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Special Food Section
Mayor
Andrew
Young
Peyton
Award
Page 3
An interview:
Steve
Johnson
Page 14
Page 7
PORTLAND OBSERVER
USPS 959-680 855
From resistance
to quiet sabotage
by Bjarke Larsen
Pacific News Service
K A T O W IC E , P O L A N D — Fear
and resignation, tempered by a pro
found belief that history cannot be
reversed, that some o f the reforms
brought forth by the independent
labor union Solidarity will survive—
this was the atmosphere pervading
southern and western Poland ten
days after the military takeover.
A t that tim e 3,00 0 coal miners
were still on strike in Poland's two
largest mines, H u ta Katowice and
Ziemowit, near the city o f Katowice
in Silesia in southern Poland. Ru
mors told o f strikes in the B altic
port cities o f Gdansk and Szczecin,
but except for these three cities, the
army seemed to be in full control o f
the situation.
In the first days after the military
takeover, the roads were covered
w ith troops, and tanks and a r
moured cars were placed on all stta
tegic corners in the cities. Yet by De
cember 17, the army had begun to
return to its barracks, and by D e
cember 19, when I entered the coun
try, it was possible to drive through
large areas o f Poland w ithout en
countering a single military vehicle.
Apparently the military rulers felt
so secure that they left actual street
patrols to the " M ilic ja ,” the police,
and concentrated their effo rts on
the few factories where workers
continued to strike. But for most
Poles these strikes seemed doomed.
People found it pointless to fight the
new regime.
" W h e n Jaruzelski and the new
army chose to take over al. »ower, it
was no use to fight back. We just
have to give up and wait for better
times, or else the situation will de
velop into something even worse,”
most people said, hinting at the pos
sibility o f a Russian invasion.
Others, however, have only given
up the face-to-face confrontation o f
strikes or factory occupations. In
stead, they try to fight the regime by
working slowly and in e ffic ien tly .
Several people also told o f workers
sabotaging facto ry m achinery.
There is no measure o f how effect
ive this strategy has been. But it was
given credit— or blame— for recent
failures in the gas and electricity
supplies.
In several cities street lights failed
altogether or burned only interm it
tently. Use o f gas supplies was for
bidden for fear that irregularities in
the supply could lead to explosions.
In the area around K atow ice,
where miners have barricaded them
selves underground, m ilitary units
have surrounded the mines. Several
times a day helicopters were seen
January 7, 1982
Volume X II, Number 13
250 Per Copy
Tw o Sections
New ownership,
new management,
new direction
The P o rtla n d Observer, in its plans fo r 1982, is em barking
on a new program . W e feel that Portland needs an alternative
voice, and we plan to f ill that b ill. W e w ill address all issues
and pinpoint the facts as we see them.
We w ill honor those w ho deserve being honored and expose
the exploiters everywhere.
W e plan to be the voice o f a ll the people— B la ck, w h ite ,
brow n and ye llow — to b rin g love and togetherness to P o rt
land and to cancel out the hatemongers o f the w o rld who try
to keep people apart.
W e plan to have the best sports section in the area, giving
our readers insight on sports fro m the local and national per
spectives. I f there’s a big event on the West Coast we w ill have
someone on o u r s ta ff there re p o rtin g the tru e facts o f the
game.
O ur supreme goal is to report the news w ith o u t bias and to
b rin g love and jo y to the people o f the area. W e hope that
1982 w ill be a good year fo r everyone. I f it ’ s newsworthy we’ ll
be there.
A l M cG ilberry,
M anaging E d ito r
(Please turn to pane 4 column 4)
Oregon residents face deep budget cuts
Snowy day in Portland. . . .
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
Warm weather is
just around the
corner!
Governor Victor Atiych delivered
his proposed budget cuts Monday.
The cuts are designed to turn $237.2
m illio n from the state budget be
cause o f decreased funds available.
The recession has hurt Oregon.
Unemployment has reached 11 per
cent and is expected to be over 12
per cent by February. Bankruptcies
— corporate and personal— are at an
all-tim e high. In the past two years
budget cuts have elim in ated over
2,000 state employees and programs
have been drastically reduced— es
pecially human resources and edu
cation.
The Governor recommended cuts
totalling $147 m illion and revenue
collections o f $100 million through
a wine and beer tax and earlier col
lection o f withholding taxes and de
linquent taxes.
" I view Hum an Resources as an
insurance p ro g ram , a va ila b le to
Oregonians when a financial catas
trophe occurs,” G overnor A tiyeh
said. " M y proposed reductions
place the highest priority on m ain
taining essential programs for those
who have nowhere else to turn. For
the other state agancies, my p rio r
ities were to m aintain crucial state
services o f public safety, economic
development, and revenue produc
ing activities.”
The Governor did not touch the
property tax-relief program through
which the state pays 30 per cent o f
home-owners’ property tax bills. He
did propose that property tax-relief
be tied to income. "T h e state cannot
continue to provide property tax-
relief payments to those who make
over $50,000 when we cannot afford
to provide the needy w ith critical
health and social services.”
The shortage o f revenue comes
both from the decrease in taxes col
lected due to the recession and re
sulting unemployment and business
failure, and to policy changes.
During the late 1970s the Legisla
ture increased the amounts and the
percentages o f the general fund that
goes to tax relief and local govern
ment aid. Between 1969 and 1979 lo
cal aid (m ostly Basic School Sup
p o rt) rose from 32 per cent o f the
general fund to 39 per cent; tax re
lief rose from 4 to 9 per cent.
By the 1977-1979 biennium 48 per
cent o f the general fund went to lo
cal government and tax relief. While
expenditures for state government
increased by 134 per cent, aid to lo
cal government increased 250 per
cent and tax relief 604 per cent.
The 1979 Legislature enacted a
(Please turn to page 4 column /)
GOVERNOR ATIYEH
American dream dropped from consumer price index
by Prank Fiviano
■
Pacific News Service
Just a little more than a year from
now , a central principle in the
Am erican dream w ill be o ffic ia lly
laid to rest.
Simply put, the principle held that
the common man in this country not
o n ly had an in alienab le right to
property, but that property should
be a common expectation. America
was to be a nation o f homeowners.
Now the Reagan adm inistration
has taken steps toward a landmark
policy change which w ill, in effect,
acknowledge the w ith d raw al o f
home ownership from the m a in
stream o f American expectations.
Beginning in 1983, the D e p a rt
ment o f l abor has announced,
m onthly Consum er Price Index
(C P I) estimates o f the U .S. cost o f
living no longer will include the cost
o f buying a home— prevailing mort
gage interest rates and the current
market value o f real estate. In addi
tio n , the p ro p o rtio n o f the C P I
which is accounted to housing will
be reduced to 14 per cent o f the in
dex, from its present 25 per cent.
A ccording to Com m issioner o f
Labor Statistic Janet L. Norwood,
the change is intended to more ac
curately measure the cost o f living.
Because relatively few Americans
purchase homes in any given month,
she argues, unstable interest rates
and soaring real estate prices are not
relevant to the actual living costs o f
most citizens.
The new policy has been warmly
received in Congress, where it is
viewed as an e ffective means o f
curbing federal budgetary increases
in such areas as Social Security, the
food stamp program and govern
ment pensions, which are adjusted
against the C P I. It has been con
demned for the same reason by pen
sioners and labor officials.
But the long-term significance o f
the new C P I lies in its less obvious
social im plications, rather than its
direct effects.
In short, the Reagan price index
will make official what a substantial
number o f Americans already have
painfully discovered in recent years:
the emergence o f a vast chasm in the
U n ited States between those who
'**'*"*
purchased homes in the era o f low
interest rates and reasonable real es
tate, and those who never will own a
home. The latter category includes
most young people and recent immi
grants, as well as millions o f other
who waited too long to enter the
housing market.
It is a chasm measured not only in
dollars and dreams, but also in his
toric political import.
Since the day that Abraham Lin
coln signed the Homestead Act in
1862, the U .S. government has ac
tively endorsed the concept o f a so
ciety composed almost entirely o f
property owners. The concept was
modernized by Franklin Roosevelt
in 1934 with the Federal Housing
Authority (F H A ), which guaranteed
the loans that made property owner
ship possible for ordinary working
people, and eventually spawned the
nation's suburbs.
The policy o f the Reagan adm in
is tra tio n . on the other hand, dis
guises— and tacitly endorses— a new
division o f American society along
property lines.
Disguised though it may be. that
division hardly is subtle. Less than
10 years ago it s till was possible,
even in high-priced C a lifo rn ia , to
purchase a city home at a monthly
cost o f little more than $200.
T o d ay , a renter in v irtu a lly any
American city must expect to pay in
excess o f $500 for a modest ap a rt
ment, and look forw ard to yearly
rent hikes as well. By contrast, the
1972 home buyer's mortgage pay
ments remain $200— with property
taxes frozen in some states.
(Please turn to page 12 column I)