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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1981)
Portland Observar M arch 19.1991 Paga 3 ogle Dick By Dick Bogle H erb C aw thorne is a busy, busy man. Not only is he in the middle o f a heavy campaign to retain his seat on the P ortland School Board, but he has a fu ll time jo b as director o f the O ffic e o f Special Services at Portland State University. “ I t ’ s no secret th a t P o rtla n d schools face a tremendous financial c ris is ,” C a w th o rn e says. “ When there’ s a financial crisis, the Black c o m m u n ity ’ s program s w ill be severely hit. We use education as the fundam ental driving force to make progress so we shouldn’ t want any th in g to happen to weaken the educational system because when th a t larger system weakens, it weakens us.” He says that i f the school levies d o n 't pass, Blacks w ill lose some o f the kindegarten program s, the im provem ents in the early ch ild ho od education p ro gram and perhaps a n um ber o f o th e r im p o rta n t programs that it took a struggle over the past ten years to o bta in . That, he says, would be “ tragic.” “ People are going to have to ac cept fin a n c ia l cu tba cks and th a t means we are going to have to look fo r d iffe re n t ways to achieve some o f the same goals. That means in novative programs that would bring together teachers, a dm in istrato rs, parents and c o m m u n ity represen tatives to provide the same q ua lity o f education,” Cawthorne says. School closures are sure to hap pen here in Portland and Cawthorne feels it was a slap in the face o f the Black c o m m u n ity by the School Closure C om m ittee when it recom mended the closure o f two East side high schools, A dam s and W a sh in gton -M on roe , both having large Black enrollm ents. He thinks th a t decision w ill cause severe problem s in the next six o r seven months. C aw thorne says he is ru n n in g a hard campaign for the school board despite the fact that his opponents stand very little chance o f unseating h im . He says no m a tte r w ho o p poses h im , he should run a good, stron g cam paign so th a t people know who they are voting for. He sees a n o th e r b e n e fit to a stron g and w ell o rg an ized cam- Murder in Atlanta (E d ito r’s N o te : Below is a state ment by U .S. R epresentative Ron W yden on the m u rde r o f Black children in A tla n ta , to be included in Congressional Record) M r. Wyden: It hasn’ t been very long since we untied yellow ribbons as our hostages returned from Iran Now we are w itnessing a new sprouting o f ribbons fo r an equally serious crime against Am erica - the murder o f 20 children in Atlanta. These murders have riveted atten tion once again on the rising rate o f crim e th ro ug h ou t the n atio n . This wave o f crime, in a very real sense, has made each o f us feel as i f we are hostages in o u r own homes, o u r neighborhoods, our cities. The fact that these ch ild re n are Black make the murders no more or no less im p o rta n t th a n any o the r crime. But the failure to stop more murders from occuring and to ap prehend the kille r or kille rs are un derstandably re k in d ly resentment and bitterness in o u r Black co m m u n ity - a co m m un ity that knows all too much about being a hostage in their own land. President Reagan deserves pfaise fo r taking steps to assist A tla n ta ’ s p o lice o ffic ia ls in th e ir in vestigation. His e fforts have helped ease mounting tensions in the A tla n ta com m unity. I have agreed to co sponsor legislation by my colleague, M r. C lay, fo r an a p p ro p ria tio n o f $1.5 m illion to beef up police efforts to tra c k dow n the k ille r o f these c h ild re n . M y th o u g h ts and hopes are w ith one o f our friends, form er Portlander Lee Brow n, as he leads these efforts. I o me, the issue runs fa r deeper than m erely a conern fo r ram pant crim e in the streets. W hat bothers me is the waste o f human potential these killings - and all violent crimes - produce. O f these 20 c h ild re n , one may have g ro w n up to be the scien tist w ho discovered a way to harness solar energy so it is affordable in all our homes. Another may have been a d o c to r w ho saved lives. S till a n o th e r may have excelled in the arts and given us an in sp irin g play or novel. And yet another may have been a h a rd -w o rk in g fa th e r and friend to his children. W e’ ll never know because these 20 children are lost forever. T h e ir loss robs A m e rica o f p ro d u c tiv ity fo r the fu tu re . It d im in ish e s o u r chances to make a b rig h te r tom orrow. Regretably we w ill never stop all v io le n t crim e. But we m ust move quickly to solve this particular crime against the c h ild re n o f A tla n ta , against the com m un ity o f A tla n ta , against the Blacks o f A tla n ta - and the rest o f the nation. I f we fa il, o u r fa ilu re w ill sym bolize much more than faulty police work. It w ill symbolize that the very fo u n d a tio n s o f o u r society arc c ru m b lin g , and th a t o u r great ex perim ent o f men and women livin g in a free society at peace is in terrible jeopardy. Did Haig read his security report? ( E d ito rs N o te : Last m onth, Secretary o f State Alexander H aig announced that fo rth co m in g U.S. p o lic y in El S alvador w ou ld be based on a massive W h ite Paper w ith some 47 pages o f appended d ocu m e ntatio n. W h ile the con clusions o f the W h ite Paper were w ide ly discussed, and the p o licy initia tives it claimed to ju s tify were sharply c ritic iz e d , no one has yet p u b lic ly questioned the W h ite P aper’ s actual d escrip tio n o f the contents o f the docum ents them selves. John Dinges, a W a sh in gton , D .C ., based w rite r w ith extensive experience in Latin America, under to o k an exhaustive stu dy o f the: docum ents fo r P a cific News Ser vice, cross-checking them w ith the description provided by the W hite Paper and State D epartm ent o f ficials, as well as additional in te lli gence reports available to the A d m inistration but not included in the W hite Paper. Dinges found d istu r bing d isp arities between the allegations o f the W hite Paper and the contents o f the docum ents on which they are allegedly based. His analysis dem onstrates how the documents themselves refute the in terpretation o f an escalating Soviet co nfron ta tion w ith the U.S. in our own fro n ty a rd . M r. Dinges, co author o f the book Assassination on Embassy Row, w orked in C hile from 1972-78 as a stringer fo r Time, W ashington Post and the Peru- based Latin America Press.) Bound between s tiff brown paper covers, complete with photo inserts, title pages, glossaries o f terms and tra n sla tio n s, the inch and a h a lf packet is e ntitle d "D o cu m e n ts Demonstrating Communist Support o f the Salvadoran Insurgency. ” The meat in the package is a co lle c tio n o f 20 docum ents in Spanish captured from Salvadoran guerrilla hideouts, 47 pages in all o f handwritten jottings, aide memoirs, minutes o f meetings typed on paper torn out o f spiral notebooks. T his is the o rig in a l law in t e lli gence upon w hich the State De p artm e n t and the Reagan A d m inistration based its W hite Paper released F ebruary 23. There was n oth in g secret about the data: one documents reveal that the guerrillas’ hundred copies o f the docum ents Communist Party representative en were released to reporters along countered a co ol reception in with the W hite Paper. Moscow, and was deeply concerned The captured documents are in that Soviet “ indecisiveness” m ight tended to prove the Reagan A d jea po rdize any prom ise o f arms m in is tra tio n ’ s co nte ntio n that the made by other socialist countries. Soviet U n io n and In te rn a tio n a l * A c c o rd in g to a C arte r A d Com m unism are sponsoring armed m inistration Latin America expert, aggression in A m e rica ’ s fro n ty a rd , Robert Pastor, much o f the in fo r and ju s tify the firs t dispatch o f mation used in the W hite Paper w^s Am erican troops as advisors into a in U.S. hands before Reagan took combat area since the Vietnam War. o ffic e , and had been taken into ac But do they? co un t in earlier p o lic y decisions. Leaving aside the m atter o f their W hile an increased arms flow was a a u th e n tic ity , they unquestionably key fa c to r in C a rte r’ s decision to demonstrate that socialist countries resume shipments o f U.S. weapons have supported the e ffo rts o f the to the ju n ta s h o rtly before he le ft Salvadoran opposition to overthrow o ffic e , the documents did not alter the c o u n try ’ s ru lin g C iv ilia n - the conclusion o f experienced m ilita ry ju n ta , and th a t immense C arte r analysts th a t the g u e rrilla s quantities o f arms and am m unition were an indigenous m ovem ent, were on th e ir way at the tim e the largely independent p o litic a lly o f Salvadoran guerrillas launched their outside forces. offensive in January. The documents — read lite ra lly - But these very same documents - portray a period o f nearly a year in in a d d itio n to o the r intelligence w hich the Salvadoran o p p o s itio n reports a vailab le to the Reagan was gearing up p o litic a lly and A d m in is tra tio n w hich were not in m ilita rily for the January offensive. cluded in the W hite Paper - provide A relatively haphazard co alition o f conclusions that fall far short o f the g u e rrilla forces and c iv ilia n A d m in is tra tio n ’ s p o rtra y a l o f El p o liticia n s forged a united general Salvador as an arena o f East-West com m and called the U nite d c o n fro n ta tio n in w hich the U .S. R e vo lu tio n D ire c to ra te , obtained faces the challenge o f the Soviet arm s, lo g istica l and p o litic a l Union. backing from so cia list co un trie s, The W h ite Paper charges that p a rtic u la rly th e ir c h ie f allies some 800 tons o f arms were N icaragua and C uba, then con prom ised to El Salvador, and )hat fro n te d serious supply bottleneck 200 tons were delivered to the in problem s and fin a lly launched an surgents by the tim e o f the o ffe n o ffe n sive th a t sputtered in to sive. The captured documents them isolated skirm ishes and sabotage selves, however, provide evidence o f after 10 days. far lesser quantities promised or in None o f the documents, however, shipm ent — and in d ica te th a t o n ly ind icate a nyth ing but groups o f about 10 tons ever actually crossed Salvadorans o rg a n iz in g th e ir own the border. revolution. I f the Soviet U nion and • M oreover, b attle field evidence Cuba were pulling the strings behind gathered since January, in clu d in g the guerrilla movement, as Secretary the statements o f a captured o f State A lexander H aig has N ic a r a g u a n s o ld ie r - t u r n e d - charged, evidence o f such control is in fo rm e r, fa ils to c o rro b o ra te the not to be fo un d in any o f the cap W h ite Paper p ic tu re and, in fa c t, tured documents. reveals th a t the g u e rrilla s were The State D epartm ent W h ite forced to depend on re la tiv e ly an Paper says that the documents show tiq u a te d rifle s and o the r weapons “ com m itm ents (b y the socialist purchased on the in te rn a tio n a l countries) to supply the insurgents black market. nearly 800 tons o f the most modern • In contrast to the Reagan inter weapons and equipm ent (and) the p re ta tio n th a t the Soviet U n io n covert d elivery to El Salvador o f masterminded the arms tra ffic , the (Please turn to Page 9 Col 3) e 4 speaking. So, he began to read a lo u d speeches by M a r tin L u th e r King and, Malcom X and others. He researched the h is to ry o f o ra l tra d itio n back to A fric a and at the same tim e remembered that when Blacks came to th is c o u n try as slaves, reading was pro hib ited and th a t we a ll became dependent on oral communication. He sees a c o n tin u a tio n o f th a t stron g o ra l u n d e rsta n d in g and facility. He says after reading aloud to his students, many o f them were encouraged to read m ore a bo ut famous Blacks. When asked i f he plans to pursue higher p olitical o ffice in the future, C a w th o rn e s im p ly says, “ I d o n ’ t know what the future holds as far as p o litic a l o ffic e . I ’ m not reailv con cerned about it at the present time. I ’ m m ore concerned about serving on the b o a rd and c o m p le tin g the work I ’ ve started there.” He said, “ The key to progress in o u r co m m u n ity is good aggressive c o m m u n ic a tio n and th a t alw ays tra n s la te to some degree in to p o litic a l a c tiv ity and I guess th a t’ s how I ended up where 1 a m .” X X Newhall - A track record of community support: • Fought for Harriet Tubman Middle School • Consistently supports strong basic skills for students • Voted for increased parent involvement in neighborhood schools • Will fight for balance in school closures Newhall - An independent voice for the whole community. Vote for Sarah Newhall for School Board - Position #1 Supporters include: White Paper disparities It all began while the 33 year old C a w th o rn e was te ach ing at the U n iv e rs ity o f O reg on . He noted m any o f his B lack students were weak in reading and w ritin g s k ills because o f p o o r high school p re p a ra tio n . But these same students were strong in listening and paign. He has been very visible in the Black c o m m u n ity and has organized through the churches and c iv ic o rg a n iz a tio n s so th a t Black people can have im p a c t on the overall community. He is also urging his supporters to vote fo r another candidate fo r the school b o a rd , Sarah N e w h a ll. C a w th o rn e says she w o rke d fo r “ us” when we re a lly needed her help and i t ’ s real im p o rta n t fo r the Black c o m m u n ity to understand that when people help us politically, i t ’ s im p o rta n t fo r us to retu rn the favor. C a w th o rn e spends some o f his free tim e w ith his w ife Joyce and th e ir three c h ild re n ; A le na , Elise, and Jon, but there always seems to be time fo r him to work on his oral h is to ry p o rtra y a ls o f fam ous Blacks, such as W .E .B . D u B o is, M artin Luther King and others. Nick Barnett Herb Cawthorne Rev. John Garlington Lillian Herzog Leon T. Johnson Committee to retain Sarah Newhall for School Board. Gretchen Kafoury Neil Kelly Armando La Guardia Vesia Loving Bob Nelson Edna Robertson Ruth Sponcer Raul Soto-Seelig Betty Walker Commissioner Charles Jordan Jay Delman, Treaaurer, 419 NE Hazel Fern Place. Portland 9T232. Roy Henderson’s switches will be a fuel-saving success. They’ll save PGE customers more than $772,000 a year. Within the next few years, Roy Henderson, PGE's Fleet Manager, will help save PGE customers more than $772,000 an nually. He's in the process of switching PGE's line trucks from gasoline to diesel fuel. When the systemwide conversion is complete, the 110 line trucks that consume up to 35 gallons of gasoline a day at $1.20 a gallon will be using only 12 to 15 gallons of diesel fuel a day at $1.00 a gallon at today's prices. That will be a savings in fuel alone of more than $772,000 a year. The total effort also includes switching from nearly all remaining 6 and 8 cylinder service cars to mostly fuel-saving 4 cyl inder models. These are savings that mean a lot right now and years later. Electricity costs are going up everywhere, it's not just here. Both private and public utilities throughout the country are facing soaring prices. Higher equipment costs, fuel costs and interest rates have every one on a tight budget. And the rapid increase in new customers in our service area is another strain on our existing supply But, at PGE, we are for tunate to have people like Roy Henderson working hard to keep costs down for customers wherever they can. People who care. rGE People with cost-saving •deas for you r
