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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 1979)
P«0«2 Portland Observer Thursday. April 12. 1979 EDITORIAL/OPINION Survival by N. Fungai Kumbula Injection: The easy way to die Last week the Oregon House of Representa tives, with fourteen dissenting votes, voted to mandate execution of convicted murderers by lethal injection. This bill was passed to make exe cution more humane. A side effect is the saving of money — about $300,000 — that it will take to build a new gas chamber. Opponents of the bill state that this method of execution — closely resembling medical treat ment — would gloss over and hide the horrors of execution — allowing the people of Oregon to ignore the executions taking place under their jurisdiction. • " A t this time the person(s) behind the screened partition of the room shall begin the flow of the ultrashort-acting barbituate. Admini stration of the substance shall continue until such time as the physician pronounces the inmate to be dead. "A physician does not have the task of admini stering a lethal injection. His chief function is limited to the monitoring duties performed at exe cutions by any means — to pronounce the pri soner dead." This article — though written with the best of intention by one who opposes capital punish ment — becomes more gruesome with rereading. An Oregonian article written by Wilma Hogle, It makes the act of execution so clothed in the instigator of the bill, points out the niceties of sterile medical procedures that only those who this method of execution: receive the dead body will remember that a • "Just before execution, the inmate will be human being has been killed. moved from the holding cell to the execution Although perhaps easing the pain of execution room. Before doing so, the inmate shall be for the criminal, this bill goes far to ease the con secured on a portable stretcher. The inmate's science of the collective executor. arms, legs and chest shall be restrained. A trained We agree with those who believe that the medical employee shall insert a catheter into a people of Oregon — who voted to reinstate vein. Then the inmate shall be moved into the capital punishment — must be forced to face the execution room on the stretcher. consequences of that vote and those who still • "The bottle(s) of fluid shall be passed have some doubts about this system of "justice" through a paneled area behind the stretcher made to suffer over each and every execution. where the person(s) who will inject the lethal sub No one has mentioned the "c ru e l and stance into the catheter is located. At this point inhumane" treatment for those who have to carry only the warden, deputy warden, the physician out the death penalty — those doctors and and medical technician and person(s) ad medical personnel who will be perverting their ministering the flow of the lethal substance are in purpose and the prison superintendent and per the room. Witnesses are in a separate room. sonnel who are hired to "rehabilitate" but must • "Once the medical technician has prepared kill. the inmate, the examining physician shall inspect Perhaps if we really must have executions in the catheter and monitoring equipment and Oregon, it should be performed by our highest determine that the fluid will flow into the vein. elected official — the Governor. The Governor is The warden shall read the judgement to the in elected to uphold the laws of the State — and he mate and ask if the inmate has any last comments. is the person who has the power to commute the After such comments, if any, the warden shall death sentence. Let him be the one to make the order the execution to begin. final decision to kill or not to kill. LUTHER By Brumsic Brandon Jr. PEE W E E , YOU'D -E A R N A LOT 5 LIKE MS HARD CO RE, <H0W DO ><00 F i BURE' BEEN AROUND? IF Y O U 'D l i STB n T O WHO'S AROUND1 2OMEBCDT ÔEE n Youvs 1-14 Inmates support private visits (Continued from page 1 col. 3) brace. But no longer than necessary - like about 3 seconds. The inmate must then sit in his assigned seat across a table from his guest, and either to hold hands, or put them in his own lap. He can not put his hand in anv wav on his visitors face, hair, leg or any other part o f their person. " I f during your visit your guest has an emotional out-bust (crying) the inmate is not allowed to give aid at this depressing sight. The inmate must remain in his assigned seat. In no way is the inmate allowed to help. I f the inmate does give aid, his visit w ill be terminated and the inmate will receive a disciplinary report for this major infraction. No physical contact other than the first embrace and kiss is allowed. This is called a no contact system. "Supervision is at its maximum. Each visitor is restricted to his/her assigned seat for the duration o f the visit. Now the only exception is, you can use the rest room, and buy junk foods and drinks. But all o f these things must be done alone. “ Now at the end o f each visit you and your guest are allowed to walk to the doorway and have that last em brace and kiss. But again, you w ill take no longer than three seconds or less.” C hildren, also, are unable to receive affection from their fathers or to share a private conversation. They are put in the position o f com peting w ith th e ir m others and siblings for a few minutes o f their fathers’ time. The inmates propose that ten 12 x 28 foot tra ilo r units be leased to create 20 units w ith kitchen and bedroom. Thus each inmate would have use o f the facility each 30 to 60 days. I f the Legislature does not allocate funds, the inmates propose to finance the units with a use-fee so the facilities would pay for them selves. The State Street Jaycees surveyed 25 other states. California, Florida, G eorgia, Iow a, M a ryla n d , Massachusets, Missouri and North Carolina have furloughs or home leave plans where prisoners can leave the in s tu tio n to be w ith their families. Minnesota and New York have fa m ily visits inside the in stitution. Pennsylvania has programs such as picnics, sports activities, etc. inside the in s titu tio n fo r fa m ily members. OSP Superintendent Hoyt Cupp told the Judiciary Committee that he has no objection to family visits but has other priorities for limited funds. Stating that there are many men in the prison who do not have jobs and having no money w ill "s e ll their bodies for a pack o f cigarettes” , he prefers to spend the prison’ s funds to expand the vocational training program and the prison industries program. He speculated that expand ing the prison industries program, which makes fu rn itu re fo r state agencies, might raise money to sup port the family visit program. Cupp had no opposition to the Legislature passing enabling le gislation and allo w in g the in stitu tio n to find funds when and where possible. 1st Place C o m m u n ity S ervice O N P A 1973 PORTLAND OBSERVER The Portland Observer (USPS 969 6 0 0 1 is published every Thurs day by Exie Publishing Company, Inc.. 2201 North Killtngsworth, Portland, Oregon 97217, Post Ottice Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97200 Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon 1st Place B eet A d Results O N P A 1073 Subscriptions »7 SO per year in Tri-County area. »0.00 per year outside Tri-County Area P o stm a ster Send address changes to th« Portland Observer, P .0 Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97206 6th Place B ast Editorial N N P A 1073 The Portland Observer's official position is expressed only in its Editorial column Any other material throughout tlie paper is the opinion o f the individual w riter or su bm itter and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer H o n o rab le M e n tio n H e rric k E ditorial A w a rd N N A 1073 N a tio n a l A d v ertisin g R ep res en tativ e A m a lg a m a te d P ublishers. Inc N e w York ALFRED L. HENDERSON Editor/Publiaher A’ 3rd Place C o m m u n ity Leadership O N P A 1076 ■“ Ï a« s u m s a 2nd Place B ast E ditorial 3rd Place C o m m u n ity Leadership O N P A 1076 vi Mgt>_____ / NNW Association P E R founded F0M Oregon Newspaper Publishers 'Association The Iasi Congressional elections saw the ousting o f Representative Charles Diggs (D. Mich.) as chair man o f the House Africa subcom m ittee. He was replaced by Representative Stephen Solarz (D. N.Y.). He was ousted as a result o f his legal problems. That same election also saw Senator Dick Clark (D. Iowa) lose his Senate seat to a Roger Jepsen, an obscure Republican State Senator. I f you recall, in last week's column, his name cropped up in connection with the South African influence peddling scandal code named 'Muldergate.* Eschel Rhoodie, the central figure in the scandal and the man who was in charge o f South Africa's sinister efforts at m anipulating American politics, charged that Jepsen was one o f the people who received secret South African contributions to help him defeat Senator Clark who had been one o f South A frica’s betterest critics in the U.S. Congress. Even though there were now more conservatives on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, (Hayakawa had joined so he could speak up for both Rhodesia and South Africa), 1 had been o f the opinion that the di rection o f the committee would not change that much due to the leader ship provided by its new chairman. Senator George S. McGovern. I had, however, expressed strong reser vations about the kind o f leadership Representative Solarz w ould provide. The firs t m a jo r Congressional foreign policy issue has recently shown that I was 180 o ff the mark. The debate in question was over the sending o f a team o f a Congressional observers to Rhodesia to monitor the elections as a prelude to the lifting of sanctions and the resum ption o f trade with the regime to be borne out o f this electoral charade. I expected McGovern, w ith his reputation for liberalism, to oppose this plan, to be able to see it for what it was (or is), a simple ploy to prop up a puppet Black regime while leav ing effective power in the hands o f the whites. I expected him to be able to see that it was designed merely to win international approval so the West could come to the rescue o f the tottering Smith regime and not really change anything as far as Zimbab we’s Black masses were concerned. 1 even expected him to oppose the plan also on the grounds that it would legitim ize an illegal regime and prolong the suffering in Zimbabwe. But, what did he do? He was ac tually one o f the sponsors o f the re solution (along w ith Hayakawa)! And his committee voted 5-1 to send the observers! Thus misled, the full Senate voted and passed the resolution and sent it to the House. The long dissenting vote came from Senator Charles Percy (R. 111.). In the House Africa subcommit tee, Representative Solarz took up the bill and led the fight opposing passage. As a result, the committee, following his good leadership, reject ed the bill by a vote o f 9-0. So, to all intents and purposes, the idea o f U.S. observers at the Rhodesian 'elections’ is dead. Needless to say, this deals a severe blow to Smith's plans and delivers a tremendous psychological uplift to the freedom fighters. We may have lost quite a few lately but, this one big victory calls for a celebration: CHEERS! There has been talk o f sending pri vate individuals but that too seems to be fizzling out. For one thing, they would not carry as much weight as a Congress sponsored team and for another, the time element seems to rule that out. The charade (elections) is due to start in eleven days. W ith out U.S. monitors, the Smith regime w ill fail in its one most crucial objec- • live: recognition by the U.S. and the West and a repeal o f the economic sanctions that have plagued the regime for the past fourteen years. We sincerely hope that McGovern was simply suffering from the effects o f the very severe South Dakota snowstorms. It would certainly be a catastrophe i f this unholy alliance (McGovern — Hayakawa) were to continue to bloom to fruition. To Representative Solarz and his Africa subcommittee, BRAVO! Letters to the Editor Conjugal visits right, not privilege To the Editor: I am a prisoner and have read Deone W ashington’ s thoughts on conjugal visits. A bill to pass this is not going to be all that much help. The prison has different ways to deny any kind o f pass, that is why I ’m writing. They won’ t like this but I believe the constitution states some thing about freedom o f speech. I was married February 9, 1979, our wedding picture appeared in the Statesman and the Oregonian. Someone even gave me a copy from Grants Pass. I have asked for two passes to go and be with him but both were denied. The next time I asked for a pass the person who was to come and get me had to have a police check done before they could even attempt to pick me up. The poor man, in search ing for an apartment he fell on a stairwell because o f his crutches. The last day I saw him he had run out o f money and he came walking on those crutches down the prison road to see me before he returned to Portland to see his doctor. I had put in for a second pass and had talked to him that morning when he told me he was very ill. This was the morning he was preparing to return to Portland. While I was speaking to an o ffic e r, she turned and said, " Is n ’ t that your husband walking down the road?” I looked and sure enough slowly and surely he was on his way to say goodby. We needed that approval on the pass to go get his things packed. I asked for a few hours. I don’ t know if you can picture a man on crutches and the other knee injured trying to pack anything? Can you picture him walking up a long road in a lot o f pain as a car goes right by and sprays gravel on him, never even hesistating to stop. He was very tearful by the time he got to see me, but he came to say he was going back to Portland for medical help because he couldn’ t get any help or find an apartment in Salem. He did not tell me all the time Nuclear rally (Continued from page 1 col. 3) National Lawyers Guild, Southern Oregon Safe Energy Com m ittee, Forelaws on Board, Women’ s Inter national League for Peace and Free dom , Pebble Springs P ro je ct, Oregonians fo r U tility R eform , Colum bia Environm ental Council, Business and Professional People for Sane Energy, Mobilization for Sur vival, University o f Oregon Survival Center and the Hanford Conversion Project. For additional in fo rm a tio n call 222-1963 or 234-6944 in Portland or 287-8121 or 686-4356 in Eugene. we were drinking coffee in the visit ing room that that was his last $2. He told me just before he left. He went in to sec i f I could go help him and it was denied. It took me some time to fin d out the reason why. I was blamed for something another girl with the same first name did. Also because o f a poor floor report. Well, I checked that too — they were all good but two — one for being too depressed and the other fo r com plaining too much. No violence, no uncooperation. Nothing. This is the reason for denial. The prison w ill be angry at me for saying these things but the truth is truth. M y reason was very different. I was taken about ‘/ j hour after my wedding back to the prison. My hus band and I have never been together in any way except the prison visiting room. 1 regard this as highly unfair, our whole marriage so far has been tears. He may not be physically able to carry on a "conjugal visit” but the mere fact o f being together, especially at the first o f the marriage is an imminent factor in rehabilita tion. I have considered the choice of annulm ent due to the prison methods. What good would it do to pass a law that the prison can override with a very simple excuse? A ll these things definitely need to be considered by the Legislature before passing it. I agree it is highly d ifficult to maintain a good attitude or anything else in prison, you on the street do not realize the extreme men tal pressure o f being locked up. The natural processes o f life can not and w ill not stop regardless o f how the body is locked up. As Deone said, the mind still lives. When you arc sentenced the judge does not and is not able to say, “ you got five years, take their brain and put it in storage until sentence is over . . . put the body in the pen.” The "co n ju g a l v is it” is a vital necessity for the retaining o f a good marriage in all areas; from aiding the one in prison, to really putting forth the effort to gain release sooner. Also, I think that the Legislature should enter a clause for all applying for such visits that the prison could not deny. Such a visit may be set up for certain times o f the month, possibly even lim iting where the couple can go. I think people would see a big change in the penal system by taking this particular appeal to heart and see that it is granted. Also it would save on taxes. A few visits with your loved one and the desire to maintain a straight life by visits that are desired by society. 1, as a prisoner, realize what a difference it would make. There would not be the crowding o f the prisons as they arc now and much less problems in the prison. Society is out to save money and this is a sure way o f doing it. Does society want a debilitated per son or a truly rehabilitated person?? A prisoner is what you make them. Other states have “ m odernized” their penal system. Why is Oregon behind? Name withheld by request OWCC 'Survival' explores oppression (Continued from page I col. 6) cry with them every time they are brutally kicked for refusing food — usually in the solar plexus. We rile with them when they castigate this brutal system. Lumps form in the throat when we see what one loving mother has to go through in order to get a pass for her son to get a job. The anguish and hu miliation o f the son as he watches his mother used and abused on account o f him makes one want to turn away. The break-up o f a once loving family as the mother seeks refuge in a bot tle, tears at one’s guts. When one goes looking for a job, the audience cannot help but scream at the runaround he faces: pne has to have a pass in order to get a work permit. To get a work permit, one needs a residential permit. Catch-22: a residential permit cannot be issued unless one has a work permit and a work permit cannot be issued unless one has a residential permit. The dancing, music and choreo graphy that accompany this odyssey through the land o f apartheid will leave many a toe tapping, many a finger snapping and many a tongue clicking long after the performers are back in New York. For me, it was a trip in time; for you it w ill be an un forgettable experience. SURVIVAL cannot be praised, it is its own trium ph. Presented in twelve lan guages: Z u lu , Xhosa, Tswana, Sotho, Pedi, Shangaan, Tsonga, Swazi, Ndebele, English and Afrikaans, it is the most meaningful, the most powerful play I have ever seen, and I have been around quite a long time. Selaelo Maredi has written another play “ Homeland” with Steve Fried man o f New Y ork’s Modern Times Theater. He has expressed interest in seeing that perform ed by a local theater group. Whatever you do this week, don’t miss SU R VIVAL! I f you never see another play again for the next five years, at least see S U R VIVAL. I f you don’ t, you will not only miss one o f the most important plays ever to hit the stage, you w ill also have rob bed yourself o f the most culturally enriching presentations ever. A ll per formances are FREE. "Selaelo, Fana, Themba Lo Seth, Umfana wekhaya uti Am hlope!” (Please see Com m unity Calendar, page6 col. I)
