Portland observer., March 23, 1978, Page 2, Image 2

Page 2
Portland Observer
Thursday. March 23. 1978
Job priority
We see the world
through Black eyes
Spend the money now-
not Inter!
?
The Ju v e n ile Law C enter is in d an g e r o f b e in g
te rm in a te d because it a nd the Board o f C ounty
C om m issioners cannot com e to term s on fin an ces
The C enter p ro vid e s le g a l counsel fo r ju v e n ile
o ffe n d e rs w ho do not have fu nd s fo r attorneys.
These young p e o p le are u su a lly ch a rg e d w ith
serious crim es — th e ft, b u rg la ry, car th e ft or assault.
The C enter not o n ly p ro vid e s th em w ith leg al
assistance to p ro ve th e ir inn oce nce if possible but
enters into the sentencing process.
The C enter han dles 960 cases o ye a r w ith three
attorneys. It contracted w ith the C ounty last year to
p ro vid e this service fo r $90,000 This year, in o rd er to
h ire a lo w clerk and to p ro v id e b etter services to
these young clients, the C enter asked fo r $124,000,
an increase o f a b o u t th irty percent. H o w e ve r, the
C ounty C om m ission has set a c e ilin g o f seven
percent on d e p a rtm e n t b u d g e t increases. So. the
C ounty has to ld the Law C enter to "ta k e it or leave
it " and the Law C enter has d e c lin e d to accept a
contract fo r less than it needs.
Unless the situ a tio n changes the C ounty w ill have
the o p tio n to fin d a n o th e r co ntractor w h o w ill
provide the service fo r less m on ey or to a p p o in t and
Day p riva te attorneys.
There is u na n im o u s o p in io n a m o n g the judges,
□ ro ba tion o ffice rs and o the r p ro fessio na ls th a t the
Ju ve n ile Law C enter is d o in g a trem e n d o u s |ob.
There is also fe e lin g a m o n g clien ts that the C enter's
services fa r exceed those o f p riv a te co u rt-a p p o in te d
attorneys. They have the interest a nd the e x p e rie n c e
in
ju v e n ile law to m a ke the d iffe re n c e
The
a d d itio n a l fa cto r is th e ir d e d ic a tio n to ke e p in g young
o ffe n d e rs o ut o f the system — the foster hom e, g ro u p
h o m e AAacLaren, O.S.P route
The C ounty dees, as usual, h ave p ro b le m s fin d in g
e n o ug h m oney fo r a ll the services it must p ro v id e
But w e b e lie v e this is one service th a t needs to c o n ti­
nue W hy go back to the o ld system th a t p ro vid e s
little o p p o rtu n ity fo r a yo u n g person w h o has taken
the first steps into a life o f crim e ? A w h o le lot o f
m on ey can be saved at a la te r d ate that w ill
o th e rw ise be spent on p o lice , courts and tails.
W hen w e see a co n tin u o u s stream o f yo u n g m en
t:n )e -in g O re g o n State P e nite n tiary a nd re a liz e that
no o n e 're c tify kn ow s h o w to " r e h a b ilita te " these
yo un g p e o p le to insure th a t th ey do not re m a in there
tor the rest of th e ir lives, $124,OCX) is little e n o u g h to
spend W e th in k the C om m issioners can fin d the
m on ey so m e p la ce if th ey re a lly m ake the e ffo rt.
PPS discriminates
There a re fe w v ia b le Black businesses in
P ortland There are m a n y reasons — lack o f c a p ita l,
h ig h costs, h ig h insurance costs, in a b ility to get
loans, lack o f business e x p e rie n c e and d is c rim in a ­
tion.
O ne e x a m p le o f a successful Black business is the
A m e rica n State Bank — a bank th a t has seen g ro w th
and d e v e lo p m e n t in the past fe w years
And one
e xa m p le o f d is c rim in a tio n is the Portland School
District's refu sal to do business w ith the bank.
Several years a g o the P ortland School Board voted
to use ASB as one o f its banks, a lo n g w ith several o f
the la rg e w h ite -o w n e d banks. The district o p e ne d a
checking a ccount a nd m a d e a sm all deposit. That
checking accou nt re m a in s o p e n — b ut is unused.
Last w ee k the School Board passed a $121.6
m illio n b u d g e t — and th a t does n ot inclu de m any o f
the fe d e ra l and special fu n d s A n d h o w m uch o f that
w ill go th ro ug h the A m e ric a n State Bank? You
guessed it! N ot one cent if w e can ju d g e by last year.
YEt some o f this m on ey — fo r e x a m p le , Title VII funds
— w o u ld not be a v a ila b le if th e D istrict d id n ot have
Black students But none o f this m o n e y com es to a
Black b a n k to h e lp b u ild the Black c o m m u n ity .
A ye ar ago, d u rin g th e b u d g e t m ee ting s, w e asked
School Board m e m b e r G ladys M cCoy to d e te rm in e
w h y the School District does not p ut som e o f its
m o n e y in ASB Just the ch e c k in g a cco u n t on the
fe d e ra l m o n e y w o u ld be s ig n ific a n t. She p ro m ise d
to lo o k into the m a tte r a n d also to see w h a t
a d d itio n a l a ffirm a tiv e a c tio n in flu e n c e the Board
c o u ld e xert.
A ye a r has passed, but n o th in g has h a p p e n e d .
This is yet a n o th e r e x a m p le o f the D istrict^
in d iffe re n c e to the Black c o m m u n ity .
'JotHi
Mr. Fantroy’s possible dream
taken fro m The W a shington Post
Ever since W a lte r E Fauntroy firs t to o k th e flo o r o f
the House as the D istrict o f C o lu m b ia 's lon e, voteless
em issary to Congress, he's had this im p o ssib le
d re a m : th a t so m e da y, tw o -th ird s o f the m em bers
w o u ld vo te to let the p e o p le w h o liv e h ere have
fu ll-fle d g e d senators a nd re p re se n ta tive s in C on­
gress. Fat chance, said those faceless "lo n g tim e
C ap itol H ill o b s e rv e rs ." But ye sterda y, thanks to Mr.
F auntroy's fa ith a nd fo o tw o rk -- a nd a superb
ca m p a ig n by the S e lf-D e te rm in a tio n fo r D.C. N a ­
tio n a l a n d local c o a litio n s -- the House d id say yes,
w ith a s o lid 289-to-127 vote. M o re o v e r, th e m em be rs
capped it w ith tw o e m o tio n a l sta nd ing o v a tio n s fo r
the te a ry -e y e d d e le g a te fro m th e District. It w as, as
House M a io rity Leader Jim W rig h t (D-Tex.) p ro c la im ­
ed e x u b e ra n tly , a "g re a t d a y in the history o f h um an
fre e d o m ," re fle c tin g the b e lie f that th ere is " n o such
th in g as a second-class A m e ric a n ."
W e ll, yo u c a n 't be sure a b o u t th a t -- fo r n o w it's on
to the Senate, w h e re th ing s a re a b it c lu b b ie r.
N evertheless, w e lik e to b e lie v e that most senators
to da y re co g n ize th a t the issue is not one o f p o litic a l
id e o lo g y , b ut o f g o o d d e m o c ra tic g o v e rn m e n t, o f
s o m e th in g that is rig h t. C e rta in ly the vo te in the
House re fle c te d th a t se n tim e n t, w ith support co m in g
fro m 228 Dem ocrats a nd 62 R epublicans fro m a ll
points on the p o litic a l spectrum .
In a ny e ve n t, b e fo re the Senate b eg in s serious
c o n s id e ra tio n o f the m easure, a b rie f tim e -o u t is in
order, w e subm it, to th an k those w h o w e re
in stru m e n ta l in b u ild in g the im pressive House vote.
The su pp ort o f President C arter, V ice President
M o n d a le a nd the le a d e rsh ip o f th e House w as m ore
than lip se rvice; the a d m in is tra tio n lo b b ie d in te lli­
g e n tly a n d d ilig e n tly , as d id R epresentative Don
Edwards (D -C a lif ), c h a irm a n o f the su bco m m itte e
h a n d lin g the re s o lu tio n , and flo o r m a n a g e r; J u d i­
cia ry C o m m itte e C ha irm an Peter W. R odino Jr.
(D -N .J.); a nd , a m o n g the R epublicans, John H all
Buchanan Jr. o f A la b a m a a nd Robert M cC lory and
Tom R ailsback o f Illin o is .
W ith th a t as im p etus yesterday, a cross-section o f
senators — In c lu d in g Edward M . K ennedy (D-M ass.),
Birch Bayh (D -Ind ), C harles McC. M a th ia s Jr. (R -M d.)
and Barry M G o ld w a te r (R -A riz.) — sign ed a "D e a r
C o lle a g u e " le tte r u rg in g Senate a p p ro v a l o f the
re s o lu tio n .
In th e ir letter, th e senators rig h tly
e m p ha size that a ll the le a d in g c o n s titu tio n a l scholars
w h o te s tifie d b e fo re the House hea rin gs said they
fo u n d no c o n s titu tio n a l p ro b le m s in le ttin g the District
have tw o senators.
W hat it b o ils d o w n to, the senators' letter rig h tly
notes, is a m atte r o f su p p o rtin g a "fu n d a m e n ta l
p rin c ip le o f justice fo r the citizens o f th e n a tio n 's
c a p ita l." That is h o w so m an y A m e rican s th ro u g h o u t
the n a tio n have rea cted w h e n app rise d o f the
D istrict's d is e n fra n c h is e m e n t; th ey re co g n ize the
w rongness o f ta x a tio n w ith o u t re p re se n ta tio n , and o f
e x c lu d in g the p e o p le o f the District from p a rtic ip a ­
tion in im p o rta n t n a tio n a l decisions. The in c re d ib ly
lon g e ffo rt fo r fu ll re p re s e n ta tio n — h a v in g com e this
fa r — sh o u ld not w in d up crushed by an insensitive
Senate
The |ob needs to be fin is h e d this year.
P ortland O b server
Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company. 2201
North Killingsworth. Portland. Oregon 97217 Mailing address:
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Second Class Postage Paid at Portland. Oregon
The Portland Observer's official position is expressed only in
its Publishers column 'We See The World Through Black
Evesl. Any other material throughout the paper is the opinion
of the individual writer or submitter and does not necessarily
reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer.
A U REI» I,. HENDERSON
Edilor/Publisher
National Advertising Representative
Amalgamated Publishers, Inc.
New York
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Honorable Mention
Herrick Editorial Award
N N A 1973
Just how high a priqpty the Admini
stration and the Congress give to assur
ing jobs for all who want to work is in
doubt.
The President unveiled his request for
a continued public service jobs program
recently, and while It contains many
positive features it stops short of making
full employment the nation's number one
priority.
The Administration wants the public
service jobs program extended to 1982,
and for the first time is asking for a basic
minimum public service jobs commit
ment. It wants at least 100,000 such jobs
in each year through 1982. and would tie
creation of more jobs to the unemploy­
ment rate.
The idea is that for each half a
percentage point that unemployment
goes over four and three-quarter percent
of the work force, the government would
create another 100,000 jobs.
It makes sense to tie federal job
creation levels to the unemployment rate,
hut the figures just don't add up. Right
now, there are 725,000 public service
jobs. But if the formula the Administra­
tion is asking for were in effect, it would
mean only about 400,000 public service
jobs.
So a plan to have a basic minimum of
public jobs is good, as is the built-in
pes
Founded TM6
escalator clause of increasing the num
bers of those jobs as unemployment rises.
But the formula doesn't provide any­
where near the numbers of jobs it should.
And that becomes even more apparent
when we realize that the current level of
725,000 jobs is far from adequate. It
provides work for only about a tenth of
the unemployed.
The A F L -C IO has issued a call for
sharply expanding the numbers of public
service job*.
M y own view is that
doubling the number to about one-and-a
half million in the coming year would do a
lot to alleviate unemployment and to
improve public services at the local level.
But the Administration is only asking
Congress to maintain the 725,000 level in
the coming year - no increase at all. If
that stance is based on the recent drop in
unemployment rates, It's wrong. Black
unemployment actually increased in 1977,
while white joblessness fell.
Without
those public service jobs. Black unem
ployment would have been even higher
last year, just as it is bound to increase
this year unless more vigorous action is
taken.
One encouraging initiative in the Presi
dent's job proposal is his plan for creating
local Private Industry Councils to provide
about 100.000 job training slots in the
private sector.
Important as public employment is,
especially in the short run, the private
M AR CH 9 |P N S | - When the nation's
coal miners voted down the second con
tract proposal, their primary concern -
more than salaries - was safety.
Coal mining is still America's most
hazardous occupation. Roof falls, mine
gas ignitions and the dismembering crush
against rock of an errant machine remain
an integral part of the miners' job.
Since 1970 more than 1,000 coal miners
have died of work related causes and
another 125,000 have been injured. Each
year a working miner faces a one-in-eight
chance of suffering an injury.
The fatality rate of U.S. miners is still
roughly seven times the average for
workers in all American industries. And
the amount of time miners lose as a result
of injuries is nearly ten times the national
average.
Despite this record, however, the
proposed contract would have weakened
the safety protections the miners cur­
rently have - mainly by weakening the
miners' right to strike. According to the
proposed contract, disagreements over
safety would have to go through the
grievance procedure.
Thus if miners were to go out on strike
in a safety dispute and an arbitrator
subsequently ruled against them, “They
would be subjected to discipline,'’ says
Tom Bethell, former director of the
United Mine Workers' research depart
ment and a leader in the Miners for
Democracy movement. "So it compro
mises a right miners have had since
1947.“
The contract the miners rejected also
would have made it easier for companies
to get rid of troublesome safety commit
teemen, would have made it more diffi­
cult for the union to act quickly to correct
safety dangers and would have narrowed
the circumstances under which a miner
may refuse to work because of poor
safety conditions.
Nor has federal law succeeded in
insuring miner safety. Congress passed
the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety
Act in 1969 and Nixon signed it into law
only after miners threatened a nation
wide strike. But enforcement of that Act
nas been poor, largely because the
Mining Enforcement and Safety Admini­
stration that was created to administer it
has been dominated by political appoint­
ees and former industry personnel.
Indeed, as Common Cause charged in a
recent study. "Three assistant admini
strators in the Mining Enforcement and
Safety Administration came from copper
or coal mining companies." One of these
three has now become a vice president
for Pittston Coal and the top safety
lawyer in the agency recently resigned to
accept a position with the American
Mining Congress, an industry organiza
tion.
The Carter transition team criticized
the assistant secretary for energy and
minerals who supervised mine safety
enforcement in the Nixon-Ford admini
strations, declaring that. “In the past four
years, the assistant secretary has not
supported the (M E S A ) program and has
delayed or obstructed efforts to improve
mine safety programs."
But the C arter Administration has
done little to change the situation. Only
recently did it begin actively considering
people for appointments in the mine
safety program, and thus high-level posi
tions are still in the hands of "acting"
personnel.
Other countries, however,
have done much more to insure their
miners' safety.
There is also a greater emphasis on
production in the U.S. than in Great
Britain, where the average daily output
per miner is only two to three tons,
compared to eight to nine tons in the U.S.
The IIM W argues that slower, more
careful work habits are required to
protect workers' health and safety. But
the mine owners are determined to boost
worker productivity, which has fallen
from fourteen tons per worker day in
1965 to 8.5 tons in 1976, according to the
General Accounting Office. Consequent
ly, the mine owners have called the
"production incentive plans,” which union
officials believe would create "extremely
dangerous" mine safety conditions.
There is also greater emphasis on
safety training in Great Britain. “There
it's a m atter of months rather than hours,
as it is here," says L. Thomas Galloway,
an attorney with the Center for Law and
Social Policy who specializes in coal mine
health and safety.
In fact, new coal
miners in the U.S. frequently have
received no formal safety training what
soever.
Beginning March 9th, however, federal
legislation will require a minimum of
forty hours training for all new miners.
“It's a first faltering step," says Gallo
way. "And we're still far behind West
European nations."
Yei, even with better federal legisla­
tion. Galloway insists that "federal in­
spection people can never substitute for
the right of miners to withdraw" from a
situation they believe is unsafe.
He
pointed out that federal inspectors are in
the mines only three percent of the time.
Consequently, he says, “Workers must
have the right to withdraw from the
mines. And they must be protected from
employer reprisals once they withdraw."
But so far the mine owners have been
unwilling to agree with that, insisting on
penalties in the event of "unwarranted"
strikes.
In Great Britain, for example, miner
fatality rates are between a quarter and a
half what they are in the U.S. Great
Britain relies almost exclusively on long
wall mining -- a technique that protects
workers from cave-ins by having a big
machine collapse the tunnel immediately
after mining.
This safer technique, which requires a
substantial capital investment, has gain
ed widespread acceptance in Great Bri
tain because the British coal industry is
under national control and depends on a
relatively few mines, each of which is'
I Steven Schneider monitors energy
quite large. In the U.S., however, where
the industry is still characterized by policy for the Ford Foundation-funded
many small mines, the private companies Third Century America Project and
that own them have been unwilling to Pacific News Service.)
make the investment required for long
wall mining.
Begin and A rafat
(Continued from Page 1 Column 61
social divisions deepen: in which exas
that in the Machiavellian world of inter
perated U.S. policy makers grow more
national power politics, there is no such the Arabs grow wealthier, more populous
thing as a reliable "client."
Today and more powerful: in which Israeli's
President Sadat in many ways is less subject population grows larger and more
powerful in determining questions of war resentful while Israel's own economic and
and peace than the PLO, and Israel has and more “even-handed.”
the power
and will - to frustrate any
Both President Carter and President
U.S. peace plan.
Sadat have made extraordinary efforts to
The tragedy is that short-term success make these dangers understandable to '
for both Arafat and Begin may spell
Israelis and Palestinians alike. Carter no
long-term disaster for both Israelis and doubt will try again during Begin's latest
Palestinians.
mission to W ashington. But politics is the
Current PLO doctrine, one of short
art of the possible, and as President
term despair and long-term optimism, Sadal reconsiders his position in Cairo,
holds that, with Israel adamantly oppos
and President C arter copes with Prime
ing Palestinian statehixxi of any kind, the Minister Begin in Washington, the advo­
struggle must continue until Israel's own cates of peace must confront a terrible
"contradictions" make a settlement in
prospect.
escapable. But this strategy risks both
This is not just that the proponents of
endless Palestinian defeats at Israeli confrontation now have the upper hand.
hands, and the Arab repudiation the
Palestinians fear so much.
Current Israeli policy is based on
short-term optimism, but it leads to an
'n Tri—County
abyss Prime Minister Begin currently
has decided that Israel now is both
militarily and diplomatically supreme,
O fh* r
and neither can be persuaded nor coerced
into a settlement. But each year without
peace for Israel is another year in which
$7.50
but thal peace n. v simply may not be
possible in the Mideast.
If true, this is a situation filled with the
gravest implications not merely for the
Palestinians and the Israelis, and for the
political futures of both Presidents Sadat
and Carter, but for the United States and
the whole Arab world. And the peril now
is even more troublesome because in both
Cairo and Washington, a truly admirable
preoccupation with peace has prevented
much serious consideration of the crises
that must inevitably flow from a renewal
of war.
(T.D . Allman has w ritten on the M id­
east for Pacific News Service, “New
T imes.” “The la>s Angeles Times," “The
Guardian" and “Le Monde diplomatique."
His analysis of ‘The Palestinian Dilemma'
appears in the current issue of “Harper's
Magazine, of which he is Contributing
Editor. |
Aroa
$8.00
Name
2nd Place
Best Editorial
3rd Place
Community Leadership
ONPA 1975
sector is where most of the jobs are, and
it is there that much remains to be done.
The Administration will foot much of the
bill for the private sector job training -
it's asking for $400 million.
Private sector spokesmen have been
eloquent in expressing their concern
about involving private industry in job
creation. Here's a chance for industry to
show it can respond creatively to the
challenge of training and employing the
unskilled and the jobless.
The proposed job legislation, along
with the Humphrey-Hawkins Bill, will
determine whether the Congress is going
to act responsibly to put the country on
the road to full employment.
Swift passage of the Humphrey-Hawk­
ins Hill is a must
it will provide the
planning mechanisms and the clear goals
needed for development of a full : :.iploy-
ment economy. Revision of the Admini
stration's job package to increase
the numbers of public service jobs and to
improve some of the technical shortcom
ings in the plan is also essential.
The Administration has shown itself
responsive to pressure and has taken
steps to deal with important national
problems. Congress, however, has been
subjected to far less pressure and has not
exerted itself on behalf of desperately
needed social legislation. Now it has the
opportunity and the responsibility to do
so.
The survival factor: Why the miners didn’t settle
" F r ie n d ih ip n n o t to be
bought at a fair."
Thomas Fuller
"W ho ever gossips to you
w ill gossip o f y o u ."
Spanish Proverb
MEMBER
M W A
1st Place
Community Service
ONPA 1973
by Vernon Jordan
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