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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 24, 1979)
Ura Frances Schoen -” ew3paper Peom U n iv e rs ity o f Oregon L ib ra ry t.ugcne, Oregon L74O3 NAACP president repudiates Economic Council L u d o tu Hicks, President o f the Portland Branch, N A A C P , has bean named by the C ity o f Portland as one o f the members o f the Inner N orth east Economic Council. Hicks said he is not and has never been a mem ber o f the Council. “ I don’t know why my name has been included when 1 was not asked and did not agree to join the Coun c il,” he said. ” 1 don’t know why they w o u ld m a lig n m y nam e by saying I am part o f the Council. How can I be part o f the Council when the N A A C P is suing the C ity over this issue. That makes me look bad and could make me lose credibility in the com m unity. People w ill n aturally w onder i f I ’ m jo in in g the other side.” Hicks said he intends to con sult his attorney regarding the mat ter. H ic k s said he had received a call from H ovee regarding corre spondence he had not received and that he later received letters in viting him to jo in the Council, but that he .lid not respond. " I think it is highly unethical for anyone to use my name w ith o u t my permission simply because they invited me to participate. A lso, i f they want an organization like the N A A C P to be represented, they should ask that o rg anization to name a represen ta tiv e , not choose som eone fo r them .” ” N ot only have I not agreed to participate, but I have suggested to others that they boycott it ,” Hicks said. ” 1 consider the Council a sham, a way to do what the C ity already plans to do and to give it some c re d ib ility by putting it before a committee from this area.” Hicks explained that the Council’s jo b has been defined by the C ity, that the M ayor chose the members, and that its m ajor task is to rezone the area to p erm it in d u s tria l expansion. The work will be done by City employees and the funds w ill go to C ity bureaus. " I don’ t sec any money in this proposal for the community. When the Council is through, a year or more from now, will there be funds to carry out their proposals? O r will the federal money be spent elsewhere while this committee is still looking for sites?” The Council does not intend to address the needs o f the community - - em ploym ent, tra in in g , housing, social services. It will not devise a plan to enhance the area or assist com m unity people and, according PORTLAND OBSERVER to Hicks, it will have no community support. T h e N A A C P , the N orth w est M in o rity Contractors Association, the A lb in a W o m en ’ s League, the O rego n A ssociatio n o f C olored W om en's Clubs and United Black Front have sued the City o f Portland and the U .S. Department o f Com m erce, charging th at fed eral req u irem ents fo r in p u t from minorities were not met. The case is expected to go to court June 11th. Volume 9 No. 20 Thursday. May 24.1979 109 U 8R SN B 4B 0 Outlook "grim and dim" Nuclear delay threatens PP&L First pictures of tha assembled princesses of tha of Grant; Kathy Corrigan of Roosevelt; Soledad Qref- 1979 Ross Festival Court show tha girls from Port of Washington-Monroe; Mary Smurthwaite of land area high schools as they tour tha City's river Lori Qrewe of Lincoln; Rochelle Anderson parks. of Marshall; Cathy Leaverton of Cleveland; Julene This year's Court has throe princesses of Afro- Bankston of Jackson; M ary Ferguson of St. Marys; American harltaga, Dovl Porter of Jefferson High and Zeena Pliska of Franklin. School, Lori Smith of Wilson and Lynn Talton of Roearla's Queen of the Court has not yet been Adams. Other court members are Margaret Walters chosen. OSU sabotaging track coach? by Calvin O .L . Henry O n M a y 16, 1979, Ray O a u lt, sports editor for Corvallis Guzeffe- Times. reported that “ Steve Sim mons has told his Oregon State U ni versity track team that he will resign as Beaver’s head coach.” Oault went on to quote OSU Athletic Director Dee Andros, " I can’t blame him for wanting to talk to his squad first. He did infer that he was going to turn in his resignation, but I have nothing o ffic ia l.” One can't help but wonder why Gault seems to suggest in his report ing that this may be a victory for him and Andros in forcing Simmons to resign. W hy? B ut, should such a resignation take place, isn’t it a vic tory for tradition and racism? But who is Steve Simmons and what is he doing at Oregon State University? This question was raised when Simmons was hired as OSU head track coach in 1976 and every year since 1976. Again, why? Steve Simmons is Black and is a human being. H e and his wife live in C orvallis and have tw o children. Analysis Prior to becoming OSU head track coach three and a h alf years ago, he was the head coach at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo for five years. Simmons came to O SU with a national and in te rn a tio n a l re p u ta tio n as a track coach. H e has maintained, indepen dently, these connections inspite o f O S U a th le tic p ro g ra m . H e is professional and independent, but a p o litician he is n ot. A n d no or doubts his ability to coach track. Simmons replaced Berny Wagm who resigned as O S U track coach i 1976 in order to coach track and i administrate other athletic progran in Saudi A rabia. When he came t O S U , Simmons was met with apath and open o p p o sitio n w ith in OSI c o m m u n ity. A n d he assumed th helm o f a track program that was ci s u b s ta n tia lly . H e had no pai assistants and only 1116 scholarship to b u ild an instant cham pionshi track team . Yet Simmons is con stantly being compared to Wagner. Wagner is no longer overseas, an some OSU alumni want him back a track coach. A n d it appears tha Gault is operating from this basis. OSU's loss to the University o f Orc gon during a recent dual track mee by some 91 points appears to be th (Please turn to Page 5 Colum n 1) Lobdell proposes rate hike, no hearings John L o b d e ll, newly appointed Public Utilities Commissioner, met with residents o f Northeast Portland Tuesday night to discuss his pending decision to allow Pacific Power and Light C o. a rate increase without public hearings. The meeting was called at the request o f several P ortland area organizations, after Portland was left out o f the Com missioner’s schedule o f four forums. P P & L requested a 15 percent rate increase, to increase revenue by $39.5 m illion. The Public Utilities Commission staff recommended an increase o f 11.5 percent, raising the company’s rate o f profit from 9.18 percent to 9.91 percent. The public hearings procedure would result in the increase taking place in about N ovem ber of 1979. L o b d e ll suggested that the public hearings be eliminated and that the company be allowed an increase o f 7 percent to begin June 1, 1979, a profit increase o f 9.29 percent. Thus, a smaller in crease would be spread over a longer period o f time, providing a savings o f approximately $1.9 million to the rate payers but giving the company i to the money. the proposal not to request another increase until M a y , 1980. collected between December o f 19 Lobdell is seeking the opinion o f the and January o f 1979 will have to rate payers. returned to the customers w ill I Bill W arren, o f the P U C staff, ex determined by a suit filed by co p lained th a t since 1974 P P & L ’ s sumers. rate increases have risen faster than Father Bill Curtain o f A lbina Ft the lo cal cost o f liv in g index. Share urged the Commissioner Although he gave the percentage in p ro tect the p u b lic ’ s rig h t i creases for each year - 20.7 percent scrutinize the perform ance o f tl in 1974, 11.5 percent in 1975, 14 per u tility com panies. Sister Sidn< cent in 1976, 16.7 percent in 1977 - asked that he support a bill to dei he was unable to provide the dollar the utilities the right to cut o ff powi amounts o f the increases. H e did if that endangers life or health. St admit, under questioning from the said Portland General Electric mat audience, that since the percentage 18,000 shut o ffs last year, 150 increase is based on the rate o f the month in Portland. previous year, larger and larger In response to the question c amounts o f money can be raised whether every household and sma from smaller percentage increases. business should have the right t W a rre n exp lained th a t energy essential electricity at a reasonabl costs are not related to the cost o f ra te , L o b d e ll re p lie d th a t unde liv in g , th at energy companies in Oregon law he has no authority t general and P P & L in particular have address social issues. H e believes h a different set o f problems — invest can address an inverted rate structur ments in nuclear and coal plants have (lo w e r cost per k ilo w a tt h ou r t raised costs. customers who use small amount: H e said that although Measure 9 rather than the current lower rates t was passed by the voters and requires large users) only i f it will result i th a t costs o f fa c ilitie s not yet conservation o f energy. producing power not be charged to M ary Shuman o f the Rate Payer the rate payers, electric rates have Union, asked why not hold hearings not been lowered to exclude those " W h y would the utilities prefer t< costs. W h e th e r the e x tra money (Please turn to page 2 col. 4) S ta tin g th a t the p ro b le m o f nuclear waste disposal is a terribly serious matter that is a proper topic o f public attentio n, D on Frisbee, President o f Pacific Power and Light Com pany, asked the Senate C om mittee on Energy and Environment to avoid taking an "ab ru pt action” that could eliminate the options open to P P & L in developing future power. Frisbee te s tifie d on H B 2750, which would mandate a moratorium on new nuclear plants until a federal depository for nuclear waste, and SB 898. SB 898 would allow the rate payers ( if approved by the voters) to absorb the costs o f Pebble Springs providing the utilities decide not to build. Frisbee said the fall out o f 2570, which is estimated to delay construc tion fo r approxim ately ten years, would be to leave Oregon’s private u tilitie s — P P & L and P o rtla n d General Electric — unable to com pete w ith com panies fro m other states fo r capital investments. N o tin g the need fo r nuclear generated electricity, Frisbee said the nation faces serious shortages o f oil, and although natural gas is more p le n tifu l, prices w ill rise. T he outlook fo r new supplies o f elec tricity he called “ grim and d im .” P P & L w ith its partners in the Pebble Springs nuclear plants — P G E and Puget Sound Power and Light, filed its intent to build in 1972 with completion o f the 1.2 kilowatt plant planned for 1981. Seven years later " w e are virtu ally now here.” Frisbee expressed the opinion that i f P P & L could have forseen the future, they m ig h t have m ade d iffe re n t plans, but they still are not sure there were other options that would be ac ceptable to the public. There is a mood in the county — a proliferation o f regulatory agencies — that is not conducive to building new power producing plants. T o d a y Pebble Springs is at a standstill, but to meet regulations o f the siting agencies and to pursue a site certificate, the three companies have spent $ 230 m illio n — $79 m illio n belongs to P P & L — and “ millions more are on the h oo k.” A n extension o f ten to twelve years would put its survival in serious jeo p a rd y , Frisbee said. Besides the millions spent and promised, there would possibly be penalties for can cellations, building costs would in crease, and the 8.5 percent interest would more than double the cost. Passage o f H B 2750« he predicted, would result in term ination o f the project. Term ination would so destroy the companies* credibility and debilitate their credit standings, that they would find it extremely difficult to find in vestors or to get credit. I f Pebble Springs were a b a n doned, and P P & L ’s $100 m illion in vestment not charged to the rate payers, but written o ff the books, it would "virtu ally eliminate P P & L as a viable agency.” Frisbee conceded that a one year moratorium pending an investigation o f the Three M ile Island accident (Please turn to Page 2 Column 4) Irving Park Liberation Day site O n M ay 26, 1979 Black people in Portland will be supporting African 'L ib eratio n Day by having a march and rally at Irving Park from 1:00-6:00 p .m . Besides supporting our people in A frica we also want to demand decent jobs for Black people in Portland. For the last six years Black people in the U nited States, Canada and West Indies have celebrated African Liberation Day, on this day special attention is given to our Brothers and Sisters in A frica who are still fight ing to free themselves from white rules. South A frica (A zania), Rhode sia (Z im b a b w e ) and South W est A frica (Nam ibia) are the countries still illegally ruled by white people. In Portland we want to inform as many Black people as possible about what is happening to our people in A frica and we want to raise the issue o f high unemployment among Black people in Portland. U n e m p lo y m e n t am ong B lack workers who are over 24 years old ranges between 25 and 3W», and unem ployment among young Black people in Portland is close to 60% . Job dis crimination is still being practiced by Portland’s C ity Government, M u lt nomah County’s Government, and the Oregon State Government. W e are all aware that Black people are routinely discriminated against by Oregon businesses, industries and unions. High unemployment is helping to destroy our families and community. W ithout decent jobs our community becomes more susceptible to crime and drug a d d ic tio n . O u r young people are faced with not ever having the opportunity to have worthwhile employment that will allow them to adequately support themselves or th eir fam ilies. I f this problem is going to be changed we will have to change it ourselves, what few gains we have made in this country have come about because we were willing to struggle for our rights. Individuals and organizations are urged to join in African Liberation Day. The march to Irving Park will begin at 1:00 p.m . in the parking lo t o f the K in g N eig h b o rh o o d Facility on N .E . 7th Avenue. The rally will begin at 1:30 in Irvington Park. Everyone can take these few steps toward freedom. "Let us march on til victory is w on!” Bill repeals death penalty by Byron Hayes Public testimony on a repeal o f Oregon’s death penalty was heard Wednesday in the Senate Energy and Environment Committee. The death penalty was approved by the voters in the November election but most o f the testimony was in favor o f repeal. The first witness testified “ urgent ly and strongly” in support o f re peal because human life is at state: innocent people have been convicted o f capital crimes and have later been found innocent and released. Studies d one on the effects o f council (private attorney, public defender or court appointed attorney) indicate that "th e poor are most likely to be executed” . A rep resen tative fro m the Fellowship o f Reconcilliation stated that "th e death penalty is a relic o f savagery that condones for society what would be murder for the in dividual.” It is murder even if the term “ putting to sleep” rather than " k illin g ” is used. Bud Morrison gave testimony in dicating that the death penalty might en cou rag e, ra th e r than d eter, hom icide. H e talked w ith LeRoy M cG ay, the last person executed in O regon. W hen asked why he had killed a woman and her 18 month old daughter, he said. " I wanted to die and did not want to kill myself.” Senator Ted H allo ck concluded testimony by showing an F B I chart w hich c o rro b o ra te d M o rr is o n ’ s (PLease turn to page 2 col. 5) Member« of O.8.P. UHURU, Black cultura club, assist Willamette Council of Camp Rra, Inc. of Salam. Joe Brown move« box of litera ture for Executive Dlractor Qlad Mlnlkan. as Mark Qarrlson and Qian Stop watch through tha door. (Saa story on Paga 6. Photo: Dave Wain traub, courtesy of Statesman Journal newspaper.)
