Paq<* 4 Portland Observer Thursday, December 1, 1978
American State Bank
Behind the wall
Larry Baker 835021.
O.S.P. Correspondent
Julius D. Snowden »38013
Poetry Editor
positive steps have Peen taken in
Oregon’s penal history.
“ I f you care enough about your
self, you will care enough about the
others around you," Cupp says.
Prison personnel attending this
meeting were: J.C. Keeney, Assistant
Superintendent; D .A . Versteeg,
Director o f Activities; Paul Aron
son, C orrectional Ombudsman;
H .L . Whitney, Chief o f Security;
and naturally “ The Keeper o f The
Keys,” or better known as “ The
Man.”
The club presidents and coor
dinators had presented an agenda on
the topics to be discussed. They were
the representatives fro m the
follow ing clubs: Lifers, A thletic,
Chess, Indian, C hicano, High-
wallers, Motorcycle, JayCee’ s, Slot
Car, Keen, A .A ., Black Culture,
Master Men, Lifeline, L.D.S., and
Bridge. (The membership o f the
above clubs make up over one-half
o f the total prison inmate popula
tion.)
Discussions and actions taken on
each subject. 1. Christmas cards
placed on display. (Cupp delegated
assignment to D .A . Versteeg); 2.
Non-deduction o f funds for Decem
ber from inmates. (Cupp requested
Paul Aronson to handle); 3. Certain
approved items to be accepted for
inmate Christmas gifts from relatives
and friends.
4. Presidents schedule m onthly
meeting with Superintendent. (Cupp
ruled against this, but stated he and
staff would meet with them any time
important issues needed resolving.);
5. Inmate wage increase. (Cupp ex
plained there would have to be a bill
submitted to the State Legislature.
Inmates would have to write the bill
and he would support the action.); 6.
Notice o f Institution Rule changes.
(Cupp suggested this action should
be done by delegate to inmate para
legal who notifies the inmate popula
A Togetherness In Prison
"W e shall come together as a body
o f men.
And as a body o f men we shall work
together.
Work together to answer any com
plaints,
Solve any grievances and address any
problem, openly.
But only as long as those complaints,
grievances and problems.
Are presented in a constructive and
intelligent manner.
For many o f the employees and in
mates at O.S.P. November 29th was
just another normal prison day —
but not for a handful o f individuals
who were gathered inside one o f the
glass enclosed rooms located in the
Activities Department on that rainy
Wednesday afternoon. An unusual
event was occurring. Unusual
because the superintendent o f this
prison was informing staff and in
mate representatives from the sixteen
different clubs and organizations
how O.S.P. w ill be run under his
command over the next few years.
Hoyt C. Cupp has always been
recognized as an administrator not
afraid to delegate responsibility to an
individual, as long as that person is
found to be sincere in performing
that duty, regardless o f title or num
ber. After 32 years o f prison ex
perience tucked under his belt, this
method has awarded him with the
respect most wardens would cut o ff
an arm to claim, among his prison
guards, staff and prisoners. In most
prisons the above group could never
be found working together in any
situation or under any condition. It
would be like mixing a bengal tiger,
black panther and an Indian cobra
together in the same cage. But with
this philosophy some o f the most
tion.); 7. Setting up an inmate coun
sel. (Oops! Somebody blew it.)
This has always been the sore sub
ject to discuss with H.C. Cupp. In
fact if you want to hear “ The Keeper
o f the Key” rap loudly in profanity,
well just get near the subject o f
creating an inmate council.
“ I f 1 see, even in my dreams, that
someone is trying to put together an
inmate council in this prison as long
as I am the Superintendent,
somebody is going to the “ Hole.”
This is not a prison in California or
Washington. This is Oregon and 1
run this prison.”
After that statement the confer
ence was quickly adjourned.
To summarize this meeting by
everything said and the type o f mood
in which everyone conducted them
"The Bank that integration b u ilt’ ‘
2737 N.E. Union
selves, I w ill have to admit it was the
best 1 have ever attended. Each
question was to the point, each un-
swer was sharp and straight.
Let this also be made perfectly
clear. Whatever opinions expressed
about this prison conference held
November 29th are strictly mine, but
any time men are willing to sit down
and work out any difference or work
toward any positive goals in an over
crowded prison, that’ s news. Each
club representative should be com
plim ented fo r arranging these
sessions, because it proves that they
have the welfare o f this prison’ s
population at heart.
No this is not a Washington or
California prison, but it is also not a
M ississippi or Louisiana prison
either.
SPORTS HOUR
JOE’S PLACE
1801 N.E. A lb e rta
w in
DRAFT
Call: 2 8 8 -8 7 6 8
white church, something that had
never happened before.
“ People were afraid of what might
take place, o f violence getting started
and getting out o f hand,” said the
white pastor in his study.
“ I ’ m sure a lo t o f people are
examining their attitudes as a result
o f these meetings and,” he added,
with an almost pleading quality to
his voice, "some signs o f change in
people’ s hearts are beginning to
come out.”
Cooler weather had cooled temp
ers in Okolona by mid-October, the
time o f harvest and bailing hay in
northern Mississippi. A visiting cir
cuit court judge from Calhoun City,
Judge W .W. Brown, established an
extraordinary three month session of a
grand ju r y to hear n ig h trid in g ,
shooting and beating cases involving
Klansmen and League retaliation.
Reverend Johnson’ s church is
about the only middle group fo r
Blacks and whites in Okolona. Each
Sunday afternoon, Reverend John
son convenes a generalized prayer
meeting, group therapy session, and
gospel sing. At first only whites at
tended, said Reverend Johnson, so
an announcement was placed in The
Messenger and by the third meeting,
Blacks had begun to meet in the
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The New York Life agent in your
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NOW COOING- F R E S H P A U V /
This time, I w ill become a microscopic organ within the sphere
o f consciousness, compounding forgotten memories and deeds,
pondering new concepts upon the winding roads o f action, to the
newness o f tomorrow become what right is to wrong . . .
1 w ill
I w ill
I w ill
I w ill
CRAB
*M9t
become the thought that once slept. . .
become not only the spark, but the fire as w e ll. . .
become life’ s seeker o f not man pigmentation, but rather, humanity . . .
become a truth, even, i f it is only to se lf. . .
Knowing that with the passing o f time, my moments o f existence
w ill, along with those, within the same domain . . . seeking the
riddle o f Ms Justice blindfold . . . be kicked down the stairs into a
celluar darkness o f
IS li
G o o d T h ru D e c . 9
The MFjthpi and o rrjn rimditinm delrrmiiw »»ailabilit» ni « in » items
• C E. II2 H S
Unconsciousness, locking doors that even the key called memory
w ill never open . . . again.
S
fO W E U U
h A A U -U
«ARX3P MARKETS * ßif N,E GRAND
by Julius Snowden 838013
MARIE’S KITCHEN
N O W OPEN
Ku K lux Kian rides in Mississippi
(Continued from Page 1 Column 6)
Reverend Claude Johnson, pastor o f
the town's First United Methodist
Church. The church stands between
the genteel, peeling, turn-of-the cen
tury business district and the gaudy
neo-Tara mansion constructed by
M ayor Richard Stovall. A large
Black circle marks the site o f a Kian
cross burning on the church’ s front
lawn.
you for o n iy 15<
Peggy Joseph-G raves
T H E O P T IM IS T IC
My existence is nothing more than particals o f dust being
blown in the winds o f time, restlessly traveling no where fast —
no chance to see where I ’ ve been and programmed through life ’s idio
syncrasies not to care where 1 go, y e t. . .
282-2216
Lower courts had been paralyzed
fo r months. A Kian ra lly fo r
Okolona had to be called o ff because
two of the organizers had been indict
ed and one had been sentenced to a
jail term for beating an elderly Black
man with what was alleged to be
brass knuckles.
But with the arrival o f another
Mississippi spring, people and their
ever-present guns w ill be on the
streets and in the tucked away rural
townships again. The United League
has selected Okolona and Tupelo as
BREAKFAST AT ANYTIME
5 2 4 6 N.E. U N IO N
287-9363
EXODUS
Crossroads
(Continued from Page 2 Column 6)
are so mercilessly exploited, this
S8.00 can represent up to 60% of
their salary. There are twenty outside
faucets and, with 20,000 people in
Crossroads, that means that there is
one faucet for every 1,000 people! If
you do not pay your rent, your shack
is simply demolished.
One o f the most arresting features
o f Crossroads is the high level o f
community awareness. Thrust into a
situation where they have to depend
on themselves fo r ju s t about
everything, they have developed a
very high degree o f community in
volvement and self-help setups. The
community is run by a democra
tically elected Committee o f Cross
roads that tries to deal with such
rental arrears, threats o f evic
tion, arrests, threats o f eviction on
account o f additions to the shacks,
etc. They also have th e ir own
policing system, strange as it sounds,
there is no crime (something that
cannot be said o f the ghettoes where
there are regular police patrols.)
They have even built a secondary
school, N oxolo, (Peace) which
opened in 1976 with two teachers and
twenty students. Now it has twenty
teachers, 350 pupils and a student
waiting list o f 200. The fees that the
parents pay goes to pay the teachers’
salaries. And all o f the teachers came
from the community.
Crossroads on the one hand shows
the viciousness o f the South African
regime and, on the other hand, the
indomitability o f its victims. There is
a saying in Crossroads: “ The
government can bulldoze fragile
structures but, it cannot bulldoze the
spirit.” It is this tenacity that will
ultim ately destroy apartheid. I t ’ s
only a matter o f time.
TuMM-Thurs 6:30 am -6 pm — Fri-Sat 6:30
am-3:30 am — Sun 6 :X am-3:30 pm
showcase communities for what it
hopes to be a revitalization o f the
civil rights movement in Mississippi.
Come spring, it could be a matter
o f time and trajectory before race
hatred turns to race war and begins
k illin g people in the South once
more.
aircaft^rut/o e u f J ÿ té a /m e n /
enfer
1518 N E KILLINGSWORTH
PORTLAND. OREGON 9721 1
284-7997
Happy Holiday Season —
but remember:
POSITIVELY NEGATIVE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
WE
DRANK FOR HAPPINESS AND BECAME UNHAPPY
DRANK FOR JOY AND BECAME MISERABLE
DRANK FOR SOCIABILITY AND BECAME ARGUMENTATIVE
DRANK FOR SOPHISTICATION AND BECAME OBNOXIOUS
DRANK FOR FRIENDSHIP AND MADE ENEMIES
DRANK FOR FREEDOM AND BECAME SLAVES
DRANK FOR STRENGTH AND FELT WEAK
DRANK FOR BRAVERY AND BECAME AFRAID
DRANK FOR CONFIDENCE AND BECAME DOUBTFUL
DRANK TO MAKE CONVERSATION EASIER AND SLURRED OUR SPEECH
DRANK TO FORGET AND WERE FOREVER HAUNTED
DRANK FOR RELAXATION AND GOT THE SHAKES
DRANK TO ERASE PROBLEMS AND S A W THEM MULTIPLY
DRANK FOR SLEEP AND AWOKE W ITH O U T REST
DRANK FOR MEDICINAL AND ACQUIRED HEALTH PROBLEMS
DRANK TO FEEL HEAVENLY AND ENDED UP FEELING LIKE HELL
DPANK TO COPE W ITH LIFE AND INVITED DEATH
EXODUS DAY TREATMENT
1223 N.E. Alberta
Portland, Oregon
284-1247
'E xuberance is b e a u t y ."
William Blake
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