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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 30, 1981)
Portland Observar April 30.1981 Paga 3 Dick courts. Most o ffice rs feel the N orth precinct officer's possum dumping act was stupid at best and agree the patrolm en had a punishment coming, but not term ination. This opened Jordan to unflagging criticism from the Portland Police Association and its leader, Stan Peters. That threw Jordan in company w ith Baker who never has been a favorite w ith longtim e P ortland cops. The reason Baker is criticized almost regularly deserves some ex planation. When then M ayor Neil G o ld schmidt cleaned house at Second and Oak upon his election, he lite ra lly forced a number o f high ranking bureau members to retire. This was to open the top positions in the department to new ideas and a fresh approach. Most o fficers welcomed that change. That meant, however, G old Some thoughts on the trouble beset Portland Police department. Sources tell me the department is in almost complete disarray w ith firs t the “ possum” incident and now the burgeoning scandal sur rounding the Special Investigations Division. The term “ Special In vestigations" is the umbrella term fo r what used to be called the vice and narcotics squad. The conclusion to the incident in which officers placed dead possums in fro n t o f George Powe's Burger Barn restaurant is in a holding pattern. A federal a rb itra to r is examining the case in its entirety measuring the offense against the termination penalty administered by Commissioner Charles Jordan and Police Chief Bruce Baker. I t ’ s my uneducated guess that no m atter what decision the arbitrator makes, the case w ill go on, perhaps to the ogle schmidt needed a new C h ie f o f Police. An elaborate selection process was developed including a week end o f testing at the then existing Congress Hotel. The International Association o f Police Chiefs had a big role in the testing and evaluation. A ll the top Captains who wanted the job could apply and many did. Finally the long weekend was over and there was a winner. The only hang up was that the “ w in n e r” never got the job. Instead o f h irin g the w inner, G oldschm idt went outside the bureau and hired Bruce Baker who was chief at Berkeley, C a lifo rn ia . And what sticks in the craw o f many o ffice rs today is that Baker was never involved in the long weekend at the Congress H otel. He never competed with the other candidates, at least not outside the M a y o r’ s mind. So Baker came here w ith two strikes against him. First he was an outsider and an outsider who had i otten the job without the rigorous c jmpetition. Some o f the candidate Captains were wounded and b itte r. The bitterness engulfed other officers who were never candidates fo r the top job. So, now, when police morale is at an all tim e low and the bureau’ s credibility is the lowest i t ’ s been in the past 20 years, it’s the policies of Baker that many are blaming. For his part, Jordan has been supportive o f his chief but makes it pretty clear that Bruce w ill be held accountable i f there are any more incidents o f extreme police miscon duct. There are many ram ifications o f the possum incident and even more from the scandal involving the nar cotic officers. More on that next week. From the Capitol Congressman Ron Wyden ________________________________________________________ are w illing to assist with social ser time out o f their Saturday morning (E d ito r's N o te : This week Other w orkable self-help ap vice tasks, community improvement Congressman Wyden discusses the proaches include: projects and volunteer programs. need to prom ote self-help ap W ith the d o lla r’ s purchasing proaches to solve our economic and Talent Banka - A throw-back to power shrinking almost daily and social problems.) the old bartering system, this con many o f our existing social Q. Congressman Wyden, in a cept involves trading o f goods and programs hanging by a thin thread, speech at Concordia College this to help raise money for this elderly we have no choice but to rely on that week, you talked about the need to tradition o f solving economic and nutrition program. prom ote volunteerism and other To encourage that kind o f volun social problems with old-fashioned self-help approaches. It is realistic principles o f th r ift and individual teerism, 1 have co-sponsored HR to believe that we can help solve initiative. We simply cannot afford 768 which would allow volunteers to serious social and econom ic to create still more big bureaucracies get the same mileage deduction as is problems with these approaches? now allowed for business (20 cents or expend more government funds. A. The self-help concept is per mile). Currently, volunteers are The possibilities for volunteerism nothing new. Oregonians have been and self-help programs are endless. only allowed 9 cents per m ile. form ing co a litions, holding On Saturday, 1 took part in the Legislation has also been proposed meetings and w orking together to Loaves and Fishes ten kilom eter to allow taxpayers to deduct solve their own problems since we run, which involved hundreds o f charitable contributions whether or became a state. Nationally, studies not they use standard deductions. volunteers and runners who took show that two out o f three citizens HCD advisory committee seeks members have com plained that social p ro grams and community self-help pro grams have not been considered for funding. A tw enty-five member citizen’ s committee will be formed, with five members from each geographic area - N orth, N ortheast, Southeast, Northwest and Southwest - all five at-large members selected by the committee to insure a com m unity wide perspective. Committee mem- The Northeast N eighborhood office is seeking applications from persons who would like to serve on the new Citizens A dvisory Com mittee fo r the C ity Housing and Com m unity Development (H D C ) grant. The Advisory Committee was formed at the request o f citizens who testified at recent H CD hearings. The City is to develop a three-year plan that w ill serve as the policy document and guide fo r deter m ining how the $30 m illio n com m unity development Block Grant w ill be used. These funds are to be used to benefit low and moderate income people during the three years beginning in 1982. In past years the funds have been used in a number o f “ target areas” in the C ity to provide physical im provements such as housing rehabilitation, street improvements, street trees, park improvements, etc. The plans were developed by C ity staff. In public hearings on the plan, this spring and in past years, citizens bers must be able to represent the needs o f low and moderate income fam ilies, the elderly, m in o ritie s, h a n d ic a p p e d , n e ig h b o r h o o d associations, com m unity based organizations, business and eco nomic development interests. The com m ittee w ill meet every tw o weeks, in the evening, from June through October, 1981. Names must be subm itted to the C ity by May 31st. Workshop explores Sickle Cell Sicle Cell Anemia, an inherited disease which affects one in 400 Black Americans, is the subject o f a workshop Thursday, A p ril 30 and F riday, May 1, sponsored by the C hild Development and Rehabilitation Center at the Univer sity of Oregon Health Sciences Cen ter. One in ten o f all Black Americans has the tra it (an inherited genetic ix x x x x x x x v x w x w x x x x x x x x x x x w x x x x x x v M W W r t w w o n INTERESTING FACTS Brought To You Every Week By A MERIC A N STATE BA NK First U.S. postage stamp were a 5 cent Benjamim Franklin for letters going less than 300 miles, and a 10 cent George Washington for letters going more than 300 miles. • Over 97% of all rivers In the U.S. flo w in a southerly direction and no one knows why so few rivers flow in a northerly direction. • Although windmills are always associated w ith Holland, the first windm ills in the w orld were developed and used in Persia. services for other goods or services. This is an excellent way fo r con sumers to receive the goods or ser vices they need w ithout money ex changing hands. Saving P ool* - lnvididuals with small, standard savings accounts are at the mercy o f the ever-rising in fla tio n rate. To help im prove the return o f their savings, they can pool their funds with relatives and friends, purchase money market certificates - and earn twice as much interest. Volunteerism and other self-help approaches admitteldy cannot solve all our social and economic ills. They are, however, a good way to begin. And w ith our budget dollar stretched beyond capacity, we may often find we simply have no other choice. Citizen o f the Week Bob Dabritz, Sixth Grade home room and Social Studies teacher at Boise School, makes sure all his classes experience both the fun and the learning op portunities of outdoor life. This year, in addition to taking every one of his own class to Outdoor School, he also worked to persuade and equip seventeen Asian students, mostly Hmong, to attend. He visited every home to make sure the parents understood. He borrowed sleeping bags and helped with necessary gear. However, this is more than a one-time project. Throughout the year he takes students fishing, tree felling, canoe-building. His room is a museum of things discovered over the years. When the smelt are running in the Sandy River Bob Dabritz can be seen there late into the evening surrounded by excited young Boise students estimating their ''catchl'' Pacific Power BROUGHT TO YOU BY EJfcON G R A N D O PEN IN G Sandy BLVD EXXO N 5636 N.E. Sandy Blvd Portland, Oregon 97213 abnorm ality) fo r side cell disease. Though having the tra it poses no health hazard, a child born o f parents, each possessing the trait, has a 25 percent chance o f having the disease. The w orkshop features noted speakers in the field o f genetics who w ill discuss counseling o f affected families, medical and social effects, hemogobin physiology and biochem istry, and teaching and counseling techniques for the com munity and school. To be held at the Child Develop ment and R ehabilitation Center at the U O H SC , the w orkshop is o f fered to nurses, high school teachers and counselors, social workers, and other health professionals to provide inform ation leading to the fam iliarity with, and understanding o f, sickle cell disease, and related health conditions. The w orkshop, approved fo r credit by the Portland State Univer sity d ivision o f continuing education, requires a basic preregistration fee o f $10. Those in terested may contact the genetics clinic at the Child Development and Rehabilitation Center, UOHSC. "Never cut what you can untie. Joseph Joubert Pacific Power i --------------------------------- . ! Dick Knerr I Station Manager . i____________________ ! May 7, 8, 9,10 — O pen ----- 7-10 Mon. Th. & Sun. 7-12 Fri. & Sat. Phone 288 2881 ----------------------------- 1 THE HERB-INN 3406 N.E. Rodney Medicinal & Culinary Herbe Freeh 6 Dried Herb eeede Low coet veg. e eede Natural body cere prod. 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