program
walked away with a greater love and
respect for each other, for Jesus, the
total reason above all reasons why this
event happened. May God, our Father,
receive glory for ever more.
Merry Christmas and a Joyous New
Year to ail of you.
Congratulations
PORTLAND OBSERVER
for seven years of service
to the community
A lb erta Polk
OSU engineers study dam sites
OCTOBER 26 - DECEMBER 24
2737 N .t Union
The music that was chosen for this
night of unity ranged from “Silent Night"
to "little Baby Boy.” The many solos tnd
the choir brought forth the message that
Christ, our Savior, was born and brought
to those who were present a celebration
in the true spirit of Christmas.
Chaplain Raymond Helseth gave the
greetings and invocation. Chaplain Hel
seth participated in the bass section of
the choir and spent many hours practic
ing with the choir. “His efforts were of
great help," was the response of many of
the inmates.
Especially moving were the solos sung
by a Black Christian Brother, Deone
Washington; Ed Bradshaw was the
pianist. Under the conduction of Mrs.
Helseth they set a mood of total silence
within the room. And true to the old
saying. “Silence has the loudest voice,"
the audience, myself included, received
one of the most powerful Christmas
messages ever put forth in song “Behind
These Walls."
Harold Knudsen, an inmate of highly
skilled professional musical talents, play
ed both the organ and piano, at the same
time - Knudsen voiced his feelings of
music communication to the soul of man,
“One of the greatest forms of communi
cation there is." he said.
Mrs. Winnie Coombs, from McMinn
ville, Oregon, a guest and friend of the
Helseths'. was deeply touched by the
communication and related, “This is one
of the most exciting evenings I’ve ever
spent. Simply beautiful."
This of course was the purpose of the
evening; and with great success.
The inmates at O.S.P. have seen the
need for communication between them
selves and prison officials. In past years
this has been a problem in many institu
tions and it is through this type of
program that the barriers between the
two “societies" can be bridged.
Especially moving is the knowledge
that Warden Hoyt C. Cupp is aware of
the inmates desire to relate and work
with him to “bridge this gap of non-com
munication." Mr. Cupp voiced his insight
into the two-fold purpose of this joyous
night. He was extremely sensitive to the
humane and giving of ones self.
Mr. J.C. Kenny, Assistant Superinten
dent at O.S.P., voiced his opinion of the
evening as, "a tremendous performance,"
l '
NORTH a N X PORTLAND
O N I DAY S U V I «
“With the small plants being eyed,
there would be no human operator 'on
duty and there would be large variations
during the year in volume and head
(pressure and drop)."
The OSU challenge is to develop more
complete and accurate mathematical mo
dels for depicting the automatically-con
trolled operation of the small hydroelec
tric plants.
‘The optimal control of multiple small
site hydroelectric plants on the same
river poses an extremely difficult prob
lem and only partial solutions are expect
ed in the one-year time frame of this
project," Frick observed.
But he sees great potential for the
small plants if the technological problems
can be met through an intensive national
research effort. The USSR and European
countries are far ahead of the U.S. in such
small site developments, Frick added.
"We have tended to concentrate on major
hydroelectric installations in the past but
the energy shortage is forcing us to
pursue other possibilities now.”
In large generation plants, the capital
coat of the electrical and control equip
ment constitutes “only a very small
fraction of the total construction cost.
The proportion would change dramatical
ly for small plants,” the engineer empha
sized.
“In Oregon, the coastal streams tend to
have maximum flow a month or two
before the Columbia River," Frick point
ed out. "That in itself is a strategically
important factor in the overall energy
supply outlook for the state and North
west.”
Some selected smaller streams in other
parts of the state also could have de
velopmental potential as well, he conti
nued. “The U.S. Midwest is considered a
prime area for such developments," he
added.
Frick is an applied mathematician
within the electrical engineering profes
sion and will head the work on mathema
tical modeling that Is a key in bringing
the development of effective and efficient
automatic controls. Working with him
will be two other electrical engineering
professors, G. Corwin Alexander and
John F. Engle, whose specialities focus on
electric power generation and transmis
sion.
Several other U.S. universities and
research agencies were awarded grants
to work on other phases of the develop
mental program.
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