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.
Edgar Cayce Formulae
S andra W llllam e
(■09I3M -7016
P ortlan d. O regon
Open 9 til 9 - 7 deye a week
Complete Car Center
Atlas Products • Towing Service
Domestic and Imported Cars • All work guaranteed