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12 Portland Ob— r y r Thursday M arch 29. 1979
Rhodesia: Slip sliding into chaos
by N. Fungai Kumbula
Change School Board
The April 3rd School Board election is of parti
cular importance in light of the Board's lack of
ability to respond to issues of special concern to
the Black community, but of utmost importance
to all of the people of Portland.
This is the year that the power of the Board
could shift — it would take the election of three
new Board members — who would work to
gether w ith incum bent Board member W ally
Priestley to make the Board into an organiza
tio n th a t w ould take com m and and develop
quality programs for all children.
We recommend the election of Steve Buel,
Mike Verbout and Karen Masterson.
Steve Buel is a teacher, who is deeply concern
ed about the quality of education in the district's
elementary schools, which he calls the w orst in
the metropolitan area He has endorsed the Coali
tion's pairing proposal, advocates more realistic
and direct citizen participation, stronger Board
leadership, and a shift of resources from admini
stration to teachers.
Bettie O verton is also a candidate fo r the
position now held by Evie Crowell. Ms. Overton
started her campaign late, has few funds, and
has confined her campaign mainly to the Albina
area. Ms. Overton — who has years of experience
working w ith com m unity organizations at the
grass roots level — would be a welcome addition
to the Board — another kind of Black person —
one who is "unbossed, unbought and uncontroll
e d .” Although she has virtually no chance of
election, Ms. Overton offers an alternative for
those who wish to vote for a Black candidate but
cannot support Ms. Crowell. Evie Crowell — per
haps because of the circumstances of her ap
pointment — has not demonstrated the indepen
dence necessary to represent the concerns of
those who most need strong advocacy.
The most difficult choice is between Bill Scott
and Mike Verbout. Beverly York — the incum
bent — has added little to the Board and is out of
it as far as we are concerned. Scott is a member
of the Coalition and has endorsed its report with
some reservations about pairing; Verbout is not
sold on busing and prefers the development of
other alternatives when possible. Both prefer
voluntary solutions; both talk about the Board's
lack of credibility and the need for public partici
pation. S cott proposes citizen involvem ent in
development of the budget; Verbout advocates
changes in selection of advisory boards. Scott has
the support of the liberal establishment; Verbout’s
support is from the working class neighborhoods.
We will go with Verbout and see him as more
willing to make more rapid, radical changes — in
curriculum, staffing, board functioning, and ad
ministrative personnel.
Karen Masterson is opposing incumbent Joe
Reike, along w ith several other candidates. Mrs.
Masterson is disturbed about the way the Board
treats the public and accuses it of debilitating
schoo ls to p ro m o te its ow n plans fo r
reorganization. She prefers desegreation through
boundary changes but will support pairing where
necessary. She wants smaller classes, better
teachers and more attention to education.
Reike, appointed nine m onths ago, defends
much of the Boerd's procedures and decisions.
Reike frequently expresses a fear that the Board
may be sued over many of the difficult decisions
it must make and expresses his opinion that this
th re a t is a d e te rre n t to m ore open B oard
discussion. He feels political cons derations pre
vent mandatory transfer of whites fo r desegre
gation. Although a master of rhetoric. Reike has
offered little independent decision-making in his
nine months on the Board. Perhaps had he come
on a different Board at a different tim e he m ight
not have felt so constrained by the leadership and
m ight have done a better job.
Frank McNamara is, in effect, unopposed in his
bid for re-election. His opponents are perennial
candidates and have expressed little specific in
terest in education. We have long been dissatis
fie d w ith M cN a m a ra 's p e rfo rm a n ce on th e
Board. He probably has good intentions and oc
casionally has the courage and good sense to
vote against the majority, but his disrespect of
the C o a litio n and the B lack c o m m u n ity in
general, his sarcasm, and his upholding of the
administration at all costs prevent him from ser
ving the public adequately. We cannot endorse
Mr. McNamara but suggest our readers write in
friends or neighbors for this position.
PCC — Bryant
Portland Community College has been remiss
in its responsibility to the North-Northeast com
munities. This school — which received a g ift of
its Cascade campus from the Model Cities Pro
gram at a tim e when the college was new and
was in need — has not kept its com m itm ent to
provide educational and vocational programs for
the residents of this area.
W ith expansion to other sites — Rock Creek is
a good example — programs have been shifted
from this area. Emphasis has been placed on
meeting the needs of the suburban students at
the expense of the inner Northeast.
The college w ill soon have a new president and
substantially a new board. Dr. Howard Cherry is
the only remaining member w ho was on the
original board. Dr. Cherry serves on the M u lt
nomah County Education Service District Board,
the PCC Board, is a former member of the Port
land School Board and a member of the Oregon
legislature. We do not question his dedication to
education.
It is time for a change — time to elect a mem
ber who is more representative of the young
people of this area that the board is elected to
serve. Two persons, both deeply involved in the
community, are candidates Carol Bryant has been
involved in education and social work, and is the
form er director of a com munity child care ser
vice, and Ed Leek, is Chairman of the Northeast
Coalition and active in neighborhoods.
Because of her experience in education, child
care and in budgeting and program development,
the Observer endorses Carol Bryant for the P ort
land Community College Board, Zone 2.
Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:
To voters in the Albina area, I am
asking you to support Mrs Bettie
Lou O ve rto n , fo r School Board
position <5.
I have worked with Mrs. Overton
over the past ten years in the Boise
Neighborhood Association and other
organizations involving the Albina
co m m u n ity . Her d e vo tio n , hard
work and leadership in this commu
nity have helped lo enhance the lives
ol young and older people in this
Bettie is a knowledgeable person,
and would add a lot to a dying
School Board. Unlike her opponent,
who is now serving in this position.
Instead o f following the leader who
controls the decision-making policy,
M r. Newman, Bettie would be her
own person and stand up and vote on
an issue only if she believes in it —
not just to please the majority.
W ith so many decisions being
made for the Black co m m u n ity,
w ith o ut their in p u t, we need
someone who is.strong, not only for
the Black community, but for the
City o f Portland.
I want to make one point clear,
that I am not supporting Mrs. Over-
ton because o f any dislike for Ms.
C ro w e ll, or her vote against the
Coalition, but my support for Mrs.
Overton is because o f her strong
leadership ability, her devotion to
the community, and her understand
ing and caring for children.
Sincerely,
Vesia Loving
( its
PORTLAND OBSERVER
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____Publishers
»'»I Association
A ll is fu r in love and war. so goes
an old saying. Whoever said this
must have been very naive because
there is nothing fair about war. Most
times I think w e is a losing game
and the only difference between vic
tor and vanquished generally is that:
to the victor go the spoils and to the
vanquished, the “ soils.**
Take a look at the war in Zimbab
we (Rhodesia) for instance. It is a
necessary war and it was inevitable.
The guerrillas are fighting to liberate
the country while S m ith and his
cohorts are fighting to keep the
people enslaved forever. Caught in
the middle are the people over which
both sides are fighting and in the
end. all three ‘sides’ arc going to
have to come together to build the
new nation o f Zimbabwe.
It's a shame that in such a war, the
main losers are always the people
who stand on the sidelines — the
very people that both sides claim to
love so much they have to go to war
over. The civilians in Zimbabwe war
have an uncommonly rough time:
they are caught in a five way war.
That’s right, five way. There is the
Rhodesian racists on the one hand
and Robert Mugabe's Z A N U forces
on the other. These two, in addition
to fig h tin g each o th er have oc
casionally clashed with the forces o f
Joshua Nkom o, who forms the other
half o f the Z A P U -Z A N U guerrilla
alliance. Together, they are called
the Patriotic Front. Also in this con
flict are the so-called "auxilliaries.”
The a u x illia rie s are essentially
private armies that owe their loyalty
not to Zimbabwe but to individual
leaders Muzorewa is known to have
such an army as does Ndabanmgi
Sithole, two o f the Blacks who form
the internal government along with
lan Smith. In the eastern highlands,
towards the border w ith M o za m
bique for instance, there are areas
that are now under the control o f the
guerrillas, areas from which Smith's
forces have been expelled. It is in
these liberated areas where most o f
the fighting between the guerrillas
and the auxilliaries takes place. Each
force is fighting to wrest control
fro m whoever happens to be in
charge at the time. The guerrillas are,
o f co in « , doing it in the name o f
lib eration o f the masses but, the
auxilliaries are doing it in the name
o f Muzorewa or Sithole. The term
“ a u x illia ry ” comes from the fact
that these private armies usually act
as appendages to the Rhodesian ar
m y. By keeping some o f the
guerrillas tied down fighting these
traitors, that takes some manpower,
personpower rather, from the main
task, fighting the Rhodesian colonial
army.
You may wonder why some people
would so stupidly let themselves be
used like this but, like they say: *a
sucker is born every minute.* The
biggest loser is once again the poor,
defenseless civilian. Fully 70% o f the
12,000 casualties that the six year
war has so far claimed have been
civilians. There are many cases docu
m ented o f how the Rhodesian
soldiers, any time they lose some o f
their ’comrades' and, frustrated by
their failure to locate the enemy, will
usually take it out on the local civi
lians.
A t the moment, the Smith regime
acknowledges there are some 600,000
Blacks fenced in in what they call
“ protected villages” — more like
concentration camps. This is a futile
attempt to keep the people from pro
viding the guerrillas with supplies
and or shelter. This forced removal
not only uproots whole villages, dis
rupting fam ily life and destroying
house and home but imposes other
haidships as well. Food becomes
very scarce as families are forced to
abandon their crops and livestock.
They also have to observe a very
strict curfew. Violators are shot on
sight — no questions asked. W ith
such conditions, the soldiers hold the
lives of these 600,000 souls in their
hands.
The living conditions in the ’pro
tected villages* are appalling, to say
the least. Toilet facilities are inade
quate or totally lacking. What little
drinking water there is is unfit for
consumption, either by humans or
a n im als. M a ln u tr itio n has risen
dram atically over the past several
months. Compounding this problem
is the fact that most rural hospitals
and clinics have been closed so they
cannot provide medical attention to
the freedom fighters. These health
facilities were inadequate to begin
with but now even those few no
longer exist. Result: fully 80% o f
Rhodesia's Africans are left with
no medical facilities at all.
Schools have been closed en masse
too. A t last count, over $00 had been
closed leaving 250,000 students with
nowhere to go and nothing to do. All
they can do now is sit and wonder
fearfully how long they can success
fu lly dodge all five armies. They
wake up in the morning wondering if
they will live long enough to see the
sun go dow n. A t nig h t, they lie
aw ake w o ndering . . . In these
outlying areas utter chaos has taken
over. There is no central adm ini
s tra tio n , the people ju st fo llo w
whoever happens to have his gun
trained on them at the time.
The elections that are scheduled
for A pril 20th will merely aggravate
the situation. The internal regime
w ould lik e a large tu rn o u t, the
guerrillas would like zero turnout.
Each site will be using force to punc
tuate its orders and, again, the poor
civilian is caught dead in the middle.
The only thing that could possibly
ease their suffering is a quick conclu
sion to this war o f independence. Let
us hope and pray that the conserva
tives in the U .S. Congress are thwart
ed in their efforts to come to the aid
o f the murderous Rhodesian regime.
D on’t let them use your tax dollars to
support yet another dictatorship.
The people o f Zimbabwe have suf
fered enough.
Priestley staff: Activism in the Legislature
(Continued from Page I Column 6)
workable, a governmental appointee
has been rejected by the Senate as in
appropriate and another appointee
forced to withdraw due to a flagrant
conflict o f interest. An energy plan
which is years behind its times and
gives birth to yet another bureau
cracy rather than implementing a
plan o f action. Finally, the Gover
nor, contrary to his own campaign
promise, is attempting to influence
the decision o f the Energy Facility
Siting Council. Now we find our at
ten tion being diverted by these
charges o f unethical conduct. Forces
outside the government have been
part o f this illadvised hatchet job on
my s ta ff. . .
" W e shall not desist from making
taxes, energy and nuclear power the
heated issues o f the day. Our future
depends on the choices we make
today.”
Johnson and Pitler are assigned to
Priestley’s nuclear energy bills. HB
2 5 7 1 regulates transp o rtatio n o f
radioactive m aterials in O regon,
requires that counties have radio
active response teams, requires that
PUC be notified and the counties be
notified.
H B 2555 would restrict the use o f
Trojan to times with peak needs and
when other power sources are not
available. It limits storage o f wastes
at any future nuclear plants to six
months.
H B 2570 would place a m o ra
to riu m on nuclear pow er plant
construction until safe waste storage
sites are in operation. States with
sim ilar laws include W isconsin,
Io w a , M o n ta n a , C a lifo rn ia , and
Clark County, Washington.
H B 2509 would require that
owners o f nuclear power plants post
a bond to cover cost o f decommis
sioning.
HB 2509 — sponsored by Senator
Jan Wyers — requires that there be
evacuation plans for areas within a
fifty mile radius o f a nuclear power
plant.
Priestley opposes — and his staff
is working against — two laws to in
crease tresspass penalties. H B 2498,
sponsored
by
Representative
Carolyn Magruder, would make in
terference with the operation o f or
access to a nuclear plant a Class B
felony, punishable by ten years in the
penitentiary and/or a $2500 fine. HB
2565 would raise tresspass from a
Class C to Class B misdemeanor, in
creasing the jail penalty from one to
six months and the fine from $250 to
$500.
Legislative hearings on each o f
these bills provide opportunity for
fu ll discussion o f the dangers o f
nuclear power. This session, for the
firs t tim e , many o f O rego n 's
legislators are becoming well versed
in nuclear power and in alternative
sources o f power.
P itle r, who is a p a rt-tim e em
ployee, confines his work to energy
and energy-related issues. Johnson,
who works full-time on a part-time
salary, also works in housing.
Ron Huntley gets less publicity, but
also is making waves. Hutley's work
has mainly been in the area o f nur
sing homes. (Priestley is a member o f
the Committee on Aging). Huntley is
interested in the "forgotten people”
— the abused, neglected and ignored
who are confined to nursing homes.
He is fast becoming known for his
“ midnight raids” in nursing homes.
In one spot check o f five nursing
homes in the Salem area he found
numerous problems — inadequate
staff, facilities, linen, and food. He
made a second visit to one home with
Representative M ary Alice Ford, a
member o f the Committee on Aging.
“ We arrived at 7:45 a.m . and found
65 gallon garbage cans in the door
ways o f rooms, collecting water (hat
was pouring through the ro o f.” The
cans were blocking the doorways to
the rooms. He was informed it had
been that way for two months.
“ W e were told patients were
without baths for two weeks because
there was not enough hot water.
This, we were told, had occurred o ff
and on for two years.”
Huntley sent a report to the Health
D epartm ent and fines have been
levied against the home. H u n tley
also checked on the patients food
and was told that o f 32 feeder pa
tients, 17 were not fed, that only 20
percent o f the patients receive meals
while still hot, and that at least three
patients were so upset at the quality
o f the food that they were p u r
chasing meals from a food truck.
In his research Huntley has found
that 25 percent of the state’s nursing
homes generated from 75 to 80 per
cent of the complaints. He has drawn
up a list o f problem homes in Port
land which he will visit with Repre
sentative Priestley.
Huntley is working on a bill that
would make payments for nurse prac
titioners and doctor's assistants to
see nursing home patients Current
ly, 83 percent o f the nursing home
patients who need medical care are
sent to a hospital emergency room —
at an average cost o f $290 for trans
portation and care. O f those, 50 per
cent are returned the same day and
the other 50 percent stay in the
hospital for one to three days — at
an average cost o f over $100 per day.
Added to the cost o f hospital care is
the continuing charge o f $24.23 per
day for the nursing home bed. O f
that 50 percent, hospital nurses esti
mate only 10 percent need to stay for
medical reasons.
Those patients who remain in the
hospital for more than three days
lose their bed in the nursing home
and most stay in the hospital from
seven to ten days while a place is
found for them. Over a four month
period, Salem M em orial Hospital
had 304 patient days w aiting for
placement, at $103 per day — a total
o f over $10,000, or $30,000 a year
for one hospital.
"T h ird party reimbursements’* —
paying nurse practicioners or doc
to r’s assistants — would cost $14 per
call. It is being done for private pa
tients — those who pay for their own
care — but not for those receiving
welfare.
H u n tle y 's other assignment is
adoptions. H B 2367 — authored by
Priestley — would provide access to
adoption records while protecting
the rights o f the child and parent. I f
the adopted child over 21 years old
sought contact with or medical in
formation from the biological pa
rents, the court would appoint a confi
dential intermediary who would con
tact the parent and get permission
for the contact. If the parent refused,
the intermediary could still ask for
fa m ily medical histories. The
process could also be initialed by the
biological parent.
There are 72,000 adoptive children
over the age o f 21 in O regon.
Although adoption records can be
released by the court, Judges are
reluctant to do so because there arc
no guidelines. Only one out o f 187
requests are granted. Since a similar
lew was passed in Washington in
1976, 190 successful reunions have
taken place, with only three refusals.
Persons interested
in
these
legislative issues are urged to contact
Representative Priestley's office -
378-8815 — in Salem