M r* F ra n o ** Schoen-Neespaper Roo*
U n iv e r s ity o f Oregon L ib r a ry
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Seek Park
PORTLAND
___
Concordia wins downzoning
OBSERVER
Volume > Na. IS
Thursday, March 23, 197»
10c per cop
The Concordia Community Association
won a victory as the City Council voted
Wednesday to downzone property adja
rent to the Dekum Court public housing
project. The property, owned by the
Housing Authority of Portland, had been
zoned for multiple family dwellings.
The Concordia Community Association
became actively involved in 1975 when
H A P announced plans to build an addi
tional fifty units on the vacant ten acres.
When the Concordia Community Associa
tion objected to that proposal, H A P
agreed not to build. Then, in 1976, H A P
received permission from the U.S. De
partment of Housing and Urban Develop
ment (H U D ) to sell the property in order
to purchase other sites for public housing.
The Community Association took a
survey of residents in the area and found
that most preferred development of a
park. The second choice was develop
ment of single family homes.
When the pending sale by H A P became
public and the city expressed no interest
in developing a park Wally Priestley, an
active member of the C N A , wrote to the
City Council asking that the property be
rezoned so that apartment complexes
could not be built. This request was
referred to the City Planning Commis
sion.
The Planning Commission proposed
that the property be downzoned in
keeping with the remainder of the neigh
borhood which, with the exception of
Dekum Court, is single family homes.
H A P disagreed, claiming the land could
not be sold because of the cost of building
would make it disadvantageous for de
velopers.
A fter a heated hearing on December 5,
1977, the City Planning Commission
voted unanimously to recommend down
zoning to the City Council. On March
22nd, the City Council accepted that
recom mendation.
The new zoning (R5) permits one
dwelling on each 5,000 square feet. The
land can either be sub divided into 5,000
square foot or larger lots with a single
family dwelling on each lot or can become
a planned unit development (PUD ) which
permits clustering.
The Concordia Neighborhood Associa
tion now will return to its first goal
developing a park. "The neighborhood
has always wanted a park. When H A P
decided to sell and we had to stop and
insure that if we lost in our efforts to get
a park we did not get an apartment
complex instead Now that can't happen
so we can get back to work on the park,"
said one C N A member.
Al Batiste, C N A president, said work
to get the city to agree to a park will
begin immediately. "The site is a natural
place for a park. On nice days there are
families using it for picnics, elderly
people walk there, and the children use it
to play.” In recent years it has been a
neighborhood park and we intend to keep
it.”
Citizens organize against middle school
A group of Beaumont neighborhood
residents are organizing to oppose the
move to make Beaumont Elementary
school into a middle school.
Two years ago the community turned
down the option to chose a middle school
with a 62 per cent to 38 per cent vote, but
on March 18th of this year John Beck,
Principal of Beaumont, announced that a
series of meetings will be held to discuss
the possibility of forming a middle school.
Beck said in his w ritten statement that
if no changes are made, lower grade class
sizes will increase and some courses
offered for sixth to eighth graders will be
dropped. The second option, to change to
a homeroom program for seventh and
eighth graders, would result in split
classes for grades one through five and
dropping of some courses for upper
graders.
New Northeaat Y W C A School Age Päreet
Butler, left, discusse» Easter “get together"
parents A rae ta Allen, center, and Princess F unchess, right.
with young
Butler joins YWCA 'School age parent’ program
The journey from childhood to adult-
h<Mid is seldom easy, but for teenage
parents the transition is sudden and
sometimes overwhelming.
Yesterday
they were only children themselves;
today they have children of their own.
,
K special program to provide much
needed services to school age parents, in
operation for over three years at the
Northeast Y W C A . 126 N .E . Alberta, has
been given • big boost by the recent
appointment of Rose Butler as full time
roordiaator,
Ms. Butler, a life-long resident of
Northeast Portland, brings to the School
Age Parents program a wealth of exper
ience as an information referral specialist
for the Senior Citizen Center and a
parents. She also makes a
distinction between younger and older
counselor with the Residential Care Cen
parents in the program, which involves
ter, a group home for girls.
W ith Ms. Butler as a guide young ^ap proxim ately fifty girls. "Some of the
older girls have been in the program
parents meet - it athly to discuss mutual
since the beginning and they now have a
concerns, have social activities and go on
whole new set of problems. The older
field trips. Community resource experts
provide information on parenting skills,
girls will be planning their own activities
and 1 hope to recruit more younger girls."
job counseling, legal aid, nutrition, sex
Ms. Butler hopes to expand the pro
education and health.
For example, at the last “get together”
gram even more once she gets rolling
with perhaps more classes and child care..,,
on March 19th. Laverne Springer from
‘T h e re is a growing need for this
the Rape Victim Advocate program
program in this area. I know I have a lot
showed a movie and answered questions
of work ahead of me."
about this controversial issue.
For more information, call the N o rth
Ms. Butler said she is planning some
activities specifically for children and
east Y W C A , 288 5173.
PRS seeks advisory committee applicants
Applicants for nine adult and six
student positions, which will become
vacant June 90, 1978, on the three Area
Citizens' Advisory Committees, are cur
rently being sought by the PogJand
Board of Education. Three adult and two
student positions will be open on each of
the committees.
Nomination petitions for the nine two-
year adult positions are available in the
School District's Public Information O f
fice, 631 N .E. Clackamas Street, and at
Area Offices and local schools. Nominees
must be residents of the Portland School
District.
Adult applicants must be at least
eighteen years of age and a resident of
tire administrative area of the District
they wish to represent or have a son or
daughter attending a school within the
area they wish to represent.
High school students do not circulate
petitions but are selected by their stu
dent bodies.
Student members serve
one-year terms and must remain in good
academic standing.
Petitioners for adult community mem
ber positions must have signatures of
th irty adults residing in the area they
wish to represent. Petitions, along with
biographical information, are to be filed
in the Public Information Office before
5:00 p.m., April 14, 1978.
Student
nominations are to be filed in the same
office before 5:00 p.m., A p ril 7th.
A five-member city wide review panel
- appointed by the School Board on
March 13th - will compile a list of
qualified candidates from among the
adult petitioners in A pril and May and
make recommendations to the School
Board. The School Board will meet with
student nominees and review their quali
fications during the same time.
Announcement of the School Board's
appointments for both adult and student
memberships and a joint meeting be
tween the School Board and incoming,
outgoing and remaining committee mem
bers are scheduled sometime in June.
Each nine member committee repre
sents one of the three administrative
areas of the School District. Members
?dvise the area superintendents and
School Board on m atters relating to
educational programs, building needs and
school operations. The committees also
help identify educational goals and bud
get priorities.
Citizens Advisory Committees evolved
from the 1970 administrative decentrali
zation of the School District and are
designed to allow greater citizen involve
ment in education and to bring the
schools closer to the citizens and students
they serve. Advisory committees are
bound by policies, rules and regulations
of the School Board.
To date, no completed petitions have
been filed in the Public Information
Office.
Only a short time ago, moderates
seemed to have the upper hand in the
search for peace in the Middle East. But
that was before both Israeli and Palesti
nian hard liners were strengthened by
renewed fighting. This article analyzes
the new dilemnas facing President Carter
as Israel’s prime minister arrives in
Waahuigiun.
Jimmy Carter and Anw ar Sadat now
confront a new factor in the Mideaat:
Yasser Arafat and Menahem Begin have
become allies
allies against peace.
U.S. peace efforts long have encounter
ed the stiffest opposition from the Is
raelis. and the bitterest opponents of
President Sadst's peace initiative have
been his fellow Arabs. But with recent
events, the Israeli Palestinian opposition
to the Sadat-Carter peace efforts has
Its u med a pattern of synchronization.
Before the PLO raid on Israel, Begin
was on the defensive - both at home and
in Washington. Before the Israeli inva
sion of south Lebanon, A rafat was also on
the defensive. Today, thanks to each
other's actions, the prime minister of
Israel and the leader of (he Palestine
Liberation Organization have regained
both international and popular support
for their hardline policies.
They have reduced the pressures on
each other for compromise by deepening
the Mideast conflict. The terrorist nature
of the PLO attack, for example, was far
more important for the opportunities it
offered Begin than for what it accomplish
ed for the Palestinians. Had the PLO
attacked an Israeli m ilitary position in
the Occupied Territories, it would have
been widely accepted as a legitimate act
of war, and further undermined Begins
position by showing Israel's conquests as
a m ilitary, as well as diplomatic liability.
Instead, the PLO chose to give credence
to every one of Begin s assertions about
the terrorist menace by attacking civi
lians inside Israel’s pre-1967 borders.
Prime Minister Begin quickly recipro
cated with a major political favor for
Arafat. Israeli retaliatory air raids also
might have been accepted as an under
standable response to the PLO attack.
But by invading and occupying parts of
south Ijebanon, Prime M inister Begin in
turn strengthened all Arafat's claims that
Israel opposes peace and is an expan
sionist, militarist power.
The Certainties of War
Why should two leaders whose peoples
have suffered the most from the Mideast
conflict so oppose the peace plans of their
respective allies in Cairo and Washing
ton?
Since 1967. the Palestinians have suf
fered far more at the hands of the Arabs
than they have from the Israelis. Jordan,
Ixbanon and Syria all have tried to
emasculate the PLO.
The PLO des
perately fears that when President Sadat
speaks of “comprehensive peace," it
really is a code word for Arab abandon
ment of the Palestinian cause. The PLO
sees continuing war as the only way first
to retain Arab support, and eventually
regain at least part of th eir homeland.
One has only to visit Yad Vashem, the
memorial to the Holocaust in Jerusalem,
to understand Israeli fears. When four
Mideast wars and Menahem Begins
religious fundamentalism are superim
posed on that trauma, the consequence is
a preference for the certanties of confron
tation over the risks of compromise.
The Mideast conflict, however, always
has been a most understandable conflict.
The test of statesmanship, under such
circumstances, is not to resolve enigmas,
but to break down hostilities that are all
too comprehensible.
Jimmy C arter began soon after he took
office, by attem pting what no other
ITesident had dared a dialogue with the
Palestinians.
Behind the President's
equivocation over a "Palestinian home
land,” U.S. policy was clear.
The C arter Administration would deal
with the PLO and support Palestinian
self determination within the Occupied
Territories if the PLO , in return, recog
nized Israel's right to exist.
When President Sadat flew into Jen)
saiem, he carried a similar offer. Egypt
would deal with the Begin government,
and support Israel's right to exist if
Israel, in return, agreed to the principle
of Palestinian self-determination.
I t now is clear that both the Israelis
sions. "The Superintendent and the Board
have pledged that they will not create
middle schools unless they are favored by
the community. There is widespread
mistrust of the District. Perhaps D r.
Blanchard and the Board respond im
properly to community concerns and it
appears to the people that there is an
increase in arrogance and defensiveness.
There is a new sense of community parti
cipation and somehow the Board has to
reverse the present tendency of mistrust
and return control of the schools to the
people."
The Committee plans to make a motion
at Beaumont Sehools’s public meeting
that a neighborhood vote be taken belore
a final recommendation is made. That
meeting will be held at the school at 7:30
p.m. Public meetings are also scheduled
for April 4th, 5th and 6th at 7:30 p.m.
These predictions are based on the fact
that the number of students in the upper
grades are decreasing while the numbers
of lower grade students are increasing.
The’e are now approximately ninety
students bused to Beaumont from Sabin,
The “Citizens Committee to Retain
Beaumont as our Neighborhood K-8
School" met Wednesday night and elected
Mrs. Donna Frey as Chairperson. Com
mittee Chairpersons are: Telephone>(Ms.
Karen Masterson; Door-to-Door, 'M s .
Janice McKee; News media, John Rum-
pakis; Librarian of Information, Ms. M a r
ie Hanchez; and Picketing, Ms. Libby Hill.
Those present expressed a number of
concerns including the long range effects
of a change that would be made to meet
short term problems; the School District's
procedure for determining neighborhood
wishes; the future of Beaumont School if
the middle school plan is not accepted;
and the impact of a middle school on the
community.
The School Board policy is to promote
middle schools but not to force them onto
neighborhoods that are not in agreement.
John Rumpakis expressed the opinion
that if the community is to decide, “We
need to get everyone involved." Fears
were expressed that neighborhood resi
dents and business people who have no
children in the school will not be allowed
to vote.
One resident suggested, “I f Alameda is
bursting at its seams and is the largest
grade school, why not change the boun
dary with Beaumont if our enrollment is
King votes
The King Neighborhood Association
will hold its regular meeting on March
28th at 7:30 p.m. at King Neighborhood
Facility. The agenda will consist of re
ports on the Association's findings on the
proposed Nordstrom development plan
and a vote to accept or reject the plan.
All residents of the King neighborhood
are urged to attend and are eligible to
vote.
Begin and Arafat: Allies against peace
by T.D Allman
declining?"
" If it is a short term problem, a
scheduling problem, you can interchange
science programs. You don't need to
transport the students. You can transport
the teachers and the programs," Mrs.
Cleo Kumpakis said.
Other members were concerned about
the effect on the community. "How can
children have pride in their community
when one child goes to one school and his
or her brother or sister goes to one or two
other schools.” "Middle schools destroy
our sense of community.”
“You live in a community to be close to
everything - your office, your school,
your church". Attorney Alex Schneider
said.
School Board member W ally Priestley,
who attended the meeting, advised added
community involvement in school deci
and Palestinians have failed to rise to
these unprecedented overtures.
Menahem Begin, just after his first
visit to Washington, personally affronted
President Carter by authorizing new
Jewish settlements in tit* Occupied T e r
ritories.
Since then, in Washington,
Ismailia and Jerusalem, Begin has stone
walled every attem pt to open the road to
peace.
Yasser Arafat has had similar success
using similar tactics.
The terrorist
incident in Cyprus, whichever Palestinian
faction authorized it, was a calculated
effort to humiliate the Egyptian presi
dent before his own people. The PLO
raid into Israel was a premeditated
attempt to kill Sadat's peace initiative
entirely.
While Israeli and Palestinians hardline
tactics have succeeded, they amount to
an awesome failure of responsible leader
ship on both sides. Had Prime Miniser
Begin been capable of matching Sadat's
statesmanship, peace might truly be at
hand in the Mideast today. Had Yasser
Arafat arrived at the Cairo conference
with a comprehensive peace plan of his
own, rather than boycotting it, the
worldwide pressures for Palestinian self-
determination by now might be irresis
tible, even inside Israel.
Instead both leaders now are riding
high on the untamed forces of division
and hostility. The result is new proof
(Please turn to Page 2 Column 3)
FAYE W ATTLETO N
Planned Parenthood proxy visits
Faye W attleton, the new President-
designate of the nation's principal family
planning organization. Planned Parent
hood, will be in Portland for the Planned
Parenthood Western Region Conference,
March 27th 29th.
Headlining the con
ference will be discussions on the moral
and ethical implications of family plan
ning.
A t 34. Ms. W attleton becomes the
youngest President in Planned Parent
hood history, as well as the first woman,
and the first Black, to hold that position.
Ms. W attleton became interested in the
field of family planning the night she saw
a seventeen year old girl die of a botched
abortion at a Harlem Hospital. One of the
highest priorities of her presidency will
be "restoring access for the poor to safe,
legal abortion, so cruelly destroyed in
two-thirds of the states by recent Federal
and state actions limiting payments for
abortion under Medicaid." Other imme
diate priorities are “raising reproductive
and biology research and contraceptive
development to the highest level of the
nation's research agenda" and reducing
the incidence of teenage pregnancy.
Before being tapped as President, Ms.
W attleton served as Executive Director
of Planned Parenthood in Dayton, Ohio,
for seven and a half years.
She has
degrees in nursing from Ohio State
University, and Columbia University, is a
licensed midwife, is married, and has a
two year old daughter.
Other highlights of the convention are
an address by Governor Robert Straub
and a workshop on “natural family
planning." Two hundred delegates are
expected to attend the meeting at the
Benson Hotel.
At 9:00 a.m. on March 28th, a panel of
clergy and community leaders will dis
cuss the moral and ethical side of family
planning. Included on the panel will be
the noted local author, Ursula LeGuin,
who will present a philosophical feminist
viewpoint. Other speakers will represent
the Catholic, Mormon, Presbyterian, and
Jewish philosophies.
Governor Straub will address the
group at a noon luncheon on Tuesday,
March 28th. His topic will be women's
rights and reproductive freedom.
An alternative to the pill and other
contraceptives will be explained at a
workshop on March 29th, from 2:00 4:00
p.m.
Marsha McKay, of Portland's
Planned Parenthood, will describe the
ovulation method of family planning.
Also on the agenda for the three day
meeting are sessions on "holistic medi
cine," public affairs involvement, and
improving Planned Parenthood organize
tion.
I