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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1980)
/ Organizations demand City CETA investigation C At'Av n I community . ■***«, organizations a« • a ■*«- Several - the Black United Front, C R IB, A lb in a F air Share, PO1C, the N ational Business League are requesting investigation o f the City o f Portland's use o f CETA funds and for the resignation o f Employ ment and T ra in in g d ire c to r Joe Gonzales. The organizatio n spokemen charged that few Blacks who do not have skills are trained through C E T A , especially in the Wacker training program. Portland Com munity College holds a contract to a m a I train rfll n f CETA ' B* "Y ~ A t trainees F A t n ~ — fe ^te positions • • a ¿ F at 0 for Wacker under the “ first service” agreement between the City and the company. According to PO1C records, 70 percent o f the persons accepted from that program had high school educations or more. “ These are not the hard-core unemployed that the program is supposed to assist," Ron Herndon, Co-chairman o f the BUF explained. A lso, those C E T A recipients who are not placed at W acker get little m eaningful training or assistance. jaf a m a A I F ¿A ¿-a a a > a • -* a* ¿ 6 was * A L_ civil ._.•_?•__ Also questioned the ser vice o f the City's Employment and Training staff. Several o f the ad m inistrative sta ff are reported to have been on tem porary status which avoids the civil service hiring process. Five top administrators are reported to have been on temporary status from 18 months to 2 years. The group questioned the award o f the training contracts to Portland C om m unity College when com m unity based organizations are available, the procedure for award ing consultation contracts, also, the af a Ha a a , A I — ^J. . _ _ X “^ I private Industry Council, appointed by the City to help get trainees into private industry, is reported to have no Blacks. In related action, Rosemary A n derson, POIC director, received a letter fro m Thomas G. Kelly. Chairman o f the POIC personnel committee and a vice president of Benjainim F ra n klin Savings and Loan, questioning POIC's hiring o f Saul Kelly as Deputy D irector. Kelly is a former city employee. Thomas Kelly wrote that his letter was in response to a telephone call a a from former City Human Resource Bureau director Janice Wilson, ex pressing her belief that hiring Kelly "w ould not benefit the future o f the organization." Saul Kelly has been hired as temporary deputy director, a position that w ill be eliminated when an operations person and a training person are hired Thomas Kelly agreed with Ms. Wilson’s concerns, and advised that extensive recruiting be done for the positions, and that i f Saul Kelly were to be considered former em ployees and C ity references be PORTLAND OBSERVER checked. The implications o f a former City Human Resource Bureau director becoming involved in the selection o f POIC employees, and the tone of Thomas K e lly's response to her telephone call were questioned. "Is Janice W ilson s till running the Bureau? POIC receives tra in in g funds from the Bureau. Mayor-elect Ivancie and federal agencies will be asked to investigate. Gonzales was unavailable for com ment at press time. Volum e XII N um ber 3 October 30. 1960 25C per copy Rooster' attacks drug culture Bv Nyewusi Ask an (Editor's Note: On October 23, 1980, M ichael Roberts, better known to m illio n s o f television viewers as the hip swinging "Rooster“ on the ABC T.V. series "B arelia, ” visited Portland. Mr. Roberts came to Portland at the request o f M r. Dick Glass, N.E. Community organizations and other local residents concerned about plight o f our youths and their in volvement with drugs.) Observer: Welcome to Portland First, lets talk about y o u r new program; what is it about and what motivated you to move into this par ticular direction? Shell) Diehmun. Sanuia Graham end W endy Gay a d m ire sm all s ta tu e p re se n te d to th e ir school fo llo w in g its fo rm a l n am in g “ H a rrie t T u b m a n M iddle School" by the School Board. The nam e was selected through a vote of the students after studying five Black w o m e n chosen in a poll of parents. T h e M id d le S c h o o l o p en this y ea r to serve children of the Black com m unity w ho previously did not have an upper grade school. (Photo: Richard Brown) Jamaica sues American reporter Prime Minister Michael Manley o f Jamaica has filed suit against Edward Seaga, leader o f the Op position Jamaica Labour Party and Anne Sabo, his public relations agent, charging defam ation. The suit charges that Ms. Sabo, public relations agent for Seaga, has used her New York public relations firm to defame Manley and the Jamaican government. The Jamaican government, along with the press o f many Third World nations, has accused the U nited States o f launching a campaign o f destabilization in order to bring about the defeat o f Prime Minister Manley in the upcoming election. Over the past several months there have been many terrorist attacks, murders, bombings and several at tempts on Manley’s life. Roberts. Well, the name of this program you speak of is called Right Track. The name just basically came because I was doing the program belore I had a name for it. I was motivated because one day some people called Universal Studio to see it they could get Robert Blake (Baretta), to come out to their i hs ol and talk to the kids But, Bobby (Blake) couldn't do it because his schedule was too heavy. So they asked me if I wanted to go, and I said yes. I figured at the time, when we were going to do this thing, that we were going to be talking to little kids of course, who were elementary school, but I figured I would go out and tell these kids things like, "d o n ’ t take candy from strangers, cross the green and not in between," because I had done drugs for six years myself, but I never figured that .In other w ords...w hen I stopped doing drugs, I thought everyone else had too. You know what I mean? You jus, sort o f disconnect from that whole en vironment and you really feel that i t ’ s all over now. So, this was what...three years beyond the point where I had actually stopped taking drugs myself. Down at the school I started talking to the kids, and I asked them how they felt about drugs. I got statements like, “ Yeah, they are kool; I like to get high.” Now I am talking about ten, twelve, seven year old kids. This totally blew me away. Like I didn't start using drugs until I was eighteen I smoked my first jo in t (m arijuana) when I was sixteen, but nothing like what these kids were doing one day and was asked, "W hat do you call this p ro g ra m ? " 1 went w ell...er...w e really don’ t have a name fo r it. We just sort o f go around to the schools and we just basically try to get the kids on.the right track. Then I said. " M m - mmm. thats a good name. We’ll call it Right Track and that's how we got started Observer; A re there many celebrities in v o lv e d w ith the program? K ooerts: res there arc. For example, Kenny Rogers, O .J. Simpson, and most recently and the one I am really excited about is Henry Winkler, the Fonz. He sent us a letter. I wish I had it with me. Anyway, what he said was, “ Hey, I dig what you are doing. More power to you.” Then he sent a message to the kids. In essence it said, “ You d o n ’ t need drugs to make it and if you think it is going to help you, you’ re wrong." Then I saw him three weeks later. I mean they were into things like I hadn’ t seen him in two years, and I PCP. They were jumping right in on said, “ Hey man. I want to thank the heavy s tu ff. And i f you are you very m uch...” and he cut me aware o f PCP, you know that it can o ff and said, "A n ytim e .” There is sit in your brain cells and do nothing Bob Hope, John Travolta, Stanley for ten or fifteen years, then all of a Clarke, Chick Corea, Eddie Meka, sudden turn on. So that was the Lawrence Hilton-Jacob and a whole kind of thing that motivated me at host o f other people are involved that point. with our program. I sat down in a radio interview (Please turn to Page 12 Col 3) Accompanying the terrorists at misleading reporting o f events in tacks have been false allegations Jamaica has escalated considerably that Manley is ready to turn his since the announcement that country over to Cuba and that the General Elections w ould be held streets are guarded by Cuban within the years. troops. The government charges “ A study o f these reports in that these rumors are an effort to dicated that certain lies, distortions harm the tourist industry and inten and half truths were appearing in a s ify the n a tio n ’ s economic wide range o f U.S. and Canadian problems. newspapers, which repeated the The October 30th election will test same line carried by the Jamaica Manley’ s socialist oriented govern Labour Party in its local campaign. ment against his pro-U .S . op “ This observation led us to ponent, Seago. suspect that these reports were not The fo llo w in g statement was the result o f objective foreign issued by the General Secretary o f journalists independently arriving at the Peoples National Party: " A s members o f the media are the same conclusions, but that the aware, Jamaica has been subject to media smear campaign was, in fact, a barrage o f unfavourable media being orchestrated w ith a high exposure in the United States and degree o f sophistication. "T his suspicion was confirmed in Canada over the past three to five years. The program o f false and (Please turn to Page 4 Col 3) Masons honor retiring official VERNON C. BUTLER A banquet honoring Vernon C. B utler, 33*, who is re tirin g after serving ten years as Sovereign G rand Inspector General fo r Oregon, A ncient and Accepted Scottish Rite o f Freemasonry, PHA, Northern Jurisdiction, will be held Saturday, November 1st, at 7:30 P .M ., at the Cosm opolitan Hotel. Vernon C. B utler was born Novem ber 19, 1911 in C rocket, Texas where he attended elementary school. M r. Bulter graduated from high school in Stephenville, Texas where he received training in the autom otive fie ld , specializing in body, fender and paint work. He married Alice Thomas in 1939 and the couple moved to Portland, Oregon from San Antonio, Texas in 1946. Mrs. Alice Butler died November 17, 1978. M r. Butler established Butler’s Body and Paint Shop at 314 S.E. Grand Avenue. His shop became well known because o f the ex cellence o f w ork and satisfied customers. He remained in business at that address until he retired on March 1, 1978 - a period o f 32 years. For many years M r. Bulter has volunteered his services to charitable and civic organizations in P ortland and has been an active member o f the community. He is a member o f the Trustee Board o f Bethel A .M .E . C hurch; a past board member o f the Urban League o f Portland; a member o f the Port land Branch NAACP; a member of the Supper C lub; a member o f Acacia Lodge #6 o f Prince H all Masons, F. & A .M . o f Oregon; past Deputy o f the Orient o f Oregon o f the Scottish Rite Masons; a member o f Willamette Consistory #23; and past Potentate o f M ina T em ple (Shrine) #68. The banquet is being planned un der the d ire ctio n o f W illia m B. Odom, Jr., Overseer for the State o f Oregon, and Willamette University #23. A.A.S.R. " It’s all about holding on and pulling up" ex plained popular telaviaion star Michael Roberts to Black youths, during his recant visit to Portland. (Photo: Richard Brown) Indochinese seek friendship By Carol Page W ith the guidance o f C om missioner Jordan, the Northeast N eighborhood o ffic e headed by Edna Robertson, the Indochinese C u ltu ra l Center, and Neighbors Against C rim e, the C om m unity Picnic held on Saturday, October 25th, was an overwhelming success. The potluck picnic had various American and Chinese dishes. The Commissioner was there to answer questions posed by Blacks and H ’mong residents o f the Northeast com m unity. A fo llo w up potluck will be planned for the near future. The picnic was initiated by con cerned members o f the Indochinese and local com m unities stemming from the various crim inal assults upon the Indochinese people in the City. By having the potluck picnic, steps were taken to suppress racial tension among neighbors. Concerned citizens o f the North, Northeast and Indochinese com munities turned out to help make the potluck a success. There were many highligh ts, in cluding the cutting o f a watermelon donated by Edna Robertson, and the listening enjoyment o f Hmong music. O f note in attendance were: Edna Robertson, Ira M um ford, Charles Ford, Vang Sing, Xay Vang, Steve Reder, Anna Street. Sharon M c Cormick, and several Vista volun teers w orking w ith the Refugee Programs. Some o f the main concerns o f the (Please turn to Page 8 Col 6)
