Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1981)
Page 14 Portland Observer, Octobar 1,1961 Possum Incident: Police adimistration supports officers This is the third in e series o f exerpts fro m the Arbitration Hearings in the termination o f police officers Craig Ward end James OaUaway. resulting fro m the "possum incident". permissible and acceptable within the City. O th er com mand o fficers did not support the C h ie f, but testified on behalf o f the officers. Testim ony o ffe re d at the a rb itra tio n hearing dem onstrates th a t P o rtla n d ’ s police o fficers rejected the counsel o f th ie r C h ie f and Commissioner. W hen C h ief Baker attempted to reach his men th ro u fh a newsletter m ailed to th e ir homes, they p etitio n ed him to suspend publication. When Captain McCabe o f North Precinct attempted to ask his officers to consider racial and economic problem s, his m em o was intercepted by Lt. Haven. The adm inistrators and the street o fficers also rejected , alm ost unanim ously, the decision o f Jordan and B aker to term in ate the tw o officers. Thier testimony demonstrates almost total lack o f understanding o f or regard to the implications o f their act. The City’s case against the two officers was centered in large part on two major allegations: that the officers* behavior was a violation o f their duty to strive to attain highest proffessional standard o f conduct and not to commit any act that would bring reproach or discredit on the Bureau; and their contention that the incident precluded their return to police work w ith public acceptance and respect. C h ie f Baker testified in response to the question: " In your judgement could W ard and G allaw ay function as police officers in the Portland Police Bureau unequivocally?” “ Well, that’s a very difficult question, unequivocally. I think on balance, that no, not in my mind, they could not. But if you are talking about the pure technical aspect o f being a patrol officer, wherever they went in the City they would run up against some people who would be offended by their presence in uniform and as police officers. They would ran up agaisnt other people who would congratulate them on the fact that they were working a patrol district that would not be offended by them. But if they were to be - if they were to function as a police officer, I think you would have to look at the total situation and what message whould be delivered by that to the pubic in general. . . . You would be telling the pubic that this is okay. This kind o f behavior even though there may not have had a lot o f thought that went into it, but that this kind o f expression o f the relationship between the police and the public, the police come first and the public comes second, is acceptable, that the first thought will be to the police and not to the public, and that if you can’t manage to successfully conclude a police case by a prosecution or an arrest or can't resolve a police problem , that methods o f this kind are it was, at worst, a bad judgment. But that it’s time to get back to what are perhaps the much more important problems that we have to deal with in the com m u nity and it w ould be my perception th a t they w ould have no significant problems returning to that community or any community. Captain W illiam Richardson, commander o f East Pricinct, testified, " I ’d have no problem taking either o f these officers back . . . I ’ m simply saying that if these two officers were assigned to me at East Precinct, I would have no problem with their effectiveness as being police officers on the street.” Q. D o you agree or have an opinion as to whether police work requires the trust o f the citizens and that police have to have the credibility o f the citizens they serve? A . Yes, it does. Q . And do you think that the citizens in the N orth Precinct would have that credibility and trust o f officers Ward and Gallaway? A. I think most o f them, yes. Q . Do you? A . Yes. Q. Have you talked to any o f them? A . Citizens Q. Ch-huh, out there, A . I ’ve had -- I ’ve talked to citizens, not necessarily in North Precinct. A r b itr a to r O a ry A xo n stated in his findings that he was especially impressed with the testimony o f Officer Charles A . Moose, who is Black. O ffic e r Moose testifed in response to the question as to whether the officers could gain support o f the citizens. "W e ll, it confuses me when, you kno w , when you m ake such a general statem ent there about the - effectively communicating with people. Becuase I think part o f the problem would be that there would be certain people, you know, that would want to say that they couldn’t communicate with them or get along with them. But I think most o f the - the way I perceive a lot o f police work is there are a lot o f victims and when you’ ve got a victim out there and he’s got a chance there to help the victim or if you’ve got someone that’s willing to give you some inform ation as to what they say, maybe a lead or some information about a certain crim e, then I thin k that these people are part o f the community, too, and they are going to talk to anybody that’s a policeman or anybody that’s there to tray to help them. Now to the people I would see that wouldn’t talk to Ward and Gallaway is, you know, the might be some guy there in front o f Burger Barn with no identification at 3:00 o ’clock in the morning. When they go up and ask him his name, well, this person, well, he’s not going to cooperate with them. But I don’t even know if he’s going to realize it’s Ward and Gallaway." Deputy Chief Robert Schwartz was commander o f Central Precinct. He te s tifie d , ” 1 would have welcomed them at C e n tra l P recin ct, and I approached the deputy chief in charge o f the branch and told him that, that I thought they were fine officers and had fine reputations and the best information I had to -- we’d like to have them at Central Precinct ." Connie G a ffn ey is C hairm an o f the East Precinct C itiz e n ’s Advisory Council. She testifed that the Council had taken a poll o f its members- one person favored termination and six favored a thirty day suspension ’ O fficer Bruce Pantly is the officer whose inability to get along with his fellow o fficers rep o rted ly caused tensions am ong the N o rth Precinct officers. Ward and Gallaway maintained the "possum incident" was a way to diffuse this tension. Pantly was also one o f the officers participating in the incident. Pantly testified. " M o s t people that I have talked to, Black residents o f the District in which I work, view it as an incident o f bad judgment but they consider where the incident occurred and who would have been affected by the incident. The people o f the geographic area. “ I have not heard a comment as to these officers and their inability to return to work in that area or any given area . . . "A g ain , the comments that have been made to me from members o f the community are, first, that it wasn’t, in some ways, humorous. Second, that The officers who testified demonstrated little if any knowledge o f or inters! in the feelings and reactions o f the Black community. U n fo rtu n a te ly citizens o f N o rth Precinct and members o f the Black community were not privileged to testify about their concerns and those of their neighbors, the impact o f this incident on the com m unity, or their opions as to the probable community acceptance o f the officers. No Black organization or spokesperson testified, not even the Greater Northeast Precinct Council which represents the affected area and acts as an advisor to the Bureau and Commissioner. The City relied soley on the testimony o f Jordan and Baker to support its allegation that the officers could not gain community acceptance. PDC targets Northeast area (Continued from page I column 6) ure targeted for the Northeast come from? W ell, other than the $21,636 granted to River East Progress, Inc. (a development corporation seeking legal status giving it access to Small Business A dm inistration funding), and the $85,000 budgeted for P D C ’s U nion A ve. o ffic e , the balance is composed o f loan funds, some o f wnich are specifically geared to m i n o rity-o w n ed businesses, but the m ajority o f the money is subject to city-wide competition and probably won’ t aid the inner Northeast area. The Industrial Site Development Loan Fund provides low interest fi nancing to assist in developing in dustrial property w ith physical or stru ctu ral lim ita tio n s . The to ta l fund o f $ 1 ,3 0 3 ,0 0 0 includes one- th ird proposed fo r N ortheast development ($434,444). This fund has e lig ib ility criteria that require the project to be industrial develop ment; more than 50 per cent o f the resulting jobs be blue collar, and a private lender must match the city funding in a 3-to-l ratio. The $ 1.6 Economic Development Revolving Loan P rog ram is fo r small business expansion and may be used for land and building acqui sition, rehabilitation and equipment purchase. O ne-third is specifically set aside for m inority-ow ned busi nesses ($ 5 3 6 ,2 5 0 ), but as o f Sept. 15, 19^1, only $395,000 remained, and i f tw o pending m in o rity loan applications totaling $367,500 are approved, the m in o rity fund b al ance will be down to $27,500, hardly enough to undertake any significant business expansion. This program requires that 50 per cent o f the loan come from a private lender. Two m inority business loans had been made fro m this fund as o f Sept. 15, according to Nancy Farr, P D C financial assistance coordin a to r. O ne went to O ta T o fu ($ 1 2 0 ,0 0 0 ) and $ 2 1 ,2 5 0 went to Tuan’s Automotive. Farr refused to id e n tify the pending loan a p p li cants, but did describe them as Hispanic and Oriental, respectively, and said a ll are in o r border the Northeast area. (One loan made last fa ll went to a N ortheast business, but not m inority-ow ned— C o lo r & Design, a graphics company.) The Investor Rehabilitation Loan Fund makes low-interest loans for re h ab ilita tio n o f com m ercial and mixed-use properties, and requires 50 per cent lender participation. It has $200,000 available, with a maxi mum Ioan amount o f $50,000. The property to be rehabilitated must be in the Union Ave. corridor or in the St. Johns Business District. A d d in g up the to ta l am ount o f potential money available to devel op the inner N o rth east area, one gets just over $1 million. I f $15 mil lion couldn’t accomplish enough in the past, how can $1 m illio n do much today? I t ’ s a hard question, and one the city must face. In a part o f Portland where un employment has consistently been double that o f the rest o f the city; where 46 per cent o f the population is classified "blu e c o lla r" (accord ing to jo b applications filed at the Oregon Employment Division office on N . Vancouver A v e .); where 60 per cent o f the households are o f low or moderate income and 24 per cent are at or below the poverty line, and where business vacancy rates are tw ice that o f the rest o f Portland, it would appear that it ’s time to do more than put bandaids on the problem. THESE PR IC E S EFFEC TIVE ALL D A Y S A T ., O C T . 3 W H IL E Q U A N T IT IE S LA ST s ro fff LLOYD CENTER HALLOWEEN COSTUMES :-0» OFF 25% PRICK O tlCIN Al off LADCS FASHION JEANS Designer Pocket Detail Sizet 7 /8 to 1 5 /1 6 witl few X-large d ie t - While »oppimi lo»t. ELECTRIC BLANKETS T W IN .......tto otot Req.S 1 FULL-SINGLE "'CONTROL m o tie FULL-OUAL CONTROL 13.991 Candy C am 9 M a i« . u u m ta g 9 9 " ...................................................... LADIES PULL-ON PANTS 2 5 % o« 1 00 % Pofyaatar m a t 9 1 9 . t a g $ 9 9 ................................................... B oy's Jean s Summit Fee: $55 per person The Summit tee includes registration, refreshment breoks, Saturdoy luncheon. Economic Bonquet, and Sunday morning breokfoit D Check here, if you only wont to purchase tickets to the Economic Banquet, Saturday evenino Oct 17 1981. Banquet tickets — $25 each. Number of tickets___________ REGISTRATION: Mail your registration form prior te October 5, 1981. Include your Summit lee of $55 per person (or banquet ticket price of $25 each) payable to: OREGON ASSEMBLY FOR BLACK AFFAIRS P O. Box 12485 Salem, Oregon 97309 Please include the nomes and oddresses of all the persons you ore registering: Name ___________________ _______ ____________ Street______ __ _________________ ________________ City/ State/ Zip ____________ ___ ________________ Nam e__________ Street ________ _ C ity/ State/ Zip__ N o m e ________ X-large Site* rag. 5.99 . . Size M B . eeeorted cofora. Reg. 8 97 ....................................... S um m it Workshops: Each Summit participant will have on opportunity to attend two workshops Sizes of the workshops will be limited. Persons will be assigned to workshops in accordance with their preferences and the workshops' sizes. Remember, first register, first choice. Workshop results will be reported of the session on Economic Strategies for the 80s. Indicate your preferences for the workshops below with the numbers I through 6 I = first preference, 2 * second preference, etc. --------- (A) A crash course in financial survival --------- (8) Survival of Block businesses during the 80s --------- (C) How to start your own business (D) Government's impact on economic development --------- (E) The politics of business — networks and mentors --------- (F) Experiences of Block entrepreneurs f r o m b u tto n -fro m , w ant kangdis. I rto r iangtfr. qutftMl la b r ia iesthsr Tiny Tot allot in 9-10, 12-14 »AOS OF M ACHS CANONS Registration Form GIGANTIC JACKET A COAT SALE FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY Any Super Hero Costume & Mask, H a iry S c a re Strawberry Shortcake or Cloth of the Thant. Any 3.99 costume 25% Next week: Community response. "E co n o m ic S u rv iv a l o f B lack P e o p le " > s MOONLIGHT SALE SAT. Oct. 3 Cut out and send in your Registration today. S U M M IT : h o h S A I 9 10 10 0 0 SUN N O O N S 00 M O N FRI 9 30 9 00 20% M IN 'S FLANNEL SHIRTS LAMES POM POM SOCKS OCO/ GIRLS DESIGNER JEANS ....................... Z O y O ott "W aor M e ” Sizaa 4-9X 9 9 -14 . ta g « 9 7 9 7 9 7 ..................................................... ....... MEN'S SWEATSHIRTS A PANTS For logging • M a u ra Blue grey pofy-cattan-ecrybc. 8 - M 4 - X I t a g 7 9 9 ao FLEECE ROSES-SOLID COLORS ott J 9 0 % ocatota 2 0 % nyian la g 2 27 la 2 MEN'S THERMAL SOCKS Alpina Dakrae frta 9 14, J pc. pfrg Whrta or gray with rad. ta g . $.97 .................................... MEN'S LINED GLOVES vinyl a im itation auada. 1 0 0 % acrylic pda M a d brawn knit sidaweds 9 cuffa ta g ] 9 9 2 0 °/o 3 t r . wdua path tar leisure 9 aporta Ona alia’ M a 9 1 1 , t a p 2 4 7 ................................ off _ 1 0 0 % Cotten thawing Plaids 8 - M - l- X l, 25% , . T* 25% 25% Z W off | PAKI FUR-SOUD COLORS 20% ott 1 EfrOjC 111 / O off with fricat a * Acrytc friends. Assarted Ted Cakaa M a t h m e O C O / ? * W a d w b ia la g 9 27 yd / O zyan / QUILT FABRICS Sa»d ta la ri 9 prim , polyester 9 caftan face backing 4 2 ^ /4 5 " widths ta g 3 77 Z lJ V fl - V M O O NLIG HT SPECIAL COUPONS GOOD 6PM to 10PM ONLY I CRYSTAl OX OPTIC TUMBLERS .... ! HSINOSE DANISH BUTTER COOKIES Lodging: Request for room accommodations may be made directly to the Thunderbird Jantzen Beach Motor Inn, (503) 283-2111, or the lodging facility of your choice. OABA it not responsible for providing housing. All sessions of the Summit will be held at the Thunderbird Jontzen Beach Motor’ lnn. Street________ City/State/Zip _ Nam e________ Street________ C ity/S tote/Zip- Nom e. Street. For additional information about the Summit, coll: Corvallis: 752-0886 (Zet Gam ble) Eugene: 687-5443 (Ray W illard) Portland: 281-5437 (Carolyn Leonard) Portland: 284-4508 (William A Denton) Salem: 581-9151 (Willie Richardson) or write: C ity/S tate/Zip _____ Act Today! Register N e w ) Pre-registrotion — October 5, 1981 OABA P O Box 12485 Salem, OR 97309 2— 3 HOUR FIRE LOG C w yi.*w ,m ,M , WaaSySIh Up! tMlWlapOT- UM » a-14 pm war no « tmuu « ot 781 IVORTSOAP 1 4 personoi size bora 1.13 rakas - limit 4 pkga 6-10 PM only. SPECIAL TAILS OP IESTAURANT SPECIAL RECORDS * S-TRACK TAPES Tap e« R n c k -D la c o It C o u n try . Reg 20% o ff. L im it 9 w h ile supply lasts 9 U« o ¿ opmo ", x . . . . . . . . owaawaw • frw tea X - î J Î X -r * PM way > |» | . . . . . . . . JsJ I I
