Portland Obaarvar, Saptambar 17, IM I Paga 3
PUREBRED
Dick Bogle
English Pointer Pups
Last week we looked at how street
prostitution in North and Northeast
Portland seems to be growing and
how the crim inal justice system ad
mittedly seems ineffective in deter
ring it.
Most o f us know prostitution will
never be e lim in a te d — th a t’ s why
they call it the oldest profession in
the world. However, when the pros
titutes act as though they own the
streets and no housewife or student
can walk those streets w ithout har
assment from Johns then it ’ s tim e
for a change.
First o f a ll. we have to examine
what p ro stitu tion is and means.
M an y o f us are inclined to say,
" W e 'v e always had it, they d o n ’ t
hurt anyone and it’ s not as im port
ant as arresting burglars and ro b
bers.”
But all o f that is not true. Prosti
tu tio n does hu rt people. P ro s titu
tion hurts prostitutes.
This hurt is both physical and
m ental. M an y are at the mercy o f
pimps whose only concern is how
much money he can get and when he
feels it isn't enough, w ill beat the
girl with fists, coat hangers or any
thing else he can put his hands one.
There are several unsolved murders
o f prostitutes in Multnomah County
and Clark County, Washington.
Besides physical in jury, many o f
these young women suffer extreme
psychological damage. W ho knows
what poten tial lies deep and un
tapped in a person whose entire life
has become one o f being used and
used and used?
W e all know the crim e rate has
risen and o f course part o f that is
due to current high unemployment
and federal, state and local budget
cuts which caused elim in atio n o f
many programs.
The problem o f a declining qual
ity o f life in North and Northeast as
it pertains to what happens when the
streets are owned by the hookers is
being attacked on two fronts.
First the system itself.
Police C h ief Ron Still says, ” We
need to lock up more prostitutes.
W e know they move up and down
the coast and into Canada and very
simply if we make it tough on them
here, they are going to go some
where else and so are the pimps.”
H e and other police also realize
that no matter how many are arrest
ed there is still limited ja il space for
prisoners.
This lack o f jail space poses tough
decisions fo r judges who must a l
ways consider how many spaces
are available on any given day.
M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty D istrict
C ourt Judge L in d a Bergman says,
” We have 35 beds in this country to
house women charged or sentenced
for the entire county. I could prob
ably f ill those beds w ith women
charged w ith p ro stitu tio n . I think
the C om m unity is probably better
served if some o f those beds are
used for people charged with serious
felonies.”
Presiding D is trict C o u rt Judge
Don Londer says, " A ll o f us share
the concerns about p ro stitu tion
raised by citizens and I have met
w ith C h ie f S till, D istrict A tto rn ey
M ik e Schrunk, a representative o f
the Public Defenders O ffic e and
C ounty Corrections to outline pro
cedures to remedy the situation as it
exists today.”
"Changes will be made now and
second and third offenders will be
taken o f f the street and th a t’ s as
good a deterrent as we can come up
with at the present tim e.”
Perhaps the biggest deterrent will
come from neighborhood people.
Sharon McCormack is the North
east coordinator for Neighborhoods
Against C rim e. She and a number
o f neighbors have met w ith police
officials from East and N orth pre
cincts, the Drug and Vice Division
and the District Attorney’s office.
Results are already beginning to
occur as neighbors are organizing.
Members o f the Piedmont Neigh
borhood Association have walked
the streets talking to residents and
business people to enlist their assis
tance in fighting prostitution. The
degree o f support is astounding.
Some folks have volunteered to al
low police to use their homes as ob
servation locations to build cases
against hookers for loitering.
They plan to have as many as ten
pickets— men, women, young and
old— march alongside prostitutes on
the streets. They also have enlisted
the aid o f a retired commercial artist
and Pacific Power and Light C om
pany. The artist is going to paint a
huge sign saying, "R E S P E C T N .E .
N E IG H B O R H O O D S . J O H N S
KEEP O U T .”
P P & L w ill supply the guy wires
and poles and will have its crews in
stall one across Union Avenue near
Stanton for northbound traffic and
another sign saying the same thing
for southbound tra ffic near P o rt
land Blvd.
W e’ll have to wait and see the re
sults o f this combined Justice Sys
tem and direct citizen involvement
will have but it sounds like one hel
luva beginning to me.
Plaasa Contact
Brad Holcomb
372-2493 after 7:00 p.m.
Building
Materials
Auction
From the Capitol
by Rep. Ron Wyden
ers Association are currently work
ing on an effo rt to provide a ffo rd
able housing in N o rth -N orth east
Portland neighborhoods.
Under this plan, private lenders,
such as savings & loans, would put
up 70 per cent o f the financing for a
new home at m arket rates. The
group hopes the other 30 per cent
would be financed through the city
(with Housing and Community De
velopment funds) at 3 per cent inter
est.
Q. With interest rates still on the
rise, is it realistic f o r middle income
Portlanders to hang on to the A m er
ican dream o f owning th e ir own
home?
A . I think it is— if we look to in
novative financing alternatives.
For example, Oregon Fair Share,
the E llio t N eighborhood Associa
tion. Portland area savings A loans,
area realtors, the Black U nited
Front and the Oregon Home Build-
g— —
I I.
.
Builders would use various cost
saving techniques— such as compact
design features, common wall con
struction, etc.— to keep the cost o f
the completed structure down to ap
proxim ately $40,000. Members o f
the a ffo rd a b le housing group
(dubbed (he A lb in a Inner-C ity De
velopment C o rp . ( A I D ) ), have
id e n tifie d 200 vacant lots in the
N orth-N ortheast area suitable for
this program.
St. Andrew Community Center
In addition to new construction,
A ID is advocating rehabilitation o f
existing homes in the area.
Although this plan will not meet
the needs o f all Portlanders, it is at
least a step in the right direction.
Most im p o rtan t, it represents the
type o f individual initiative and in
novative thinking that we must
implement if the American dream of
homeownership is to become a real
ity for middle-income Portlanders.
i
Open Letter
4940 NE 8th at Alberta,
Portland
281-4430
A tradition of good pricasl
A benefit for St. Andrew Community Center
Pacific Citizen
Power o f the Week
by Ron Still, C h ief o f Police
I was recently asked why m ore
than one police car may respond to
a call. It ’s sometimes difficult to un
derstand why two or more officers
show up to take a 17-year-old run
away into custody or to simply quiet
the neighbors who are arguing.
Safety is one o f the p rim a ry
factors in deciding how many o ff i
cers are sent on any call. T h a t 17-
year-old may be 6 ft., 180 lbs. and
want to fight the officers. That fam
ily argument has a good chance o f
becoming v io len t as most people
don’t want outside interference.
By sending an adequate number
o f officers, it is more likely that the
situation will be handled without vi
olence. I f there is no violence, then
the officers there should be able to
handle it.
We set guidelines for the number
o f officers to be dispatched on calls.
But because there is no such thing as
a "typical” call, the dispatchers also
rely on past experience and the in
formation provided by the caller in
addition to these guidelines.
For example, we send at least two
officers to a family argument, more
if the in fo rm a tio n p rovided in d i
cated potential violence.
W e also dispatch more than one
officer to crimes in progress or other
situations that may involve violence.
Because there are so many unknown
variables, we m ake an attem pt to
send enough officers to be able to
control that situation. This may re
sult in 2 or more cars coming into
your neighborhood.
Part o f those unknown variables
can be answered by citizens who call
in the request for the police. T ry to
p rovide as much in fo rm a tio n as
possible, answer the questions the
operator asks and don’t hesitate to
call again with more inform ation if
the situation has changed. W ith
your help, we can provide the assist
ance you need.
I f you have comments or ques
tions regarding the Portland Police
B ureau, send them to me through
the Public Inform ation O ffice, 222
S .W . Pine, P o rtla n d , O regon,
97204. I will not be able to respond
in my open letters to each and every
concern, but will select those which
will assist in improving communica
tions and relations w ith the com
munity.
Schools report m inority enrollm ent increase
Superintendent James Fenwick
reported M o n d a y that Jefferson
High School has enrolled fewer stu
dents than were expected and that
many o f the former Adams students
(hat were assigned to Jefferson have
enrolled elsewhere.
By the third day o f school, Jeffer
son had enrolled 1,306 students, 274
short o f the 1,580 predicted. A p
p ro xim ately 90 students, mostly
Black, transferred from Jefferson to
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Lincoln. Also, there appear to be a
sizable num ber o f w hite students,
who formerly attended Adams, who
have not registered at Jefferson .
Jefferson currently has 54.5 per cent
minority enrollment.
Racial composition o f the student
population is 26.6 per cent minority,
compared to 24.2 per cent last year.
Black students make up 14 per cent
(6 ,8 2 1 ); Asians are 8 .9 per cent
(4,339); N ative Americans are 1.8
per cent (894); and Hispanics are 1.7
per cent (831). The total enrollment
is 4 8 ,5 6 2 , dow n nearly 3 ,0 0 0 stu
dents from last year.
M in o rity e n ro llm e n t has in
creased in several com m unity
schools. Boige is at 86.3 per cent
m inority; Irvin g to n , 42.7 per cent;
H u m b o ld t, 72.2 per cent; Vernon,
65.9 per cent; W oodlaw n, 61.9 per
cent. Other neighborhood schools
are: Eliot, 47.7 per cent; King, 64.0
per cent; Sabin, 51.4 per cent.
Tubm an, still located at the old
M onroe High School building, has
61.1 per cent m inority enrollment.
Other schools with more than 50 per
cent m inority enrollm ent are Ball,
w ith 50.2 per cent, and Rice, with
66.1 per cent, m ostly Southeast
Asians.
D ifferences o f o p inion over the
im p lication s o f these enrollm ent
patterns were expressed by board
members H erb C aw th o rn e and
Frank McNamara.
Cawthorne is not concerned with
racial percentages, but considers the
issue to be the education o f the chil
dren who are in the schools. " T h e
percentages d o n ’ t mean anything
since we haven't considered that
when deciding school closures and
o th e r things that caused the
increase.”
Frank M cNam ara’s primary con
cern is also education, " b u t that
does not m itig ate my o th er con
cerns. I f there is a trend toward sep
arate schools that concerns me and
to the extent that there a^e controls
we can exert, we should exert
them .”
Steve Buel added that if the Board
really believes that all schools with
90 to 95 per cent white students are
more segregated than those that are
60 per cent Black, and that A ins
worth is the most segregated school
in the district, then they should ask
fo r a list o f those " p r o b le m ”
schools, not just fo r a list o f the
schools with high m inority popula
tions.
*9*
■
y
A fa m ilia r face aro un d the neighborhoods o f N o rth and
N o rth east P o rtla n d is that o f Sharon M c C o rm a c k . M rs.
M c C o rm a c k is c u rre n tly co o rd in a to r o f the Northeast
Neighborhoods Against C rim e program where she provides
crim e prevention in fo rm a tio n , home locks and currently is
working on the issue o f prostitution and street safety for women
and children.
A m o n g M rs. M c C o rm a c k ’ s volunteer con trib u tio ns are
serving on the boards o f the A m erican Friends Service
C om m ittee Education P roject, the Piedmont Neighborhood
A sso ciatio n , the A F S C Regional C o m m u n ity Relations
Committee. She formerly served on the boards o f the Northeast
C oalition o f Neighborhood Organizations, the Union Avenue
Redevelopm ent C o m m itte e , the Econom ic Developm ent
Prom otion Committee o f the Inner Northeast Council, and the
N o rth Branch Y M C A . She is a precinct person for the
Democratic Party. Mrs. McCormack volunteered for four years
w ith-the N eighborhood Options in C h ild Care and for three
years w ith V illa St. Rose, a treatm ent center for girls. She is
c u rre n tly chairing the planning com m ittee for the N E
Community Leadership Workshop.
She also finds time to be active in Holy Redeemer Church and
School.
Mrs. McCormack and her husband. Bill, have four children,
ages 6, 13, 16 and 18.
Mrs. McCormack was born in Texas, moved to Yakima, and
came to Portland to attend the University o f Portland. After
graduating, she taught French for two years. She has been a
resident o f the Northeast area for 22 years.
B R O U G H T T O Y O y BY
Pacific
Power
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