Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, December 10, 1981, Page 5, Image 5

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    Portland Observer, December 10, 1961 Page 5
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THE 'CUBE'
PUZZLE
by Rep. Ron Wyden
Q. The W hile House Conference
On Aging seemed to end in alm ost
as much controversy as it began. In
yo u r opinion, was the Conference a
success?
A. Although the conference could
have accomplished more i f politics
had not intervened, it did produce
many positive suggestions as to how
we cun better the life o f A m erica’ s
elderly population.
For example, the delegates recom­
mended:
•Strong support for home health
care— a cost-effective, more hu­
mane way o f delivering health care;
•Strong support for expansion o f
employment opportunities and elim­
ination o f mandatory retirement for
older people—a move I have long
supported and one which supports
the right o f older people who wish
to keep working;
•In s titu tio n o f prospective reim ­
bursement programs for payment o f
health care providers—a cost-effect­
ive proposal fo r cu ttin g escalating
health care costs and the same con­
cept contained in a bill I recently in­
troduced, and;
• A proposal to eliminate the o u t­
side earnings lim ita tio n s that c u r­
rently p ro h ib its Social Security
beneficiaries fro m earning more
than $6,000 per year in outside in ­
come w ithout having their benefits
reduced.
The delegates also discussed other
Social Security reform s at great
length. But because o f a conference
rule which forced the delegates to
vole on all the reports as part o f a
single package, the resulting recom-
mendations were sometimes contra­
dictory.
For example, although the main
com m ittee considering Social Se­
c u rity voted against using general
funds to bolster the system, tw o
other committees voted just the op­
posite.
In general, however, the co n fe r­
ence did support restoration o f the
m inim um Social Security benefit
and maintenance o f existing levels
o f benefits for current retirees.
The fate o f benefits for future re­
tirees was le ft in the hands o f
Congress and the A d m in is tra tio n
(albeit with the instruction that they
do everything in (heir power to
m aintain benefit levels fo r that
group).
Q. You said you though the con­
ference co u ld have accom plished
even m ore i f p o litic s hadn 7 in te r­
vened. Do you think there's any way
to prevent s im ila r p roblem s fr o m
occurring in the future?
A. Yes, and to accom plish that
goal, I have written a letter to Rep.
Claude Pepper, C hairm an o f the
House Select Com m ittee on Aging,
requesting: ( I) That the Committee
begin im m ediately to review the
rules and regulations w hich gov­
erned the 1980 W hite House C on­
ference on A g in g , and to lay the
groundwork for development o f ra­
tional and responsible rules fo r the
1990 Conference, and; (2) That wc
take whatever action necessary Io
ensure that in the fu tu re , p o litica l
parlies and other organizations that
receive copies o f the list o f delegates
w ill be prohibited from using those
lists for political purposes
M illio n * of co m b ina­
tio n * and only one
correct solution A
real challenge*
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Delicious but­
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MAJOR CREDIT CARDS OR CASH
Rentals
An Open Letter
(Call for Cash
Qualifications)
223-4531
by Police C hief Ron S till
I have used this “ open le tte r" to
explain some o f the Police Bureau’ s
fu n ctio n s and policie s, w ith the
hope that this provides citizens o f
Portland with a better understand­
ing o f how the Bureau works.
I w ill also use these letters to alert
citizens to problems w ithin the city.
Right now, the rising crime rate is a
significant concern that needs to be
addressed. D u rin g the past few
months, major crimes arc being re­
ported to the police at a rate o f 50
per cent more than the past year.
This includes burglary, robbery
and rapes. This trend is not much
d iffe re n t fo r o ther cities, but it
should cause sonic reaction fro m
citizens in Portland. From 1974 to
1979, crim es against persons and
property showed cither a decrease or
a leveling o ff. 1980 ended w ith a
slight increase in most crimes.
A variety o f factors are involved.
Some o f these factors can be in flu ­
enced by the police and some by
citizens. One area that I am working
toward, is increasing the number o f
convicted crim inals that are incar­
cerated. By keeping people in ja il
who have a h is to ry o f repeating
crimes, the city w ill greatly benefit
by the reduced crime rate. But (his is
something that cannot happen im ­
mediately. Portland is still confront­
ed with the problem that requires in­
put from everyone. It is everyone’ s
responsibility to help reduce crime.
Wc all want P ortland to be a safe
place to live. In order to m aintain
that, citizens need to be w illin g to
extend themselves.
P ortland did see a reduction in
the crime rate and much o f this was
the result o f increased participation
among citizens. The willingness to
report suspicious a c tiv ity and be­
coming involved in your neighbor­
hood arc two ways you can impact
the crim e rate. One o f the reasons
that burglaries are so high, is that
the burglar goes in a neighborhood,
unnoticed.
We have a Crime Prevention Unit
that can pro vid e in fo rm a tio n on
how you can secure your home and
learn about Neighborhood Watch.
They also o ffe r self-defense classes
and com m ercial crim e prevention
techniques. I recommend that you
call Crim e Prevention at 248-4126.
it’ s there to assist vou.
600 S W P in e
B e tw e e n 6 th Et B r o a d w a y
I f you have com m ents or ques­
tions regarding the Portland Police
Bureau, send them to me through
the Public In fo rm a tio n O ffice, 222
SW Pine. Portland, Oregon, 97204.
I w ill not be able to respond in my
open le tte r to each and every
concern, but w ill select those which
w ill assist in improving communica­
tion and relations with the commun­
ity.
Cities in a new tim e o f crisis
by C arl Holman, President
N ational Urban Coalition
In many ways this is the most c rit­
ical time for cities, for the poor, for
m inorities, since the U rban C o a li­
tion was founded in (he midst o f the
urban riots in 1967.
M ost o f what was largely taken
fo r granted by many Am ericans in
the earliest days o f the Coalition has
now been called in question. That
includes guiding principles, p rio ri­
ties, programs. The role o f govern­
ment, particularly, has undergone a
radical sea change.
Minorities and the poor are pretty
much out o f favor and basic guaran­
tees which offered them some p ro ­
tection are in danger o f disappear­
ing along w ith the deadwood o f
bureaucratic waste and red-tape.
M any o f those who were about to
get a leg up on the jo b and educa­
tional ladder fin d the rungs giving
way underfoot. Further up that now
shaky ladder, a good many m iddle
class Am ericans, who once felt se­
cure and generous, now tu rn in ­
ward, holding on for dear life against
the threats o f economic uncertainty
and the fear and the ugly reality o f
violence.
The p rivate sector is o ffe re d in ­
ducements which somehow fa il to
induce (witness W all Street). In
some quarters the private sector is
expected to span an unprecedented
gap in services and resources. The
response has p redictably been un­
e v e n -g iv in g both o p tim ists and
pessimists som ething to be self-
righteous about.
Cities that were on the rocky road
to coping w ith some o f their fiscal
and re vita liza tio n needs, now find
themselves saddled with new obliga­
tions and drastically diminished re­
sources. W hile physical in fra stru c­
tures collapse and economists argue,
M ayors and city councils pare ser­
vices to the bone and struggle to pla­
cate increasingly irate citizens look­
ing fo r answers to those problem s
uncerem oniously dum ped on the
steps o f City Hall by W ashington
A more positive development is
that luckier urban com m unities arc
fin d in g a new cadre o f volunteers
fro m business and civic groups,
along with some admittedly atypical
individuals, who bring to large cities
some badly needed skills —and a
touch o f that communal spirit which
rom anticists would have us believe
anim ated most small towns in the
past.
The past is indeed with us in many
ways. The near-past is censored
daily and a very harsh price is being
exacted fo r earlier errors. Social
program s which wc arc to ld over-
promised and underproduced, cost
precious tax dollars in the process.
I he Kian and less blatant peddlers
ol racism have once more emerged
tro m the dark fringes o f nationa l
life The media and politics arc loud
with the voices o f the harshly pious
apostles o f the new Salem in their
three-piece suits. A nd fo r every­
thing from the economy, to crim e,
to foreign a ffairs, many seem con­
vinced that com plex realities can
best be dealt w ith by simple reme­
dies that worked well enough when
America and the world were a good
deal younger.
Pacific Citizen
Power o f the Week
W ith so much gloom being dis­
pensed these days from Washington
and elsewhere, the battered cham ­
pions o f urban A m erica must
choose between despair or the bra­
zen illo g ica lity o f that French Gen­
eral in W orld W at I who is supposed
to have said som ething like: “ My
rear is threatened, my flanks are col­
lapsing—therefore, I shall attack!”
W ar in the Middle East?
(Continued fro m page ! column 5)
United States, he must be good for
his people.
Conversely, those political figures
who arc favored by the U nited
Stales more often than not tend to
be unpopular among their own peo­
ple. Anwar Sadat is the latest case in
p o in t, as the m uted F g yp tia n re­
sponse to his assasination clearly in­
dicated.
The obvious conclusion to be
draw n fro m this paradox is that
U S. policymakers either arc hope­
lessly out o f touch w ith re a lity or
th e ir policies are in fundam en tal
contradiction with the aspirations o f
Third W orld people.
In recent m onths p a rtic u la rly ,
Muammar Khadafy has been char­
acterized by the U.S. governm ent
and the American press as the most
dangerous man on earth, the p r i­
mary cause o f all its evils: hijacking,
kidnaping, revolution. Thus, any ty ­
rant in Africa or the Middle East to­
day who wants to remain in power
despite the popular w ill need only
in vo ke the threat o f K h a d a fy to
q u a lify fo r U.S. m ilita ry supplies.
Much too often, these arms are used
fo r suppressing their own people.
Sudan has recently locked away
m ore than 10,000 o f its citizens.
And the new leadership in Egypt is
credited w ith ro u n d in g up over
30,000 government critics.
The fact is that K h a d a fy ’ s real
threat docs not spring from his m ili­
ta ry m ight but fro m his genuine
popularity among the inhabitants o f
neighboring countries. His progres­
sive social and economic policies—
and his general support for the op­
pressed— have enorm ous appeal
w ith o rd in a ry people, especially
when they compare the l.ibyan col­
onel w ith their own leaders who so
frequently are exploitative at home
and subservient to the West.
To a large extent, the Muslim up­
rising in the Middle East and Africa
is a repudiatio n o f Western econ­
om ic and c u ltu ra l d o m in a tio n , a
re p u d ia tio n w hich also underlies
K hadafy’ s p o litic a l stance. He has
not engineered it, but he docs sym­
bolize it, and this is the essence o f
his popularity.
.lust before the O rganization o f
A fric a n U n ity (O A U ) sum m it in
N airobi this past June, the United
Stales m obilized all o f its support
among African heads o f stale to op­
pose Khadafy’s election to the presi­
dency o f that o rg a n iz a tio n next
year. But to no avail: Khadafy w ill
be the O A U president fo r 1982-3,
after all, and host its summit in T ri­
poli.
At N airobi, both France and the
United States attempted to make a
major issue o f the invasion o f Chad
by L ib y a 's a rm y — again w ith o u t
success. In fact, the O A U acknow­
ledged that Libya’ s army has helped
reestablish peace in Chad after 20
years o f a French-manipulated civil
war which was terribly costly in lives
and property.
French president Francois M illcr-
and’ s assertion Oct. 23 at Cancún to
the effect that Khadafy is about to
o v e rth ro w President G o u ko u n i
Oucddei o f Chad suggests a contin­
uing Western strategy to embarrass
and isolate Khadafy in preparation
■ for his forcible ouster.
It is an open secret that the United
States is readying its Rapid Deploy­
ment Force for potential use in such
a move in con ju n ctio n w ith Egypt
and Sudan. As early as July o f this
year the U.S. press was discussing a
C IA project to set up a “ large-scale
o p e ra tio n " fo r to p p lin g Khadafy.
The Sadat assassination and the
shaky condition o f Sudanese presi­
dent Gaafar N im eiri have provided
an ideal pretext for action.
But u n lik e the assassination o f
Sadat, any attempt on Khadfy’ s life
w ould be bound to set o f f c iv il
s trife , not o n ly in L ib ya but in
E gypt, Sudan and p ro b a b ly
throughout most o f the region. It is
well to remember the consequences
o f Western aggression on Egypt in
1956, when the conservative A n ­
thony Eden o f England and socialist
Guy M ollet o f France attempted to
oust Nasser over the Suez issue.
Instead, both Eden and M o lle t
were throw n out o f power in their
own countries, and Nasser emerged
as the leading figure in the M iddle
East and A fric a fo r m ore than a
decade
t> • I Qlt I Pacific New. Service
(A .M . Babu, form er M inister for
Econom ic Developm ent o f T a n ­
zania. leaches at Amherst College.)
Dental Clinic
(Continued fro m page I column 3)
o fth e O H S U . Two denturists are al­
so employed at the clinic.
“ M eeting the needs o f h a n d i­
capped persons in our community is
one o f the m ajor goals o f the clinic
and som ething we are fu lly
equipped to d o ," said Dr. Rosen
stein. “ Several o f our dentists have
extensive experience w orking w ith
the handicapped and the c lin ic is
easily accessible.”
As part o f the OH SU School o f
D entistry’ s curriculum , dental stu­
dents arc required to spend at least
one week o f their school program at
the clinic.
“ We want the students to realize
the excellent care that can be p ro ­
vided to low-income persons and to
see that it tru ly is appreciated by
these p a tie n ts .” said D r. Rosen-
stcin.
¡
President of one of the c o m m u n ity 's most
successful businesses is Henry S c o tt, w ho
presides over Coast Ja n ito ria l Service. The
com pany was established in 1957. Five S cott
brothers -- Henry, M anuel, A lb e rt, Sam and
Terry — are involved in the family business.
Primarily a janitorial service, Coast operates in
Oregon, W ashin gton and Idaho. A recent
acquisition is the contract for McChord Air Force
Base in Tacom a. The com pany is a major
em ployer fo r com m un ity residents and
contributes to the economic development of the
area.
S co tt belongs to the NAACP, the Urban
League, and is a member of Bethel AME Church.
He and his w ife Bernice have raised four
children. For relaxation, he enjoys boating.
BRO UG HTTO YOU BY
Pacific
Power