r
1
For the children o f A llama and fo r
all children who are hungry, suffer
and live in fear.
Cawthorne plan saves Adams, Jefferson schools
Herb Cawthorne moved .Monday
night to halt the expected closure of
Adams High School. Cawthorne
said his motive was to save the fine
facil ity a! Adams and io protect Jef
ferson from overcrowding.
The proposed closure o f Adams,
w ith the assignment o f students
from W oodlaw n, F ranklin and
possibly Vernon to Jefferson, and
the closure o f W’ashington/Monroe
with assignment o f King, Boise and
Eliot to Jefferson, would create an
attendente area with 2493 students.
The Jefferson building has a
capacity o f 1700 students and cur
rently includes 199 magnet program
students.
The Adams and Jefferson atten
dente area contain the second and
third largest numbers o f students in
the d istrict, although a large per
centage o f those students attend
other schools.
During the past ten years it was
the policy o f the district to recruit
Black students out o f the A lbina
schools in order to replace them
with white pre-school children for
the purpose o f desegregation. A
situation was created where there
was not room in the schools for the
neighborhood children, requiring
heavy recruiting o f ‘ ‘ administrative
transfers’ ’ because the schools were
filled, students who did transfer out
could not return to their neigh
borhood schools.
The desegregation plan adopted
last fa ll reversed that policy and
provided space for every child that
wants to attend the neighborhood
school.
In light o f that policy, Cawthorne
asked how the board could justify a
pian that wouid over enroll Jeffer
son to the point (hat 1,000 students
w ould have to be recruited out.
‘ ‘ Does that not create the kind o f
pressure that necessitates making
sure that Black children don’ t go to
Jefferson - that a huge percent don't
go to Jefferson?”
This overcrowding will lead to the
perception that Jefferson is not a
good school, he said. It is necessary
to say that Jefferson is not a good
school to get the Black students out.
‘ ‘ They would not consider over
enrolling Lin co ln or W ils o n ,”
Cawthorne told the Observer. They
have over enrolled Black schools to
force the students out fo r
desegregation. I f they want to
desegregate let then over enroll Lin
coln and Wiison; let them have just
one school on the West side. Then
they could force white students out
o f their neighborhoods and let them
do the desegregating.”
Saying he is no longer interested
in numerical quotas or percentages
o f Black students, Cawthorne
recalled that many Black students
from the Jefferson area attend
Washington/Monroe and Jackson,
schools now slated fo r closure,
“ and I hope they return to Jeffer
son.”
Cawthorne proposed that Adams
be retained and pledged to assist the
com m unity to rebuild the school
program . He also recommended
that the magnet programs at
W ashington/M onroe, previously
Monroe High School, be transferred
to Adams since many o f the girls in
those programs are from the Jeffer
son, Grant and Adams areas.
He also proposed that only
W ashington/M onroe and Jackson
be closed, and that further study be
done before closing a th ird high
school the following year.
Cawthorne said he has received
considerable support from parents
o f Monroe students.
A more controversial proposal
was to establish the Tubman Middle
School at Boise’ s building and to
assign Boise’ s 6th through 8th
graders to Tubman. Boise’ s Pre-K
through 5th graders would go to the
E lio t b uilding . The new E lio t
building could house the Boise and
E lio t resident students and ap
proximately 100 transfer students.
Opposition to the Boise site came
from
Ronnie H erndon, Co-
chairm an o f the Black United
Front, at the Tuesday night public
hearing. H erndon asked that the
promise to place Tubman at the
Eilot site be kept and that Boise be
retained as a Pre-K-8 school.
Reverend John Jackson asked that
before a decision to place the school
at Boise is made, the community be
involved in the decision.
Ed Washington, Chairman o f the
(Please turn to Page 7 Col 3)
PORTLAND OBSERNER
USPS 959-680-855
™
Sykes represents Jefferson
PRINCESS VENESSA SYKES
Representng Jefferson High
School in the Rose Festival Court, is
Venessa Ranae Sykes, 17-year-old
graduating senior.
Participation in the Rose Court
has been a long time dream o f
Venessa, who twice was in the finals
lo r Jr. Court selection. Represen
ting Jefferson is especially exciting,
since she is very proud o f her
school.
When enrolling at Jefferson as a
freshman, Vanessa set four goals
for herself: National Honor Society,
Rally, Jefferson Dancers and P rin
cess. Now she has achieved all o f her
goals.
A student in the Performing Arts
Program, Vanessa is a member o f
the Jefferson Dancers and the Per
form ers G roup. She has been a
member o f the rally squad for three
years. She also is class Historian.
Vanessa is on the advisory board
o f the N o rth /N o rth e a st M ental
Health Clinic - representing young
people. She teaches Sunday school
at (¡race and Truth Church and has
been active in March of Dimes fund
raising.
She participated in Debutante
1981
She plans to attend the University
ol Oregon, majoring in performing
arts and communications.
She is the daughter o f Earl and
M a rilyn Sykes. She has a sister,
(. armen, 19, who is a freshman at
Southern Oregon College and a
younger brother. Lari, Jr., 11.
Police meet with citizens
A public forum w ill be held
Monday night. May 18, at 7:30
p .m ., at King Neighborhood
Facility.
Proposals will be submittedto the
Police Bureau on May 23rd, 9:31)
a.nt., at Bourbon Street Restaurant.
The purpose o f the meeting, ac
cording to Nyewusi Askari o f the
Observer, who w ill chair the
meeting, is to review the inform a
tion acquired at the three preceding
forums, consider citizens’ concerns,
and develop a series o f recommend
ations to be presented to the police
bureau. Among the areas to be dis
cussed are police hiring and tra in
ing, citizen complaint procedures,
abuse o f force, directions for
■humane policing of the area.
. Police o fficers met with cotn-
% unrry members last Saturday:
Donald W arren, Ray Jones, Sgt.
l ari Johnson, Detective Tony New
man, and Captain Dennis Daley.
Donald Warren expressed his in
terest, as a Black officer, in serving
the com m unity. He is at times
criticized by peers because he
spends "to o much time” with com
plaints. Sgt. Johnson attempts to
train the 23 officers he supervises by
spending time with them. Since their
conduct is a reflection on him, he is
sensitive to complaints, he said. He
considers police to be hindered in
the Black com m unity by lack o f
assistance from persons who are
aware of Black on Black crime.
Detective Newman feels there is
not an adequate com m itm ent to
hirin g Blacks and that two-day
seminars in human relations do
little to change police attitudes.
Training should be continued, with
continued emphasis " fr o m the
to p ." The only way to affect which
o ffice rs is to have them w orking
with Black officers.
O ffic e r Ray Jones, a 17 !zi year
veteran, said his role is to “ protect
you" and that “ nobody is out there
arresting people because they are
Black.” (.'ailing police “ minorities”
he explained the isolation police feel
when they are rejected by friends
because o f their jobs. He estimated
only 10 percent o f Blacks are
criminals. He "has nothing against
Blacks” but does not approve o f the
"tw o list” hiring system that would
enable more Blacks to be hired
because the Black o ffice rs m ight
never be accepted by their peers.
Captain Daley newly assigned
head o f Community A ffairs, called
the police bureau a “ service organi
z a tio n .” Daley came under fire
when he disputed the firing o f two
police officers who threw possums -
saying he was not sure it was racist
or vicious. He did not believe that
incident would have a bearing on an
o ffic e r ’ s judgement in deciding
whether to shoot and kill. As for the
firing, “ Should the baby be thrown
out with the bath?”
Among the concerns expressed by
citizens were the attitude o f officers
toward Blacks, lack o f commitment
to hirin g Blacks, lack o f o p p o r
tunity fo r citizen participation in
policy making.
ACT-SO: No excellence?
by Pam Smith
The date May 6th; the time 7:00
p.m.; the place the Willamette Cen
ter dow tow n; the event, the final
Portland ACT-SO com petition.
This is the awaited night when the
Portland representative w ill be
selected to compete in the national
competitions in Denver, Colorado
. . . only no one was chosen.
One could sense the excitement
upon entering the auditorium. Par
ticipating students roamed the lobby
along with their parents, coaches,
and friends anxiously awaiting the
performances which students had
spent the last few months perfec
ting. The students whose works
were not in the area o f performing
arts were also able to exhibit their
projects as they were attractively
displayed on tables outside the
auditorium.
It was time fo r the program to
start. Master o f Ceremonies, A rt
Alexander o f KOAP Radio, began
the show by introducing 1981
Chairperson Commissioner Gladys
M cCoy. She delivered a b rie f
welcome and explanation o f ACT-
SO and a sincere appreciation for all
those who participated in this year’s
event. That was follow ed by a
prayer by Reverend L. Fisher
Hines o f Bethel AM E Church.
I t ’ s finally over. The program was
enjoyed by all who attended and
participated. Now comes in te r
mission time. Students gathered in
the lobby w ith their fam ily and
friends wearing smiles. Congratu
lations were being expressed every
where you turned and the students
were eagerly awaiting the moment
when the awards would be given out
and the 1981 national competition
announced an honor that each
participant had hoped for.
A fte r 15 minutes or so o f inter
mission, people started entering the
auditorium as music from the
Broadway hit musical “ The W iz”
and music o f other great Black
artists provided a pleasant back
ground.
I hat 15 minutes was just the
beginning of the waiting that was to
come. A rt Alexander explained
several times to the audience that
the judges were having an extremely
d iffic u lt time m aking a decision.
Almost 45 minutes went by before
the judges fin a lly emerged from
their room.
No one would have ever guessed
what words Commissioner McCoy
was going to speak as she ap
proached center stage.
Unlike her opening address, this
one was not b rie f and one could
sense from her tone o f voice that
something was strange. She again
thanked everyone for participating
and explained that everyone was a
winner simply by virtue o f the fact
that they had gotten themselves in
volved in this Olympics of the Mind.
But the sudden, penetrating shock
came when she staled that no one
was going to the nationals because
the judges had decided that no one
was excellent enough. The ex
planation was that the judges had
made a criteria which stated that all
those students scoring total points
above 9() in each o f the four major
categories w ould be judged to
determine who the overall winner
was, and thus the national represen
tative. Each o f the students received
a copy o f that crite ria the night
before the final competition at dress
rehearsal. Com m issioner M cCoy
stated that the ACT-SO committee
and judges didn't want to send any
body to nationals to be embarassed.
“ There was no one,” she went on to
explain, ‘ ‘ Who scored in the90’ s, so
instead o f not awarding anyone,
the judges have decided to give one
Silver Medal and two Bronze
Medals.”
In the area o f the performing arts
the Silver Medal was awarded to
Stephina W’aldon o f Jackson High
School and the two Bronze Medals
went to Corey Pritchett o f Benson
and Stacey Washington of Jackson.
No other awards were given in the
other three m ajor categories o f
Visual A rts, Hum anities and
Science, and no explanation was
given as to why there were no
awards or mention o f the students.
Later the chairperson explained
that the judges were under so much
pressure that evening that they
sim ply neglected to acknowledge
the winners in each o f those catego
ries.
Now a reception has been planned
to honor these winners. It w ill be
held May 27th at 5:30 p .m ,, at
Bethel AM E Church. “ O f course it
w ill never undo the hurt and dis
appointm ent o f that n ig h t,” said
(Please turn to page 8 col 5)
C aptain Dennis Daley, new ly assigned director
of C om m unity Affairs Division, explains his role at
P olice/C om m unity forum . Seated to D eley’s right
are: S e a rg e n t Earl J o h n s o n and d e te c tiv e T ony
N ew m an.
(Photo: Richard Brown)
New code 'defines interference'
The P ortland C ity C ouncil a-
dopted two new ordinances on April
9th that affect police work. Captain
Vcrn McCabe, commander o f the
North Precinct, asking that the o r
dinances be publicized, said, “ I'm
hoping
our
cooperation
in
p u b licizing these ordinances w ill
avoid both disagreement and arrests
o f people who really do not intend
to violate them, but are acting out
o f an interest in the community.”
The code, “ In te rfe rin g w ith a
police o ffice r (Section 14.08.140)
states that a police officer has the
a u th o rity to leave the area o f an
arrest, custody or stop and to
remain at least ten feel away from
the officer. The distance can be ex
tended beyond ten feet if the officer
reasonably believes that necessary
because there exists a substantial
risk o f physical danger to any per
son.
To enforce this ordinance the of-
ficer must be engaged in effecting an
arrest, a custody or a stop; the o f
ficer must be identified as a police
officer; the person must be directed
to leave the area; the officer must
show that the person refused to
remove himself or that he did move
but returned to the area.
An extension o f the area beyond
ten feet must be a reasonable (lis
tannee and for a reasonable time. It
should only be attem pted when
thercis substantial risk o f physical
danger.
This ordinance does not restrict
verbal interference. Officers have
been asked to use it “ ju diciously"
and "correctly.”
The
second
ordinance,
"A u th o rity to restrict access to cer
tain areas” (Section 14.24.170)
allows officers to restrict access to
the public under certain conditions.
The a u th o rity to deny access
exists when here is a threat to public
health or safety, such as fire , ex
plosion, accident, national disaster,
or when public safety is threatened
by riot, presence o f an armed person
or a hostage situation. Or, authority
exists when it appears necessary to
preserve a crime scene or collect
evidence o f criminal acts.
Any o fficer can restrict or deny
access to these areas. They can be
buildings, rooms, enclosures or
open areas. When possible, they
should be cordoned o ff with ropes;
persons, or other means.
The ordinance makes it unlawful
for any person to enter or refuse to
leave unless the person has specific
a u th o rity to be there or has per
mission o f the ranking police o f
ficer.
V io la tio n ol both ordinances is
punishable by up to 6 months in jail,
a $500 line, or both, and are Class It
Misdemeanors.