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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1978)
I Mayor, people discuss budget cuts OBSERVER Volume 8 No. 43 Thursday. October 28.1978 10c per copy Mayor Neil Goldschmidt and city staff met with citizens at a "Town Hall M eeting" to explain tax cut ballot measures 6 and 11 as they relate to the C ity’ s budget. Goldschmidt, who favors Measure 11, said both measures shift taxes from property to the income tax, but that Measure 11 w ill bring less drastic cuts to the city. He estimated that the real adverse effects o f Measure 11 will not be felt for four or five yers. Measure 11, he estimated, would remove about six per cent from the property tax funds available to the City. A potential risk is that because the state w ill pay h a lf o f each homeowner’s property tax payment up to $1,500, the state w ill not have money available to supplement city funds. I f Measure 6 passes, the C ity would lose about thirty per cent of the funds it now receives from local property taxes, m aking drastic budget cuts necessary. An added danger in Measure 6 is that i f a new tax were needed, a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or the voters (or both) would be required. Measure 6 also, because it would require state income tax funds to make up the deficits in city, county, school district and other budgets, would move fiscal control to the state level. In a press conference Tuesday, the Mayor stated that police, fire and streets could probably absorb ten per cent cuts without serious side effects. The exact amount lost to the City i f Measure 6 passes will depend on the fo rm u la devised by the Legislature to distribute the $15 taxes collected per thousand dollars assessed evaluation. One proposal is to give the school districts $10.50, the cities $2.25, counties $1.50 and community colleges .75. Estimated general fund needs for the City o f Portland for the 1979 - 1980 fiscal year are $93.8 m illion. Measure 6 w ould probably cut about $22 million from the budget. Goldschmidt invited the public to gain understanding o f the decisions facity the Council by attempting to cut thirty per cent from the City budget. He cautioned that about 73 per cent o f the funds collected from property tax go to fire, police, streets and park maintenance and i f all other services were eliminated these also would have to be cut. In a sample o f fifty citizens, only twelve were able to remove 30 per cent. The average cut was only twen ty per cent. The average citizen in the sample cut 4 per cent from police, 3 */ j from fire, 5 from streets, 3 from parks. Goldschmidt endorsed Measure 11 as h-ving the least serious effect on the C ity, and stated that even i f Measure 6 were not on the ballot, he could support this proposal. Goldschmidt assured those per sons present that the City w ill con tinue to provide services regardless o f which, i f either, o f the measures passes although it would more d if ficult under Measure 6. “ We w ill provide services either way. We w ill make it work. When you go to vote you should feel very comfor table knowing that we w ill do what you want us to do.” Organizes prison protest Commissioner Charles Jordan; Tom Brown, Deputy Grand Master, and Grand Master Joe Henderson invite Jim Kordalis and Jeffery Brown to a bicycle marking clinic to be held at Knott Street Community Center on Saturday, October 28th, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The clinic. sponsored by the Oregon Grand Lodge of Prince Hall Masons, will mark youngsters' bicycles to insure their identification should they be stolen. It is part of the crime prevention program sponsored by the Masons and the Portland Police Bureeau. Casson accepts California church assignment Reverend Ellis C. Casson has ac cepted an appointment as Pastor o f First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Santa Monica, California, by Bishop H. Hartford Brookins. Casson, currently a civil rights of ficer for Region X o f the U.S. High way Department, was most recently pastoring in Everett, Washington. He served as associate Pastor o f Bethel African Methodist Church in Portland for ten years and previously pastored churches in Great Falls, Bremerton, San Francisco and San Bernadino. Casson, who was raised in Port land. received his bachelors degree from Seattle Pacific College, where he was selected " A lu m n i o f the Year’ ’ fo r 1972. He received a Bachelor o f D ivinity degree from Evangelical Seminary. Casson is vice chairman o f the State Board o f Education, formerly a member o f the Governor’s Com mission on Youth, the State Human Relations Commission, and the Port land Planning Com m ission. He was president o f the Portland Branch NAACP, from 1970 through 1976. He has served on the boards o f the Urban League o f Portland, Model Cities, the Y M C A , the N ational Council o f Christians and Jews, and the National Association o f C ivil Rights Workers. He is on the board o f St. Vincent Hospital. Neuman replied, "1 consulted with my colleagues — though not with all of them.” Neuman said he had con sulted with six o f the seven Board members. The Open Meeting Law requires that all Board decisions be made in public meetings. Herb Cawthorne, representing the Community Coalition for School In tegration, had asked the Board to advise the Coalition when a response to the Coalition recommendations to be made on November 27th can be expected. The Coalition asked that the recommendations be acted on in time to be instituted for the 1979- 1980 school year. The Coalition also requested that, in lig h t o f statements that the Coalition’s preliminary report con tained errors and misinterpretations o f fact, the School District point out any errors and provide proper in formation. A ll o f the information contained in the report, was obtained from the School District except in formation gained from responses on an independent survey o f students, parents and staff. In a prepared response fo r the Board, Neuman refused to entertain any discussion o f an estimated time line fo r discussion and action on recommendations for desegregation. "Since the School Board does not at this time know what the final report and recommendations o f the Coalition will be, it is not possible to predict at this time the exact time line o f the School Board’ s response. In other words, we cannot predict our response to a report which we by Valentine Nemcek "Communications media seldom portray the conditions which are most troublesome to authorities. The story usually ends with the arrest o f the culprit. The viewer or reader is not told how many festering months o r years the defendant spent in detention prison aw aiting tria l because of co u rt calendar congestion; n or is he to ld how prolonged incarceration contributes to the overcrowding and the un speakable conditions which breed hatred o f society among the inmates, guilty and innocent a like . . . ” fro m "O u r Cities Burn While We Play Cops and R obbers,” by Judge Bernard Botein Reverend Ellis C. Casson PPS turn down Coalition request Steve Buel, candidate fo r the Portland School Board, questioned the adherence o f the School Board to the Oregon Open Meeting Law. Addressing the School Board, Buel questioned the process leading to a formal statement by Chairper son Jonathan Neuman to a request from the Community Coalition for School Integration. Stating that a response to an in q u iry from the public should come from the Board, Buel asked i f the "lo n g , lengthy response by the Chairperson" had been taken to the Board and whether it had been approved by the other Board members. Daniels trial ends in hung jury have not received or seen. "S om e recom m endations, ob viously, may be o f a type and quality that permit very prompt response, indeed. Other recommendations may requiaC considerably more extended time for response. Whatever the time or response, we may agree or disagree with the analysis, findings, or recommendations which the Coalition makes. "B u t when the Board receives the Coalition’ s final report on Novem ber 27, 1978, it intends to be diligent and thorough in its response and to make its response as prom pt as possible. The subject o f integration is one with which the Board has been engaged fo r almost fifteen years; much progress has been made, and much progress remains to be made. What we have sought and will con tinue to seek is improvement in our integration programs for the benefits o f all children. “ We do not know, based upon our reading o f the preliminary draft o f September, 1978, i f the final report w ill be factual, comprehen- (Please turn to Page 4 Column 3) room packed w ith special police security personnel, the trial o f James Daniels Jr. came to an end. An estimated $5,000 to $10,000 was wasted by the State in an effort to prove a $91 theft occurred from an undercover patrolm an posing as drunk at the Hooper M em orial Detoxification Center where Daniels worked. The six person ju ry split four to two fo r acquital on this mis demeanor charge in dicating the State’s inability to prove their case. A dditional charges o f escape and resisting a police officer also resulted in a hung jury vote o f three to three. The defense attorney, S. Lynn Parkinson, replied to these charges with arguments indicating the poten tia l fo r a frame-up while James Daniels testified that injuries in curred by him during the arrest were the result o f a beating at the hands o f the police on that August morning. The em inently fa ir c o n tro l exhibited by Judge Joseph Ceniceros was a bright spot in the shadows surrounding a case which should never have been brought to trial. The weakness o f the case was exemplified by the inability o f the District A tto r ney’ s office to produce the $91, by the lack o f corroboration that the undercover officer had the money when he was taken to the detoxification center, by poor police search techniques and by contradict ing police testimony. Yet, the District Attorney’ s office pressed forw ard, disavowing any (Please turn to Page 2 Column 4) On Monday, October 23, 1978, af ter six days o f testimony in a court Discrimination meeting called A ll persons interested in the problems o f racial discrimination in the Portland area are invited to a meeting to be held on Novem ber 6th at 7:00 p.m. at 8 N.E. Killings worth. The meeting is sponsored by Michele Albert, Melvia Wilson and Arthur Bradford, themselves the victim s o f discrim ination. “ We are concerned that persons who are discriminated against because o f race do not know their rights, do not know how to file a complaint and do not know what to do to insure that their com plaints are investigated and taken to court,” Ms. Albert explained. Ms. Wilson said that i f those attending the meetaing wish, a group could be organized to in form the public. Although those who believe they have been discrim inated against are specifically sought, all persons who are concerned about racial discrimination are urged to at tend. Commissioner Charles Jordan and friends are hosting a Recep tion for Governor Bob Straub from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 29th, at Cascade Center, Portland Community College. Commissioner Jordan urges all citizens to attend the reception, meet and talk with the Governor, Black candidates for office will be introduced. Refreshments will be provided (there is no charge). Rhodesia bombs Zambian refugee camps by N. Fungai Kumbula Last week, Ian Smith along with Ndabaningi Sithole, one o f the three figureheads in the so-called tran sitional government in Rhodesia were here in the U.S. Some o f us had the misfortune to even see them on TV. For those who did, you had a rare chance to sec what a mass mur derer looks like. The two, o f course, had come to the U.S. at the invitation o f S.l. Hayakawa, Jesse Helms and 25 of their colleagues in the Senate. The idea was for them to present their side of the case. So they spent the past week meeting with government officials, business people and the media as well as anyone else who would listen. The thrust o f their message was that, they in the internal government, were the good guys and those on the outside, the guerrillas, were the savages bent on destruction. Over and over again, Smith reiterated the point that he had satisfied his end o f the bargain, met all the demands set forth by the U.S. government for turning Rhodesia over to m a jo rity rule. He was, therefore, demanding that the U.S. fo llo w through w ith its own obligations. He said form er Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had promised him that once he (Smith) had accepted the concept o f "one person, one vote,” then the U.S. would recognize the govern ment set up in Rhodesia, lift sanc tions and resume trade with her. When contacted. Kissinger denied he had ever made any such concrete offers to Smith, that he could not have done so since he did not have ! the authority to do so on his own. Secondly, Smith’ s agreement in its present form falls far short o f its originally intended objective. What may have been acceptable two years ago is not even worth negotiating any more. Political fortunes are won and lost almost overnight in Zimbabwe. The present agreement might have been an excellent idea fifteen years ago but, now I wouldn’t even touch it with an insulated ten foot pole. It is against this backdrop that the next episode in our continuing saga takes place. This past weekend, Rhodesian bombers suddenly in vaded Zambia and started bombing guerrillas "targets". And, as usual, they invited the media for a field day. As expected too, everything worked like a charm: the papers covered this like it were some historic event, a heroic e ffo rt. The Sunday Orego nia n ’s headline ran: "Rhodesians smash rebel bases in Zambia." Not a word about the violation o f Zam bia’ s territory or the disregard for her sovereignity! An independent observer who was in the area, however, sent a story o f a very different tone. The "guerrilla bases," it turned out were nothing more than refugee camps, Rhodesia's usual targets. As we all know, refugee camps are sitting ducks for bombers. If you gave me a bomber, gave me a crash course on how to run it and then showed me some refugee camps to bomb, I could demolish them too. Where there is no answering fire, one can make repeated forays with impunity. One o f the camps hit was a girls’ refugee camp and the other housed boys. These poor souls had tied hun dreds of miles, dodging bullets most o f the way only to be slaughtered in their sleep once they reached " s a fe ty ." The first thought that crossed my mind as I was reading about this atrocity was: *1 wonder what the Hayakawas’ , Helms’ et al are thinking now while their hero is slaughtering these innocent souls?’ This is the kind o f monster they in sisted should be given an audience. W ould they have insisted on H itler’s coming to the U.S. to ex plain his reasons for the holocaust? What would they say i f the tables were turned: if it was Kaunda send ing bombers into Rhodesia to kill innocent little white boys and girls? Would the world stand idly by? And would the newspapers still be writing about ‘ Zambians smash rebel bases in Rhodesia'? I am convinced that in such a case, there would no doubt be a Zaire type "rescue" mission. As long as it is white killing Black, we hear the ad vocates o f "c a u tio n , patience, negotiation" etc., but when it is Black killing white, then these same advocates recede in to the background to be replaced by the hawks. The cowardly raid into Zambia and the others into Mozambique are acts o f desperation. Smith, having failed in his attempts to woo the U.S., now realizes that the game is up. So, like a wounded lion, he wants to show that he is not finished yet. Because he cannot " f i n d " the guerrillas who have so effectively eroded his authority, he now turns on to such “ visible targets” as the refugees and the missionaries. Aided and abetted by such tra ito rs as Muzorewa, Sithole and Chirau, this sort o f thing can only be expected to worsen as the situation continues to deteriorate. Also, as the Western press is suckered into this devilish plot, the murderers will continue on their merry way and the only big losers arc the "visible targets", the people o f Zimbabwe and all peace loving people around the world. >
