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__________
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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
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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
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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)
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or write:
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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
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