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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1982)
Portland Observer, February 4 , 1962 Page 5 Racism by any other nam e Our Street Beat question is, ’ How would you appraise the p e rfo rm ance o f Oov. Victor Atiyeh? by Rep. Ron Wyden Since newt leaked out weeks ago that the Treasury Departm ent had decided to allow tax-exempt status to schools guilty o f b latan t racial discrimination, the Reagan A dm in istration has taken a lot o f heat for being “ racist.’ ’ Administration o ffi cials say the criticism is unjustified. But the record shows otherwise. In the year since assuming office, the Administration has: •A c tive ly opposed continuatioi. o f affirmative action programs; •Refused to endorsed a strength ened Voting Rights Act; •Effectively liquidated the Equal Employment Opportunity Commis sion. nize the validity o f the IR S ruling, and allow it to continue as before. I have co-signed a Sense-of-the- House resolution which would do just that. But we must not stop here. Whe ther Administration officials care to admit it or not, they have embarked on a dangerously racist and bigoted course. C ivil rights activists have fought long and hard to try to wipe out ra cial injustice in this cou n try. W e cannot sit idly by hwile this Admin istration undoes all that has been accomplished— and returns us to an era that was nothing short o f a na tional disgrace. The capper was the move to allow tax-exempt status to avowedly racist schools. Faced with an uproar from civil rights activists and many other Americans, the Administration pur ported it only meant to see that the decision-making power was placed in the hands o f Congress— not the IRS. And they have submitted a bill to Congress which alleges to take care o f the matter. In re a lity , the b ill may create more havoc than it resolves. Be cause it is based on the assumption that the IRS never had the authority to deny tax-exempt status to racist schools, it may actu ally allow schools previously denied such sta tus to sue the governm ent for re covery o f taxes. In other words, this bill could re sult in a w indfall to racist schools previously denied tax-exempt status. The very thought is outrageous. A better a pp ro ach — and one which I endorse— is to simply recog Q. W hat Is y o u r general assess ment o f the President's State o f the Union Address Tuesday night? A . I was more struck by what he d id n 't say, than what he did say. Oregonians and most other A m eri cans were waiting to hear what the President planned to do to reduce soaring interest rates and put Amer icans back to work. U nfortunately, the President didn’t really have any thing to say about these issues. In stead, he seemed to expect us to take com fort in his announcement that the federal deficit is not expected to exceed $100 b illio n during fiscal 1982— and the fact that he has a plan to shift responsibility for most social programs fro m the federal government to the states. Q. You mentioned the President's plan to have the states p ick up re sponsibility f o r social programs. Is this really a workable idea— and i f it is. what will it mean f o r the states, and fo r the people who 've come to Street Beat depend on these program s? A . Although I have long advocat ed alllowing the states more control over their own affairs, I must admit I have some real concerns about this particular proposal. For one, although the President claim ed these program s w ould be accompanied with the money to pay fo r them , that is not necessarily true. A dm inistration officials have since adm itted that the trust fund turned back to the states along with the programs may actually be sever al b illio n dollars short o f the am ount needed to sustain the p ro grams at their current levels. Since states such as Oregon are in no posi tion to shoulder additional financial burdens, the clear losers in all this w ill be the people who depend on those programs for the necessities o f life. Omega Beasley, unem ployed— “ H e’s not doing a good job. People all around are out o f work. People need things and he is not proving himself to us. H e ’ s not doing any thing to please poor people. I t ’s the rich who are getting all the bene fits.” 1 am also concerned that the Pres- id en t’ s proposal does not call fo r economics in some o f the areas in which cuts would be most appropri a te -s u c h as w asteful defense ex penditures and other sacred cow programs. I said at the outset I support the ideal behind the New Federalism . But the type o f N ew Federalism I support is one which promotes a true partnership between local gov ernments, the states and the federal government— a partnership built on trust and mutual reliability— a part nership which promotes government efficiency and common sense. The President’s New Federalism— which would hand the states increased re sponsibilities, but without adequate money to pay for them— is no part nership at all. From the oardroom Nancy Cook, fo o d stamp worker — “ I ’m not real happy with Atiyeh. I ’ m a state employee and I may lose my job. A lot o f people I know have lost th e ir jobs. It is really hard to function in the state office.” - rently, four health plans are partici pating in Project H ealth: Kaiser- Perm anente, Providence Fam ily Health Center, Oregon Health Sci ences U niversity F am ily Practices C linic, and the Multnom ah Prefer ence Plan through the Providence Medical Center. Project H ealth is seeking add i tional grant funds from the Federal government to facilitate the research o f a new approach to health care de livery, a program called M U L T I C A R E . This program was initiated by the County a few months ago to assist in the control o f health care costs. M U L T IC A R E uses County- employed doctors and nurses in the role o f " fa m ily physician.” The cli ent selects a physician to be respon sible for h is/h er medical needs. Should the physician find a health problem that requires special atten tion or hospitalization, he/she re fers the patient to a specialist or hospital in the com m unity for fu r ther care. The intent o f this ap proach deletes the use o f more ex pensive levels o f medical care except when such care is deemed necessary, while assuring the patient receives whatever medical treatment he/she needs. A ll new enrollees o f Project Health spend a brief period o f time in the M U L T IC A R E program prior to entering the health plan o f their choice. The concept o f the M U L T I C A R E program is to continue pro viding a full range o f quality medi cal services for individuals in our com m unity, without adding to the spiraling costs o f health care for everyone. The big question now is how Pro ject Health and other human service programs will fare with the current budget planning process. D uring this period o f economic crisis, there is an increasing need for health and social services in the com m unity, and a shrinking supply o f govern ment funds to assist in their provi sion. W e continue to seek ways to make the best possible use o f scarce dollars in all our programs and to locate sources o f money to bolster the funds available in the County. Should you need additional infor m ation, please call my o ffice, 248- 5219, or Project Health at 248-3056. Car! Lidei, security chief— ' “ I ’ve heard about what he’ s doing. 1 don’t see the governor in touch with the economy o f the state. He sounds a lot like Reagan. There are cuts but nothing to replace it w ith . I t ’ s a complete disregard for the people.” L ila Leppart, retired— " I would hate to see a surtax or a salex tax. I just hope he manages the budget a little better.” Kermit Brooks— “ .What I ’ve been hearing doesn’t sound like he has been taking care o f business. H e ’ s making it rough. Reagan is making it tough and they both seem to be in the same comer.” Andy Brown, teacher— would appraise him like I would Reagan, E verything he does points away from people with no money towards those who have money.” by Lonita Duka and Richard Brown by Gladys McCoy, County Commissioner P O R T L A N D , O R — I am pleased to provide you with an update on Project Health. I know that a num ber o f you are fam iliar with Project H ealth on a first-hand basis and would be interested in knowing how it is progressing. Others who have not enrolled in one o f the available health plans may find this to be helpful information for meeting on going health care needs. Project H ealth was designed to make available a single standard o f health care for the citizens o f M u lt nomah C o un ty. It has provided health care services for low income M ultnom ah County residents since 1973. Clients are allowed to choose from among several health plans which provide a comprehensive benefit package for the whole fam ily. The am ount you pay as a member is based on your individual income, fam ily size, and the plan you select. The average monthly en rollment fee has, historically, aver aged about six dollars. Clients re ceive an id en tificatio n card from their selected health plan which is presented at the doctor's o ffice or hospital to obtain services. C u r- Jackie F ix , waitress— ‘ ‘ I d o n ’ t thin k the man is doing a ll that much. When his budget was passed it was kind o f hush-hush. I think he had better put people to work in stead o f making cuts.” ---------- --- E2SUPERB Q VALUES AT CO C‘A,. * "v„ Police brutality : ■ ■ PRO STYLE SHOP ■ ■ Proline now offers a 917 S.W. Alder 224-8401 across from the Galleria 1 J 1 SUPER CUT Under these conditions ONLY ♦No appointment ♦First available operator only L (present this coupon with visit! S 5 s B ■ ■ {Continued fro m page 2 column 6) mentioned. Bambi H arp e r and her 11-year- old son were stopped for a shoplift ing charge at N E 11th and Alberta. She was arrested and both she and her son handcuffed. She was trans ported to P am ir’s clothing store at 121 SW Salmon where she allegedly had stolen some goods. M s. H a rp e r denied any w rong doing. The police searched her car to locate stolen property. None was found. Harper was released. The P ortland Police report said that no stolen property was found in the suspect's car. W h y are so m any people com p lain in g o f police harrassment? W hat is being done about it? Next week: the Po rtlan d Observer inter- viwes P o rtla n d Po lice C h ie f Ron Still. “ Thar« it nothing makat a man suspect more than to know little.” Francis Bacon ty>e We have a large selection of reconditioned TVs. "Service is our specialty” Trade in your old T.V. for a reconditioned beauty! 8139 N. Denver • 285-1626 W e are open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day except Sunday.
