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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 1981)
INSIDE: Arbitration hearing report SugarRay Leonard puts away Tommy Hearns in 14 by Ron Sykes After week» of media hype, Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns met in Las Vegas to finally decide who is supreme among the welter weights. The Paramount crowd, some 3500 strong, was awed by the pow erful display of boxing and punch ing skills of one Sugar Ray Leonard. Tommy Hearns, the victim o f a gigantic media hype, was said to be the hit man. He was supposedly the possessor of a punch with the kick of a mule. Unusually tall for a wel terweight, he was supposed to have (he physique of a light-heavy, much too much for Leonard. Thomas Hearns, said Luigi Harris, “ is the best welterweight I ’ve ever seen.” Harris, an ex-boxer, undoubtedly didn’t see too many fighters. The pre-fight hoopla was spectac ular. Undefeated 18-year-oid Tony Ayola, fighting out of San Antonio, Texas, ran his unbeaten streak to 19 by knocking out Jose Anjuquedro, 27-9, in 1:50 of the first round. Mar- vis Frazier, Joe’s son, followed with a sixth round decision and the stage was set for the main event. Because o f television lights, the temperature was over the 100-degrpe mark, 24,382 fans cheered as Tommy “ Hitm an” Hearns entered the ring promptly at 7:30. Leonard entered five minutes later, accompanied by an entourage some 35 people strong. The two well-conditioned gladiators met at the center of the ring. Hearns, standing 6-1 inches tall, glared at the smaller Leonard. Leonard, displaying a world of con fidence, only smiled. Hearns said earlier that he wanted everything Leonard had. Little did he know that he was soon to receive just that. Round one began with Sugar “ Mongoose” Leonard mov ing from side to side, occasionally flicking a quick jab to “ Hitm an’s” face. The round ended ended with Sugar Ray the winner on points. Neither fighter was able to land any telling blows. “ Hearns will destroy Leonard in ten,” said Earl Sykes, “ the Hitman is just too good.” The second round was pretty much the same as the first. Leonard still moving and sticking. Hearns was content to feel Leonard out. At this point Sugar Ray was ahead 2-0. The third round, Hearns started to pick it up, throwing long combin ations that the back-peddling Leon ard avoided. Hearns was the winner on aggressiveness. By the sixth round the fight had drawn even with neither fighter able to do much damage. But in the seventh Sugar Ray took charge. He banged a left-right combina tion to the body, followed by a straight right to the head that sent the “ H itm an ” reeling. Leonard swarmed all over the man from Kronk’ s gym. A right landed flush on the chin of Hearns. For the first time in Hearns’ career he found himself backing up. Leonard stalked him with all the fury of a wounded tiger. A right to the stomach scored, followed by a long left that sent Hearns stumbling into the ropes. The seventh round ended with Leonard scoring heavily to the body and Hearns holding on for his life. The sixth round was definitely Leonard’s. Hearns, feeling the pres sure, began to circle the wagons. The so-called "H itm an ” turned into the marathon man at this point, and tried to see how far and fast he could run. The smaller, more con fident Leonard continued the hunt. A fte r twelve rounds it was clearly Leonard the aggressor and Hearns the runner. Leonard toyed with the “ toy cannon” often sticking his chin out to Hearns only to flick it gack at the last minute. Hearns was frustrated and by now set up for the k ill. Leonard sensed that the end was near. The 13th found the now aroused Leonard standing flat- footed. Hearns now tucked tail and tried to stay away from the ever pursuing Leonard. A right caught Tommy as he moved backward, sending him sprawling to the ropes. Leonard, knowing the end was near, quickly followed with those deadly combi nations as only he can deliver. Rat- a-tat-tat and the “ Hitman” was sent sprawling under the ropes. The thir teenth ended with Hearns barely able to stand up. The fourteenth was short. Leon ard opened with a barrage that left the defenseless Hearns helpless on {Please turn to page !4 column J) PORTLAND OBSERVER September 17, 1981 Volume XI, Number 49 25C Per Copy Jennings named corrections ombudsman by Nathaniel Scott M ultnom ah C ounty Commis sioner Caroline M iller announced on Friday, September 11, the posi tions o f ombudsman and alternate for offenders at Multnomah County Correctional Facilities. The positions, made possible through $3,000 of the commission er’s staff money, effective immedi ately, will hear the problems of the jail inmates, report those problems and help consider possible solu tions. W illiam Jennings was appointed ombudsman and Stressla Johnson alternate, both ex-offenders and members o f the Northwest Ex-Of- fender Association. “ They have a right to make reso lutions but not to act as advocates for the prisoners,” commissioner Miller said. "They have the same privileges as clergymen. . . . I think this is very important in view of the fact of the telephones.” Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone recently installed collect-call-only telephones at Rocky Butte Jail be cause of alleged misuse o f credit cars and other violations by Rocky Butte inmates. The proposal for ombudsmen was made by the Com m unity Correc- tions Advisory Committee and will be reviewed by representatives of the Corrections Division, the Coun ty Commissioners and corrections officers within two months when it is hoped that additional allocation of funding will be forthcoming. Since taking office in January, commissioner M iller has been out spoken about the needs o f Rocky Butte ja il and community correc tions. In view o f the Board of Commissioners* recent decision to add a 50-bed wing in the basement o f Rocky Butte jail, which commis sioner M jlle r opposed, she said, “ I ’ ve never been convinced that there was a need for beds out there.” Rocky Butte ja il is scheduled to dose in 1983, and the additional 50- bed basement unit will cost approxi mately $150,000. The County Commissioners are now looking at the classification system and $7,000 has been allo cated for the study o f a proposed site for a work-release center, pos sibly in the downtown sector, at a cost of $93,000. Ms. M iller’s reasons for concern about county corrections and ex-of- 4Mlders were numerous and among tW m is, “ It ’s a group that 1 recog nize that has no advocates.” Unions that know no borders Organizing "on the other side by Peter Kate! Pacific News Service O JIN A G A . M E X IC O — Workers began gathering ho’irs before the meeting. Smoking cigarettes, they talked about wages. Social Security deductions and work availability in their job market on “ el otro lado” — "the other side" of the border. By 5 pm, when the meeting started, about 100 men and a hand ful of women stood in a rough circle in the yard o f a two-room adobe house as Melquiades Lara Nanga opened the monthly assembly of the Ojinaga committee o f the Texas Farm Workers Union (TFU ). Running the meeting with Lara was Carlos Marcntes, the sole TFU organizer for the vast territory from Ojinaga to southern New Mexico. Two to three times a week he is at the El Paso side o f the bridge to Juarez, Mexico, meeting workers who stream over legally and illegally before dawn to find work in the chili and onion fields o f Dona Ana County in New Mexico or on the construction sites of El Paso. Workers have been crossing the border into the United States for decades, but now farm -w orker unions are making the reverse trip to organize people before they leave Mexico. It is, agree farm workers / / and operators alike, the arrival o f the inevitable— for the southwestern agricultural economy in general is little restricted by the international boundary. Art Martori, president o f Produc tion Farm Management o f Phoenix, Ariz., a large citrus grower, says no one from Mexico actually “ works il legally” in the United States, even if he has entered the country illegally. The distinction is a vital one to em ployers on the Southwestern border who currently do not break the law by hiring undocumented workers. The unions organizing farm workers from Mexico readily press the work/residency distinction, too. because a crucial principle is rooted in it: a worker who has entered the country illegally is as entitled as any one else to organize, strike or bar gain collectively, or to seek the pro tection o f American labor laws. Some o f the O jinaga workers, in fact, now are receiving the benefit o f the federal minimum wage, and the courts have ordered that back pay be given to Mexican workers who had been paid at rates below minimum wages. On a recent August morning at 3 am, TFU organizer Marentes circu lated among approximately 200 men standing in small groups on the side- (Please turn to page 12 column I) Naming ceremony ancient African rite Youth In the '80a: Where will they go? (Photo: Richard J. Brown! Our children's future Grassroot News, N. W. — The just our basic needs. I have to deal children of tomorrow will face the with not having enough food, cloth same challenges, frustrations, eco ing and having a house with room to nomic woes and hopes of their par move around in. ents and foreparents. But the degree "As they get older I know I ’m go to which all those sensations are real ing to have to fight to keep them off ized will be at a different level be the streets. I worry because there is cause current events have dictated no male figure here at home and I that the conditions in which they think a lot of kids wouldn't be out will matureare similar to the era of there on the streets if they had a the end of Reconstruction. more secure home situation.” We will focus on the Black and Another parent observed, “ Many the poor child exclusively, and a troubles the kids nowadays have glance of how life is for them will come from no one really caring. I provide us with a glimpse o f the know where the mother don’t care adults of tomorrow. Whether they and when your Mama don’t care for will be ready for the times, or the you then you might as well hang it times ready for them, are questions up. Some of the young uneducated our special series on the child of to and even the older educated would morrow might answer. put their man before their child. Our first installment will concen They feed their man, spend money trale on the problems of the child. on their man while their kids go And like many of the problems of barefoot and will be with a man who an adult the economic woes have doesn’ t love their kids. Shoot, a taken their toll. A parent explains, man got to respect my kids before I “ Our basic problem is money. We spend a second with him ." have a hell of a time keeping up with (Please turn to page 12 column I) A nda woman who held a baby against her bosom said, speak to us o f children, and he said your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters o f life belonging to itself. They come through you, but not from you and though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love, but not your thoughts, fo r they have their own thoughts. You may house your bodies, but not your soul, fo r their souls dwell in the house o f tomorrow which you cannot visir, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make like you. For l(fe goes not back wards, but tarries with yesterday. Grassroot News. N. W — So be gins another naming ceremony in Northeast Portland. A naming cere mony is one where the family o f a newborn gathers together, along with the community, to celebrate the giving of life. The most recent recipient of this most blessed event is the Waters family. According to Star Waters the ceremony brings the community together for very positive reasons. “ The traditional reasoning behind the naming cere- mony is to allow the community to come and greet the baby and to learn the baby’s identity and name at the same time that he does. It gives family a chance to come to gether to celebrate the birth o f a child. The boy baby is named on the eighth day after they’ re born and the girl on the 7th day.” The organization which spreads this type o f ceremony is the Black Educational Center. According to Joyce H arris, Director o f the B.E.C, "The B.E.C was very instru mental in spreading the word about the naming ceremony. Over the last ten years we have sponsored at least 20 in the Portland Metro area. It ’s our way of affirm ing our belief in the children and the future. “The naming ceremony is an al ternative to the mass. Other ethnic groups have certain traditions that are exclusive to them and Black peo ple are going to have to start estab lishing their own traditions if we are going to survive in these days and times." The newest addition to the Waters family is Igwe (EE guay) Akil (Ah- Keel). Igwe means one who uses rea sons and Akil stands for a son of a queen. Nothing is as pleasing as at tending a naming ceremony: a bit of tradition in an uncivilized world. Thabitl, Star, Igwe Akil. Sunni and Raahonda Waters. (Photo by Richard J. Brown)
