School Board offers voluntary desegregation plan
The P ortland School Board's
desegregation/integration committee
has completed the preliminary draft
o f its long awaited “ comprehensive
desegregation plan” and will present
it to the School Board next Monday
night.
The new plan w ill require heavy
recruitment - heavier than that now
practiced, according to Board
Chairman Frank McNamara. The
plan is dependent on a large number
o f Black children leaving their
neighborhood schools and equal
numbers o f white children volun­
teering to attend schools in Albina.
Emphasizing that the plan is en­
tirely voluntary and w ill provide a
choice for every parent, the commit­
tee spent the weekend revising and
reworking the plan submitted to it by
Superintendent Robert Blanchard.
Although two options - with alter­
natives - will be presented, the only
major change w ill be the establish­
ment o f a middle school at Boise or
E lio t and the possible move o f
C olum bia/W hitaker Middle School
in to the Adams H igh School
Building.
O p tio n One w ould place a
“ magnet” middle school at Eliot,
with no resident population but open
to approximately 700 middle school
age students from throughout the
city.
If that option is selected, a middle
school w ill be established at Chap­
man, in Northwest Portland, with
students from Chapm an, Boise,
E liot, and parts o f Hum boldt and
King assigned to that school with the
o ver-flow going to a new m iddle
school at H ayhurst in Southwest
Portland. Theoretically any o f those
students could opt to attend the Eliot
magnet middle school. Boise would
become an Early C h ild h o o d
Education Center.
An alternative to that plan would
place a middle school at Boise —
forming a cluster with Chapman and
A in s w o rth . Boise low er grade
children w ould be assigned to
Chapman ECE or A in s w o rth
Elementary School and upper
graders from the three schools would
have a m andatory assignment at
Boise.
Option Two makes Boise a middle
school serving 6th through 8th
graders at Boise, w ith enrollment
open to white students. Couch would
become an ECE with Metropolitan
Learning Center, now housed in that
building, going elsewhere.
An alternative would place a mid­
dle school at Boise with mandatory
assignment o f Chapman and A in ­
sworth upper graders. Boise K in ­
dergarten through 5th graders would
go to a new ECE at Eliot and the
Eliot follow through program would
move to Couch.
Under O p tio n One W oodlaw n,
Vernon, King area 1 and II upper
grade students would be assigned to
Columbia/W hitaker. The King area
I I I students w ould go to the I r ­
vington and Sabin clusters.
An alternative would close Colum-
bia/Whnaker and place the program
in the Adams High School building,
adding King, Sacajawea and Scott
students. A second alternative would
be to use Adam s and W h ita k e r
school buildings as separate middle
schools. Adams High School Stud­
ents would be assigned to Jefterson,
G ran t, M adison and possibly
Roosevelt.
A lth ou g h the com m ittee was
adamant about its desire to insure a
vo lu ntary plan, Herb Cawthorne
repeatedly suggested that the
program is not truly voluntary it no
space exists fo r Black children in
their own schools so they have to be
recruited o u t. C u rre n tly more
students are assigned to C olum -
bia/W hitaker than the building can
hold, so Black children are sent to
other schools. In the new plan, there
would s till be too many children
assigned to C o lu m b ia /W h ita k e r
(unless Adams is used). King, Hum­
boldt and the new Chapman middle
school.
Frank M cNam ara suggested a
mandatory cluster o f Boise middle
school, Ainsworth elementary school
and Chapman ECE, on a pattern
similar to that at Beaumont-Sabin-
( Please turn to page 2 col. 4)
PORTLAND OBSERVER
V olu m e 9 N um ber 46
N ovem ber 22. 1979
100 per copy
U S P S 9 59 680
Wilson named outstanding young woman
Zoe Wilson has been chosen as a
1979 Outstanding Young Woman.
Ms. W ilson achieves this honor
through outstanding service to her
community.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama,
Ms. W ilson is a graduate o f I r ­
vington Grade School and Monroe
High school. She attended Oregon
State University and Portland State
University.
ZOE W ILSON
cy’s press representative.
Since July o f 1975, Ms. Wilson has
been a Personnel Assistant at the
State Department o f Commerce. She
coordinates and implements the A l-
firmative Action program and works
in all aspects o f personnel.
Ms. Wilson's volunteer activities
are many. As co ordin ato r o f the
1978 Employee Cancer Campaign
she collected more c o n trib u tio n s
She was first employed by U.S.
than ever before in the department's
N ational Bank, where she was a
h istory. She was the firs t non­
forms designer in the Systems De­
medical person to w ork as a
partment. From the bank she moved
pregnancy counsellor at the Marion
to Xerox C o rp o ra tio n , in the
County Health Department Family
customer service department. Her
Planning C linic, where she volun­
duties included resolving customer
teered.
complaints.
She has held several positions in
Other employment included ser­
the Salem Branch, N A A C P , and
vices as an Avaiation Inform ation
received N AACP awards for mem­
Representative for the Port o f Por­
bership and O utstanding Fun­
tla n d , where she researched and
draising in 1976, 1977 and 1978.
wrote papers on “ Career A ppoin­
One o f three finalists for the City
tments at teh Portland International
o f Salem, Human Rights C om ­
A ir p o r t . " She assisted in the
m ission’ s 1978 Human Rights
development o f a program to assist
Award, she was also nominated for
passengers at the airport, conducted
the Salem Human Rights C om ­
tours and represented the Port at
m ission's 1979 Roberto Clemente
conferences. She later was a‘ J|* Humanitarian Award. She was selec­
Customer Service Clerk at United
ted by the Pacific Northwest Con­
Airlines.
ference o f Black Public Officials as
Ms. Wilson worked as an In fo r­
one o f the Potential Black Leaders
mation Director at the Department
for the 1980s.
o f Energy where she initiated and
Ms. Wilson is a member o f the
edited the m onthly newsletter,
Assemblies o f God Christian Center
“ Energy ro-dale” and developed an
in Salem and the W illiam Temple
Church o f God In Christ in Por­
tland.
Ms. Wilson is the daughter o f Mr.
and Mrs. Artie Wilson, Sr. and the
grandaughter o f Mr. and Mrs. Frank
Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Benjamin
Daniels. Her brother is Artie Wilson,
Banneker, Frederick Douglass,
Jr., o f Honolulu.
Sojourner Truth.
Ms. Wilson wishes to dedicate her
Garrett A. Morgan, M artin Luther
award as O utstanding Young
King, Granville T. Woods, Harriett
Woman o f America to her grand­
I ubman, Marcus Garvey and Joe
m other, Mrs. Annie W. Daniels,
Louis.
who died on November 7th. “ She
A reply to the request has not yet
has and always will be my inspiration
been received.
and was truly an Outstanding Young
W oman."
Black United Front asks Black street names
The Black United Front has ad­
vised Steve Keebaugh, City Engineer
o f the Portland Bureau o f Streets of
its desire that several Northeast Por­
tland streets be named after
prominant Black persons.
In a letter dated November 12th,
Co-chairmen Ronnie Herndon and
Reverend John Jackson said, “ As
Black residents o f Portland, we have
observed there are very few visible
expressions o f pride w ith in our
community. Such a fact is unfortun­
ate because we have made numerous
c o n trib u tio n s
in
P o rtla n d ,
th ro ug h ou t A m erica, and the
world.”
Among the names suggested are:
BEN TALLEY
Talley heads Multnomah Region
Ben Talley, manager o f the Port­
land Albina Human Resources Cen­
ter, has been named Manager o f the
M ultnom ah Region o f A d u lt and
Family Services Division by division
administrator, Keith Putman.
Talley has been with the Depart­
ment o f Human Resources since
1977, first as the department's A ffir ­
mative Action O fficer and then as
the Resources Center Manager.
From 1973 to 1964 he was the Parent
Involvement C o o rd ina to r fo r the
Portland Public Schools. P rior to
that he was associated with Portland
State University, Portland Residen-
lial Manpower Center, the YW CA
and Portland Model Cities Program.
He is a graduate o f the University
o f Portland, Portland State Univer­
sity and Blackstone College o f Law.
As Manager o f the M ultnom ah
Region for Adult and Family Ser­
vices Division, I alley w ill be respon­
sible for managing the region's bien­
nial budget ($230 m ill ion), super­
vising 540 staff located in eight field
offices throughout the county and
managing the delivery o f programs
and services associated w ith the
state's public assistance, food stamp
and medical programs.
George Page: Master of video
H v Stephanie L. Michael
The use o f video tape is being used
in a gammet o f manners. No longer
is electronic news gathering soley
used by contm erical television
stations. Video tape is now used by
co rporations, advertising firm s,
hospitals and many more agencies.
One o f the newer uses o f video
tape has been in the industrial area.
Presently in Portland there are about
six companies that handle industrial
video tape productions. One o f those
companies is Tele-West Associates,
P.O. Box 06432.
George Page is manager o f Tele-
West Associates. The agency is stal­
led by two three men crews and two
ilespersons. At this time the video
tnpany does nothing but industrial
numerical film ing. Page says the
ncy is limiting itself because there
still so many quirks o f the in-
mstrial industry that needs to be
displayed.
“ We don't do alot of work out of
the slate, because we're still trying to
concentrate on the Oregon industry.
We have two mobile vans that could
take us around easily, but the in ­
dustrial video field is still relatively
new." said Page.
" I 'v e been in the broadcasting
business since I was 16 years old.
I hat means I've been in the business
lor about 21 years Over the years
I've learn to film a good production
piece in three hours, which would
take most companies three to five
days to do.”
Before Page went into business lor
him self, he worked as a Direc-
tor/producer for a local Portland TV
station. Page says he was one o f the
few Black broadcasters in the city.
" I decided to leave the TV end o f the
business after a dispute with my past
employer; that particular dispute is
still in the courts. I wanted to be my
own individual and I knew I was
needed in the m arket as a
professional.
“ The malice and prejudice in the
in d u stria l sales area is not as
prevelent as the media industry.
Each station here in town from my
perspective, hires a limited number
o f Blacks. I f you are fire d by a
station or want to transfer over to
another station it w on 't happen.
White broadcasters can flow from
station to station, but Blacks are
uninterchangeable here in the Por­
tland m arket. Black women arc
really dispised. A Black journalist
can get easily black listed. When a
Black broadcaster comes to Por­
tland, I te ll them to either fin d
someway to get in the market or
leave tow n. Possibly i f a Black
broadcaster gets here when the
stations arc going through their
cleaning house cycle they may gel
hired, at least for a short while. Most
of the lime, il a Black broadcaster is
too Black, by that I mean confident.
and too qualified, they’ re going to
tell you you’ re over qualified. That
was my problem here in Portland."
George Page, who is now 37-years
old started his business in 1975 with
little or no money. He worked for
almost two years with no equipment
o f his own. During that period of
time he contributed to several com­
m unity organizations and broad­
casting stations. He’ s acted as a
volunteer for former station KQIV
and is now w orking as a DJ fo r
KBOO radio. At station KBOO 90.7
on the FM dial. Page plays blues,
jazz and other popular Black music
from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. every Satur­
day. He is known as the “ Master
B la ster," around the city o f Por­
tland.
Presently Page and a group o f
local Black residents are putting
together a film p ro d u ctio n . The
movie entitled "Street L ife,” will be
submitted into a national film and
video festivals. Page says very few
images o f Blacks are protrayed
th ro ug h ou t Am erica. He says he
plans to create and help distribute as
many video and film works produced
by Blacks in Oregon as well as the
rest o f the country. He says the film
and television industry must come to
learn that it will take several things to
put on a Black production, besides
just having Black actors. Page says
in order to have a Black production,
( Please turn to page 13 col. I )
In the spirit of Thanksgiving members of Jack and
Jill of Am erica. Inc., Portland Chapter, gathered in
the M a tt Dishman center to prepare boxes of fruit
and canned goods for the Nicholas Care C enter The
c e n te r, o p e ra te d hv R e v e re n d Ivors Ni bolas is
lo c a te d on N o rth e a s t C i i o i r '
(Photo Richard Brown)