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Safety week
Bus safety concerns parents
PORTLAND
O B S E R /E R
Volume 8 No. «1 Thursday, October 12,1978 10c per copy_______
Gilcrease indicted, ’not guilty’
After five years o f persecution, the
time for prosecution has arrived.
Cleveland
Gilcrease,
former
executive director of the Portland
Metropolitan Steering Committee,
has been indicted by a federal Grand
Jury for allegedly rigging his election
to the presidency of the National
Association for Community Devel
opment.
Gilcrease has been under in
vestigation since 1974 for such
charges as purchasing a tape deck for
PMSC’ s leased station wagon,
buying an unusual number o f pens,
flying first class, etc. After numerous
audits by federal agencies and
private auditing firms and an in
vestigation by the FBI, no evidence
worthy o f prosecution was found.
Sidney Lezak, U.S. Attorney, later
told the Observer that in light o f the
activities o f white men in similar
positions, the charges made against
Gilcrease were petty.
“ Yesterday's indictment charges
Gilcrease whith manipulation o f the
1975 and 1076 NACD elections by
purchasing memberships for persons
and having the ballots mailed to cer
tain addresses. Then the ballots were
allegedly taken to the PMSC office
and marked for him.
Gilcrease's problems with the
press and the resulting investigations
came to a head shortly after he was
elected to
head NACD,
an
organization that lobbies for anti
poverty funds and programs for the
poor. Many o f Gilcrease's suppor
ters believe that he, like other Black
officials, is the target o f a conspiracy
and that he was targeted both be
cause he controlled millions of
federal dollars and because he was
one of a group of poverty program
directors who were able through a
law suit to block Richard Nixon’ s ef
forts to dismantle the Office of
Economic Opportunity (War on
Poverty).
Many o f Gilcrease’s supporters
believe that he, like other Black of
ficials, is the target of a conspiracy
and that he was target both because
he controlled millions o f federal
dollars and because he was one of
a group of poverty program directors
who were able through a law suit to
block Richard Nixon's efforts to
dismantel the Office o f Economic
Opportunity (War on Poverty).
Interviewed by telephone from his
Maryland home, Gilcrease told the
Observer that he had not yet been in
formed o f the indictment. Claiming
innocence, Gilcrease said, “ 1 will be
in court to prove that 1 am not guilty
of the charges. In a way I ’ ll be glad
to finally have it all over with and to
be able to clear my name.”
Gilcrease expressed his appreci-
CLEAVELAND GILCREASE
atiou for those who have demon
strated confidence in him.
“ Whatever happens to me, I have
the satisfaction o f knowing what I
have been able to accomplish for the
poor people o f Portland and o f the
nation and that is very important to
___
me. »•
October 9th to 15th is National
School Bus Safety Week. The
residents o f Albina have a special in
terest in school bus safety since the
streets are lined with yellow school
busses from early morning until late
afternoon.
Because Black children are bussed
for desegregation and because these
children dispersed in small numbers
in schools all over the district, busses
can be seen going every which way.
Parents have complained con
sistently about the fact that children
must wait in the rain only a half
block from King School, rather than
being picked up at the school. The
answer finally came — seventy-two
busses stop at King School every
morning. It is physically impossible
for seventy-two busses to load at the
front door o f King School, so
children must wait on the four corn
ers o f the school grounds.
This circumstance is the result o f
the fact that the children from King
are transported to
forty-three
schools.
Parents also are concerned be
cause their children must wait on
busy and dangerous corners for their
busses. They have complained about
the lack o f bus shelters and the fact
that at most schools children are not
allowed to wait inside the school
building.
During the 1977-78 school year a
committee of parents, mostly from
the Southwest, formed and went to
the school board with problems in
volving safety and scheduling. As the
result, the School Board instructed
Superintendent Robert Blanchard to
consider appointing a transportation
advisory committee.
A committee was appointed in
June, but the public did not become
aware o f the committee’s existence
until after school had started. The
committee consists o f parents, teach
ers, principals and administrators.
Although meetings are public, they
are not announced and therefore are
poorly attended.
The October 10th meeting was o f
special concern to parents who had
planned to attend. Not only was the
place of the meeting changed from
King Neighborhood Facility to the
School
District
Administration
Building after the committee had
voted to meet at King, but an illegal
private meeting was held prior to the
public meeting.
SAFETY TIPS
As a part o f National School Bus
Safety Week, the school district
asked drivers to take special care
when approaching school busses.
The 1978-79 edition o f the Oregon
Drivers Manual says:
“ Flashing amber lights are turned
on by school bus drivers to warn
other traffic that the bus is about to
stop on the road to load or unload
children.
“ When the red lights begin to
flash, this means drivers meeting or
overtaking the bus from either direc
tion must stop before reaching the
bus (and must) remain stopped until
the flashing red lights are turned off.
“ This rule applies if (the motorist
is) on an undivided highway with two
lanes, three lanes or four lanes of
traffic.
“ There is one exception to the
school bus stop law. I f (the motorist
is) on a divided highway with two
roads separated by a median strip or
barrier (the motorist) must stop only
if (the motorist is) on the same road
as the bus. A painted median strip
does not create two separate roads.
“ These flashing lights can be used
by school bus drivers only when they
are stopping or stopped to load and
unload children. Bus drivers must
not use these lights when stopped at
an intersection where traffic is con
trolled by a red-yellow-green signal
or when the bus is pulled completely
o ff the road to load or unload
passengers.”
Justice visits
Mrs. Bertha Hudson, Education
Specialist with the Community
Relations Service o f the U.S. Depar
tment o f Justice, was in Portland this
week to meet with members of the
Community Coalition for School In
tegration and with members o f the
community.
Mrs. Hudson, who is based in
Washington, D.C., discussed many
o f the findings o f the Coalition and
met with parents who have specific
concerns about discrimination in the
Portland Public Schools.
Accompanying her was W illiam E.
Talbert, Concilliation Specialist for
Region X. Talbert, who was recently
assigned to education, has previously
been in Portland regarding police
and administration o f justice mat
ters. CRS is a branch o f the Justice
Department which investigates and
attempts to concilliate community
tensions and disputes involving
minority groups.
Ian Smith, Reverend Sithole US visit not fruitful
by N. Fungai Kumbula
The State Department finally suc
cumbed to pressure and issued visas
to one Ian Smith and Reverend
Mdabaningi Sithole. Since Congress
is due to recess soon, there had been
threats that if the visas were not
issued, some of the senators spon
soring the Smith visit would hold up
any appointments President Carter
A nalysis
might make. Also, since both Robert
Mugabe and
Joshua
Nkomo,
representing the other side had been
in this country already, refusing en
try to Smith & Co. had raised cries of
“ Foul!” that could not be silenced.
So, Smith and Sithole have been in
the country since Saturday. They
have been meeting with senators,
newspersons and State Department
officials such as Secretary o f State
Cyrus Vance and U.N. ambassador
Andrew Young.
They also have appeared on a
number o f TV programs such as
Issues and Answers and the McNeil
and Lehrer Report. I watched the lat
ter program and, it was incredible, to
say the least. There was a time when
it was difficult for someone to tell a
lie with a straight face. Apparently,
for some people, the reverse is true:
it is difficult for them to tell the truth
with a straight face. I must have watch
ed the whole program with my
mouth hanging open as 1 listened to
the two clowns describe what a good
deal the internal settlement is. ( It’s
one thing to read what they say and
it's something else again to watch
them actually say it.)
Interestingly enough, even though
Smith showed signs o f caution in his
assessment o f the performance and
potential o f the interim government,
Sithole defended it unreservedly. It’s
Sithole who is going all out to sell
this poor joke to the American
public. O f course, most o f his
arguments are old hat. What was
new though, was the realization of
how low the Reverend has sunk in his
shameless pursuit o f power.
Five short years ago, he languished
in jail accused o f plotting the
assassination o f not only Ian Smith
but his entire Cabinet as well. And
some five years prior to that, he had
been convicted of a plot to blow up
the entire country o f Rhodesia. He
had drawn up this elaborate plan
to have explosives experts simulta
neously blow up police camps,
government offices and other vestiges
of white control in all the major
cities. The plan was so brilliant and
so well thought out that had it suc
ceeded, the Smith regime would
either have folded then or been mor
tally crippled. The plan failed
because, at the last moment, Sithole
removed his deputy who had been in
charge of the plan and replaced him
with a white confidante who turned
out to be a government spy. It got so
that the government’s own "a n ti
terror” squad was not only sup
plying the explosives, but also
picking out the targets!
A t that time, understandably
enough,
the
name
Reverend
Ndabaningi Sithole used to strike
terror in the hearts of every white
person in Rhodesia — about as much
fear as does the name Robert
Mugabe does now. The name
(Sithole) also struck and kindled
pride and dignity in the heart of
every Black person in Zimbabwe.
"Revolutionary par excellence.”
Monday night, as I watched that
same man defend, not only white
privileges, but also a continuation of
white domination and Black en
slavement, I felt tears (of anger?
frustration?) well up in my eyes. It’s
alright if he wants to prostitute him
self but he has no call whatsoever to
put the rest o f us on the auction
block also.
So far, however, the mission has
been unsuccessful. Their aim in
coming to the U.S. was to convince
the Carter Administration that the
interim government is not only
workable but is also the best solution
to Zimbabwe’s problems. The Ad
ministration so far is holding fast to
its previously stated position of in
sisting on the inclusion of the
guerrillas in any agreement before
the U.S. w ill recognize any govern
ment set up in Zimbabwe and agree
to lift sanctions. The only progress
so far reported has been the
scheduling o f another meeting with
State Department officials when the
other two clowns in the Executive
Council Jeremiah Chirau and Abel
Muzorewa arrive later in the week.
Since all four (Smith, Chirau, Sithole
and Muzorewa) object to an all par
ties conference, it appears no
breakthrough can be expected even
then.
The Front Line Presidents, Ken
neth Kaunda (Zambia). Agostinho
Neto(Angola), Seretse Khama (Bots
wana), Samora Marcel (Mozam
bique) and Julius Nyerere (Tanzania)
had been invited to New York to at
tend a Camp David style meeting
with Smith & Co. but they de
clined. In his news conference on
Tuesday, President Carter reiterated
the American position. It is a well
(Please turn to page 2 col. 4)
Mora than sixty young people attended the second annual BlackYouth
Leadership Conference at Camp Collins. Organized by Lucious Hicks, the con
ference speakers included Darrell Millner, Ms. Carolyn Murray, Lewis Merrick,
Joyce Marshall and Nick Barnett. (See page 2, col. 31