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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 13, 1980)
b P o rtla n d Observer M a rch 13, 1980 DO YOU REALLY WANT TO SAVE ON YOUR FOOD BILL? Behind the Walls by Lurry Baker »35(121 David M righi »39816 Assistant Editor O.S.P. Correspondent (□j 17 CFRUITCPIE Hostess E D I TON s N O T E : The d tj/t- cullies don t end at the tittle fo r men serving time at the Oregon State Penitentiary. The days fo llo w in g release are often as trying as the days spent behind bars This is the third purl in a series that looks at the different wuvs Jour men faced the challenges of life outside. says. "H e wants to see it the world's the same as he left it. So you investi gate. You go on expeditions." Pretty soon West was running up against an old way ol hie. I he hie was measured in hustles and had the odor o f heroin. by Howard Goodman Joe Hest: ” / was asking the man, I was begging him, 'Man, I got to have a jo b real bad or I'm going to be in trouble. I know myself. I know it'scorning. Please. ' " Joe West owed himselt a good lim e . f orty months he'd been in prison. A ll that time w ithout a woman, without the sound ol live music late at night, without the exultation ol driving the neon midnight streets. West got out ol Oregon Stale P enitentiary and partied w ith a vengeance. He spent his $100 gate money in 24 hours. And he didn't care. He had a jo b prom ised. His lather had lined one up at the foun dry. His lather had been slogging at the foundry for 20 years. After 20 years, his father figured, the least they could do is give a slot to a man’ s son. But no. They weren’ t taking anyone on. The personnel o ffice told West to try again in a week. It went on that way, West says. He was itching for money o f his own. He was tired o f old friends having to buy the drinks. He was looking for work and not finding it. A ll the chemistry for failure was prepared. W ithin weeks West was com m itting new crimes. W ithin a year he was back in the pen. West is a muscular, oval-faced man. His wide eyes are tinged with red, contrasting with the dark skin ol his lace. His speech is gentle, raspy and articulate. Home is Portland by address, the ghetto by character. At 32, West is better educated than most prisoners. He says he is about 40 hours away from a bachelor’s degree in correc tions. And he has a background o f skirmishes with the law. He lost a big one in 1974. A judge sentenced him to live years in Oregon State Penitentiary for burglary. He did his 40 months. He re turned to Portland, to work at the foundry, he thought, and to live with a niece. ASMAR ABDUL SEIFULLA aka Joe West It was not an easy adjustment, he recalled one day recently in an OSP visiting room. “ I here’s a lot o f fear, man, in a dude. A ll of a sudden you’ ve got to take care of yourself,” he says. " I f a guy’ s got any sense, he’s afraid when he’ s getting out. I f you’ re not afraid, you’re not going to make it. “ I t ’s not necessarily an advantage to live with your fam ily,” he says. ‘ ‘ There can be crowding, there can be these demands they make on you. ‘ ‘ They’ re watching you all the tim e, even when they say they aren’t, looking for tell-tale signs o f regression to bad habits. I f you stay out all night, they think you’re with your old friends.” His relatives acted as though they were owed a psychological debt for having put up with a prisoner. West says. “ It's not a conscious thing, but they lay trips on y o u ,” he says. "T hey’ve been to the parole board lo r you, they’ ve seen the warden, they’ve visited you. When you get out they want to be paid back.” An ex-prisoner, meanwhile, has a natural urge to taste his freedom. “ A guy wants a woman, he wants to party, he wants to see his friends —even if they’ re bad friends,” West “ I just crash the door and show my pistol. I stick them up all over. I ’m just being an outlaw. Soon I ’ ve got them all gun-shy. " I see them on the street. I ’m just knocking them over." It ended with a bust. The police got him for armed robbery. West stood apart, he said. But he West says he was arrested for a was living on borrowed money and crime he didn’t commit and convict tiring ol a thin wallet. He was find ed on fabricated evidence. ing no jobs, though he says he But that s all right, he says. Fair is haunted the employment offices. fair. The police couldn’ t get evi And it one economic system closed dence on the dozens o f robberies he its doors. West knew, he would have to turn to another one. did commit, he says. They couldn’t get any ol the dealers to(lextily. He tried a third time at the foun ‘ ‘ The police do funny things dry, begging this time. when they know you’ re hustling,” " I ’ m tapped out,” he told a per he says. “ They’ re going to stick you sonnel worker. ‘ ‘ I ’ m all the way any way they can—just like I’ll do tapped out. You got to give me a anything I can on my trip .” job. I know what’ s going to hap He drew 18 years at OSP for ar pen.” med robbery. He’s done nearly two “ But he says he can't do noth o f them. ing,” West said. “ I know he’ s lying. Someday he'll lace release again. 1 can see he’ s hiring people. How would he make it different, if “ Now I ’m hot. I see an old friend he had the power? at a clothing store. This is a guy with “ I think release should be more a bag. I tell him I’ m broke. And he’ s caring about a m an,” he says. a friend. He gives me this bag. He “ You’ re out there without money, says I don’ t owe him nothing for it. without people to lean on. I t ’ s a “ And I ’ m back in the life ." trip, it’s a real trip. No one wants to The bag o f heroin was a small- be accountable lor a guy anymore business loan. It was a drug dealer’s once he’s outside the walls. first inventory. West started selling. " I think prison makes cripples of Soon he’d be using. people. Alnd I think it ought to help ‘ ‘ Now I ’ m on my w ay,” West a guy become as independent as says, remembering that first bag. possible. "N ow I ’ m back on the way to the " In the ideal situation,” he says, grave.” “ I ’d like to live by myself a couple The money was immediate. West of months, work-free. A guy's got says. Within four or five days o f his to have time to unwind—emotion first sale, he rented an apartment ally, physically, spiritually to un and bought new clothes. He was a wind. I ’d lake my time and really man about town again. look for a good job. If I had a place ‘ ‘ Rags to riches, ’ ’ he says. to stay by myself for two months, He was snorting at first to be rent and food paid for, I could do it. sociable, he says. W ith in two to " I he state can keep the hundred three months, he was pretty well bucks. I hat's pocket change. hooked. “ A lot o f guys do real well in "W here I come from —the ghetto prison,” he says. "O u t of prison, —everybody’ s snorting dope,” he it’s like Mars. says. " It's hard to make a connec "M en go to work every day in tion with any other kind o f life. here, they learn to converse real "W h o ’ s got time for an ex-con? well on social problems. They nour There’s not that many humanitar ish m this incubator. A ll the nutri ians out there. Who's got time for ents are fed in. He needs a good an ex-con except another ex-con?” leeling, he sees the priest. He can't Using, he had finances to meet. get love, but there’ s a lot ol brother He dusted o ff a slew o f old skills— hood. robbing cash registers, short-chang “ Then the adm inistration says ing merchants. Ten dollars here, out you go,” he says. twenty there. Then, for real money, ” I hey could give you a print-out he robbed dope dealers. when you leave with some phone "O h , I'd be robbing dope dealers numbers and addresses. It you need right and le ft,” he said. " I t ’s easy. lood, here’s the food stamps. If you These are people who can’ t go to the need a job, here’ s a number that police. could help. II you’ re just lonely and need someone to talk with, here’s a number. "B ut they’ re so busy getting you o il the sheet, they don’ t have time, man.” © € We offer savings of up to 40% and more on fine quality wonder and Hostess products, plus large discounts on other baked goods. Besides our every day low prices, we feature in store specials daily Just look for the "bar gain" signs on the displays in our store Discover for yourself what thou sands of smart shoppers in the area have found. You'll be amazed at the savings you make at our Wonder Thrift Shop! Food stamps gladly accepted SATISFACTION GUARANTEED You m ust be com pletely satisfied w ith every purchase or we w ill cheerfully refund your purchase price WONDER-HOSTESS THRIFTSHOP 115 N. Cook St. Corner of Vancouver b Cook St., Portland. 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U f Taylor opana gift» for Moore Street Center’» kitchen. < Because a volunteer worker had noticed, during a kitchen assign ment, that the Center was prac tically devoid o f utensils to properly prepare a meal, friends and neigh bors o f The Salvation Army Moore Street Com m unity Center, held a kitchen shower recently. The Cen ter’ s kitchen is now stocked with an ample supply o f utensils. The shower, sponsored by the H u m b o ld t N e ig h b o r h o o d A ssociation, was held in mid- February; the volunteer worker was M adeline Nosbush, Association Chairperson. Besides giving us all these beautiful kitchen utensils, says Ms. Nosbush, ‘ ‘ the neighbors got to know each other and also had an opportun ity to see The Salvation Arm y's big community center and its heated swimming pool.” Currently, staff at the center is conducting a feasibility study to determine whether there is a need for an expanded program o f Senior activities in the neighborhood. For inform ation on the current Senior program or the schedule o f the hours o f use for the heated pool at the center, phone Elizabeth Taylor, 282-2572, or call in at The Salvation A rm y M oore Street C om m unity Center, 5430 N. Moore St. EXODUS '4 dlucafisnaf a n e / fâeedet 1518 NE KILLINGSWORTH PORTLAND. OREGON 97211 284 7997 EXODUS MARCH The House of Exodus youth program will be a major part of the agenda, of the local alcohol conference, to be held at the first Congregational Church, 1126 SW. Park, Portland, Oregon, on March 20, 1980 between the hours of 8:30 am and 4:00 pm. This conference is sponsored by the Local Alcohol Planning Committee (L.A.P.C.) of Multnomah County Oregon. Other agenda subjects are: WORKSHOP STYLE A- Organizing a prevention program in your geographical area. B- Alcohol abuse and family dynamics. C- Main streaming youthful substance abusers into the labor market. D- Alcohol education: Drinking values clarification for adolescence. Even though this conference will more than likely be represented by those who are providing services to the various communities of Portland, I am en couraging those citizens, especially those citizens with teenage children to attend. Get involved, we need your input... Thomas Boothe, Ph D
