V-,
Portland Police Bureau faces brutality suit
Persons who claim to have been
harassed or abused by P ortland
police officers are organizing to file a
class action suit against the City o f
Portland.
Ernest Owens told the Observer
that he and others are planning a suit
in U S . District Court that is inten­
ded to bring about a federal in-
vestigation o f the Portland Police
Bureau.
" I have talked at lenght with legal
counsel and we will soon be ready to
file. I've been very surprised by the
number o f people who have called
me since the story about how police
officers abused and falsely arrested
me appeared in the Observer last
w e e k ," he said. "M a n y , many
people have had similar experiences
with the police. Elderly women say
they are stopped and asked for ID
while walking to church. Children
say they have been pulled o ff their
bicycles and questioned. Any woman
on the street can be accosted and ac­
cused o f being a prostitute.”
Owens said several o f his friends
have told him that they had been
harassed but they had never reported
the incidents.
" It's very frustrating. People are
afraid to complain and when they do
nothing happens. Chief Baker and
Commissioner Jordan say it isn’ t
happening. Either they don’ t believe
it or they can’ t do anything about
it. When we take them into court and
prove it -- then they will believe it.”
Owens wants police officers who
intimidate, harass or abuse citizens
removed from the force. "T he police
are necessary -- they have a job to
do. In may work with the Juvenile
Court and the C ity Park Bureau I
PORTLAND OBSERVER
work closely with many police o f­
ficers and they are trying to help
young people. But those who are
bothering and beating innocent
people need to go.”
I ersons interested in discussing
the proposed suit can contact Owens
at 287-1974.
Volumne 9 No. 40
October 11,1979 10«
USPS969 680
Coalition votes to continue work
OENTl EMFN START YOUR????
Damon Harris, Jason Norris and Desmond Faison
Photo- Richard Brown
Cable TV comes to Portland
by Stephanie L. Michael
M e tro p o lita n and suburban
residents will soon get a chance to
have more to say about television
programming in Oregon. Liberty
Cable Television, 025 S.W. Sherman
Street in Portland, w ill open five
television channels strictly for public
use.
use.
Charles Atkins, Community Ac­
cess Coordinator will be heading the
division. He says his job w ill be
dealing with direct programs to allow
area residents, civic groups and
p ublic or private in stitu tio n s to
produce and televise their own
programs fo r local cable d istribu ­
tion.
" I 'm the fellow who w ill be
recruiting and educating community
fo lks to the p otential uses o f
television. Each group or person will
be allocated tim e fo r th eir own
needs. These five open channels will
be to ta lly devoted to public-local
programs,” said Atkins.
" In the early and middle 1970’s
the Federal Communitcations Com­
mission required all cable television
franchises to provide a public access
station. It is no longer required for
cable stations to do that any more.
Liberty Cable feels that the public-
needs a voice in- Portland and the
surrounding area. That’s why we will
provide this service free o f charge.
All I want is community input, feed­
back and participation.”
C oordinator A tkin s says cable
television in a quasi sense is probably
the fourth TV network. He says each
franchise operates independently in
programming, but all draw from
each other
from
the same
programming pool
“ Cable television is a market I feel
more and more people will subscribe
to. My staff and I are still identifying
individuals and organizations that
may want to use our production
facilities. Its up to me to find these
interested people and train them.
The training include script writing,
camera techniques, technical direc­
tion, building sets and many more
things. There has aways been a kind
o f mystique given to broadcasters
and the industry in general. I think
that era is finally slipping away. I
believe that no longer that domain
w ill belong soley to commercial
stations and to TV journalists.”
A tkin s says the five channel
outlets will be providing not only a
service to community residents, but
also the television industry. He says
the 24 hour stations will give him a
chance to experiment with the arts.
He feels community groups will let
the a rtist com m unity provide
television with crafts and performing
arts, much more so than commercial
CHARLES ATKINS
The C om m unity C o a litio n fo r
School Integration voted Wednesday
evening to continue it existence,
although some members recom­
mended that it either discontinue or
become inactive.
The Coalition was formed in the
summer o f I977 in response to at­
tempts by the Portland School Board
to further restrict the attendence o f
Black students in neighborhood
schools.
Com prised
of
ap­
proximately 40 organizations as well
as individuals, the Coalition studied
the history and effects o f school
desegregation in Portland. Finding
discrimination against Black children
and an uncoordinated, crisis oriented
desegregation effort, the Coalition
published its findings and recom­
mendations as “ E q u ity fo r the
Eighties” and made specific recom­
mendations to the school board in
January o f 1979. Although some o f
the fringe recommendations were
adopted, at least in spirit, the central
recomm edation o f desegretation
through school pairing was rejected
F ollow in g the school Board's
rejection, small C o a litio n sub­
committees met with school person­
nel around issues in the report.
Dissension arose when Superinten­
dent Robert Blanchard, in a memo to
the School Board, suggested
Coalition approval o f his "reduction
o f scattering” scheme. C oa litio n
members claimed no knowledge o f
the content o f the meetings and no
approval o f Blanchard’s plan.
The Coalition reorganized, plan­
ning to research adm inistrative
response to the School Board’ s
resolutions
on th eir
report.
However, while waiting for district
response to their request for infor­
mation, the impetus was taken by the
boycott plans o f the Black United
Front. The Coalition also suffered a
loss o f Black leadership to the BUF.
In its September meeting, the lack
o f Black participation was noted and
the advisability o f continuing to meet
discussed. A determ ination was
made to change meeting nights to
avoid conflict with the Front and to
further discuss plans for the future.
Three organizations that have
played leading roles in the Coalition -
- Schools for the City, the I.eague o f
Women Voters and the Ecumenical
Ministries, have since petitioned the
School Board for assistance in put­
ting on a series o f public forums
designed to acquaint the white public
with the desegregation/integration
issue.
Members o f Schools for the City
were the most vocal in the effort to
disband the Coalition at the Wed­
nesday meeting.
This group - led by Julie Sterling,
Bob Shoemaker and Helen Casey --
spoke for either disbanding or put­
ting the organization on hold - with
a small executive committee that
could meet at its own discretion.
Others felt the C oalition should
remain organized, meet as required,
and offer to assist the BUF and the
School Board.
Ruth Spencer told the group that
some Of them want to disband the
Coalition because they are unable to
w ork
w ith in
the fram ew ork
established by the BUF. “ Some o f
you are turned o ff by what has hap­
p en ed ." She said, "T h e School
Board has stated that the BUF had a
right to make demands because ap­
parently something was wrong. I f the
School Board can accept it, you
should be able to accept it. Some o f
you have feelings that the Board did
nothing fo r the C oalition but was
forced to do something for the Black
United Front — that you were some­
how pushed aside.”
“ I f you were not sincere when the
C o a litio n began, you should go
home. I f you were sincere, nothing
(Please turn to page 11 col. I)
Good Samaritan goes to jail
“ I was cabling my bicycle at N.W.
17th and Glisan about eleven in the
evening, intending to go into Fren­
ch’s Tavern when I overheard two
young men, Dave Reuber and Craig
Austin talking with police officers” ,
Herschel Soles, assistant to State
Representative Wally Priestley, told
the Observer.
"D a v e and Craig were ob­
viously upset about having been
asked to leave the tavern without any
reason given. Dave was obviously
under the influence o f alcohol and
u n w illin g to accept O ffic e r Loy
Parkerson’ s e xplaination o f the
la w .” As Soles approached the
tavern, he saw the o ffic e r push
Reuber away from him and say,
“ Stop shouting in my face!” He con­
tinued pushing Reuber toward the
corner “ with the apparent intention
o f luring Dave into a physical brawl.
He issued threats o f arrest and jail
while demanding acts o f submission.
’ shut up' and ‘stand up against the
wall.’ ”
Finally, after being pushed for
about tw enty feet, according to
Soles, Reuber fell down. Soles and
Austin followed to the corner. When
the other officers arrived and it ap­
peared that Reuber w ould be
arrested. Soles offered to be a wit­
ness and asked fo r the o ffic e r’ s
badge number.
Immediately he was grabbed by
another o fficer, pushed against a
squad car and handcuffed. He was
told to put his head on the trunk and
when he did not do it q u ic k ly
enough, his head was pushed down.
He asked the officers to allow him to
retrieve a m irror he had dropped but
his pleas were ignored.
Soles said Austin was standing by
quetly watching when he was thrown
to the ground and handcuffed. His
fed. His glasses were lost.
A t the M ultn om ah C ounty
H o ld in g F a c ility , Soles reports,
Reuber was drug along the
pavement, resulting in a large
scraped area on his abdomen. In the
elevator he sunk to the flo o r.
Another officer told him to put his
head on the floor and when he did
not, the officer placed his foot on
Rcuber’ s head, forcing it to the
floor.
No charges were brought against
Soles or Austin.
“ It was a frightening and shocking
experience - one you thought could
never happen,” Soles said. He wrote
to Commissioner Jordan, saying,
“ Dave is needlessly being pulled into
the legal process and burdened with
the expense o f legal defense because
o f the arro q u ie tly w atching whe
Loy Parkei thrown to the ground an
in uniform , he would have been a
candidate for arrest.”
television. A tk in s says table
television with particular reference to
local organization channels (LO) will
help produce better television
programming in Portland as well as
better news, sports and feature
material.
"P u b lic access channels in the
future will help provide a source of
(Please turn to page 8 col. 3)
ACT-SO seeks youthful artists
The Portland Branch, NAACP,
A fro-A cadem ic C ultu ra l Techno­
logical and S cie ntific Olym pics
Com m ittee act-SO) is recruiting
Black youth in the ninth through
12th grades to compete for local and
national prizes in the I980 ACT-SO
competition.
In itiate d in I978 by Executive
Director Benjamin Hooks, ACT-SO
encourages excellence in academic
and cultural disciplines, by providing
a forum for young people to express
their skills and creativity in a spirit of
friendly competition with positive in­
dividual and com m unity re in fo r­
cement.
Portland entrees fared well in last
year's national com petition with
Carl Edwards and Anthony Nunly
placing first and third in their areas
o f excellence. Edwards won a gold
medal and $l,000 for his bust o f
King Tutenkamen; N unly won a
bronze medal and $250 for his archi­
tectural drawings o f a Washington
High School addition.
High school counselors, churches
and other community organizations
are assisting the program by inviting
young people to submit their names
for application either through the
high school counselors or directly to
the committee.
The Portland competition will be
held in May, while the national finals
will take place at the I980 NAACP
National Convention in Florida in
June.
Students may apply at the ACT-
SO kick-off meeting to be held on
October 24th at Benson High School
from 7 :(X) p.in. to 9:00 p.m.
Categories o f competition are:
The Arts and Humanities: Paint­
ing, drawing and sculpture, Original
composition o f poetry, playwriting
and essalys; Performing Arts, acting,
dancing, music.
The Sciences: Original or Dupli­
cate Experiments in Electronics and
communication; energy; other scien­
ces.
Social Sciences: Debate, Ethnic
historical study and research, ethnic
contemporary study and research.
Lor additional information con-
lact ACT-SO chairperson Gladys
McCoy at 248-5219 or 286-8159.
Metropolitan Family Service Homemakers were
swarded for five to thirteen years of service to Port­
land area families and the elderly. The Recognition
Meeting especially honored nine women who have
worked for ten years or more. They are: Ruth Brun-
Ro* wnari« Greenwood, 10 years
Lucille Thomas. 10 years: Veesie Langataff. 13 years:
Althea Harden. 10 years: Clarice Krauee. 10 years:
Celia Nugent, 10 years; Rosemary Durrow, 12 years
Not pictured: Lorane Thomee. 10 years.
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