Portland Observer, April 8, 1962 Page 3
LU
PORTLAND OBSERVER
State of the City
Commissioner Jordan: Portland's future bright
• ‘These are the best o f times and
the worst o f times,” City Com m is
sioner Charles Jordan reiterated,
“ it is a time o f economic d iffic u l
ties, yet I am optimistic about the
city’s future.”
Along with his optimism Jordan
sees some m ajor challenges the city
must face. The most serious is the
problem o f unemployed youth d ur
ing the sum m er. “ T he parks and
recreation areas w ill be crowded
w ith young people who have
nowhere to go. Most o f the kids will
be unemployed and many o f their
parents also. T olerance w ill be
low .”
The C ity has no program s to
ameliorate this problem. There is lit
tle money for youth employment al
though the M ayor does have a lim
ited fund for this.
“ I f the City wants to fight crime
it should use its money to create em
ployment. I f you are really serious
about fighting crime you will get out
to the neighborhoods and get with
the teenagers.”
Jordan feels the M a y o r’ s p ro
posed war on street crime is a waste
o f m oney. “ The people lo iterin g
dow ntow n are a nuisance; they
bother and upset people. But the loi
terers, the alcoholics on the streets
aren’ t c om m ittin g m a jo r crimes.
The source o f crime is unem ploy
ment and drugs.”
Jordan was not upset by the day’s
news that Portland has the greatest
rate o f increase in violent crime in
the nation. “ The reports are made
by the F .B .I. and they use the infor
mation given to them by the cities.
The statistics are influenced by re
porting procedures and classifica
tions that vary from city to city. I f
Portland has a good reporting sys
tem, then it will be higher on the list
than a city that does not.”
Jordan is concerned about crime
in the city. “ We do have a problem
but we can still deal with it. Throw
ing money after the symptoms will
not help; we have to get to the
causes.”
Jordan favors and has proposed a
citizen committee to audit the Police
Bureau’s handling o f citizen com
plaints against police officers and
make recom m endations. H e o p
poses a “ citizen review committee”
which would involve citizens in in
vestigating complaints. “ The police
bureau cannot operate with citizen
interference. The police must work
for one person and that person must
be responsible for discipline.” He
blames M ayo r Ivancie for causing
confusion over the two concepts.
H e believes the police o fficers
would benefit from an audit com
m ittee. “ The professional o fficer
needs this. We need to regain public
confidence. A series o f events
caused the public to lose confidence
in the police bureau.
“ I still believe this is one o f the
best police bureaus in the n ation,
but we have a few officers who go
beyond the law. We have to take the
responsibility to speak out against
those who take the law in their own
hands.”
M ayor Ivancie is creating an illu
sion (hat there is something to hide,
Jordan said. “ There is nothing to
hide. I don’t believe a citizens com
mittee would find anything wrong,
but the public will believe citizens
more than they would officials.”
C rim e prevention requires c iti
zens' trust in the police, Jordan add
ed. “ Police d o n ’ t prevent crim e;
only citizens prevent crime. Police
enforce the laws. An increase o f po
lice officers enhances the feeling o f
safety. But it is citizens who report
crime, call the police, and prevent
crime.”
A lth o u g h Jordan sees an im
provement in the economy by Octo
ber, he is concerned about those
who m ight not survive u n til then.
“ The people at the bottom o f the
barrel need help just to have the ba
s ics -fo o d , clothing, fuel and hous
ing. We are working every day just
to get food for people.”
He forsees the need to shift some
funds from other bureaus and pro
grams to social services, at least for
the next year.
O v e ra ll, the city is in adequate
condition financially. Some bureaus
w ill have cuts, there w ill be some
shiftin g o f funds to meet special
problem s, but the city is fiscally
sound.
Jordan has no ambitions for state
or national office but plans to stay
at the local level "where the real de
cisions are made.” He will not make
the decision whether to run fo r
M ayor or to retain his council seat
u n til this fa ll. “ I want to look at
plans and programs. I will only run
for M ayo r if I need the position to
carry out the plans and programs.”
” 1 am optimistic. I believe P ort
land’s future will be bright.”
COMMISSIONER CHARLES JORDAN
True meaning of Easter lost
by Harris Levon McRae
Denlaa Walla racalvaa her badge from M ultno
mah County Sheriff Edgar Martin aa thirteen naw
Daputy Shariffa join tha forca. Sworn in by Judge
Robert E. Jonaa ware Richard Bile«, Mary White,
Gayle Brooke. Earl Green, Jr.. Anna Fruita. Law
rence Hagan, Carol Cumminga. Suaan Walton, Da
vid Hadley. Richard Maalnarl, Tad Stanaland and
Me Walla.
(Photo: Richard Brown)
It is Easter time again— the an
nual celebration com m em orating
Jesus Christ’s rising from the dead.
Many people celebrating the holiday
however do not truly understand the
essence o f Easter.
“ Easter is a holiday for which
many families gather for Easter ham
and tragically a time when people go
into debt buying things they d o n 't
need, to impress people that they
d o n 't lik e . C h ris tia n ity is based
upon the death and resurrection o f
Jesus Christ. Easter Sunday is a cel
ebration o f this. One o f the critical
points o f C hristian faith is that if
Christ didn’t rise, our faith as Chris
tians has no meaning." said Rever
end John G a rlin g to n , pastor o f
Maranatha Church and President of
the Albina Ministerial Alliance.
Since Easter is a religious h o li
day, a lot o f people are offended by
the commercial hype surrounding it
— especially concerning the c h il
dren.
“ I discourage a ll o f the myths
that relate to Christian holidays. We
shouldn’t tell our kids that fat men
come down chimneys or that bun
nies lay eggs— they have enough lies
to deal with. Parents should take the
opportunity to share with their chil
dren the tru th about the Easter
story. O u r kids are impacted by a
secular society that takes religion
and commercializes it. So either you
lose Jesus C h rist in the tingle o f
Christmas or he is hidden behind the
bunny o f E a ste r,” Reverend G a r
lington said.
Children however aren’t the only
ones losing out on the essence o f
Easter.
“ M y concern is that people get
into credit debt by buying new suits
and things. The other tragedy is that
people w ith o u t a new suit o ften
w on’ t come to church. One o f the
ideas that I am going to use next
Easter to get around this is instead
o f having everyone dress up, we are
going to encourage folks to dress
d o w n — to wear average, everyday
clothes.”
Spring has sprung and for many
the sign o f new life all around them
combined with the Easter season is a
International pressure for nuclear arms freeze builds
Pressure for an end to the nuclear
arms race is building in the U .S. and
abroad . President Reagan's plan
continues to be to build additional
nuclear missiles to reach “ p a rity ”
with the Soviets prior to taking steps
to freeze production or reduce de
ployment o f nuclear arms.
Reagan shocked the n atio n s’ s
leaders by becoming the first presi
dent to charge that the Soviet nu
clear force is superior to that o f the
U n ited States. Some months ago
Reagan frightened his European al
lies by saying that a limited nuclear
war fought in Europe, and leaving
the U .S . undam aged, is possible.
Administration spokesmen have al
so said that the U.S. can survive and
rebuild follow ing a m ajor nuclear
attack.
The Soviet Union says that a lim
ited nuclear war is impossible, that
the first attack would result in the
destruction. They also state that
they have reached p arity w ith the
U .S. and its allies but have not sur
passed them.
\ _______________________
The argum ent about who leads
the nuclear arms race continues.
The U.S. has superiority in numbers
o f weapons, short and intermediate
range missiles, submarine and a ir
plane-based missiles. The U .S .S .R .
has more o f the heavy inter-contin
ental missiles called “ strategic” mis
siles. Either nation could destroy the
world's population many times.
Although the U .S .S .R . is vulner
able to intermediate range missiles
based in Europe and in other U .S .
allies around the U .S .S .R .’ s
borders, as well as from sub and air-
based missiles, the U.S. can only be
hit with inter-continental missiles.
The last "strategic" arms talks re
sulted in S A L T - I I, which would
have limited the rate o f nuclear ex
pansion but would not have reduced
the number of weapons. Negotiated
by the C a rte r A d m in is tra tio n ,
S A L T -II was not ratified by C o n
gress and was killed by the Reagan
Administration.
The U .S .’s most recent proposal
was to refrain from deploying 572
Pershing 2 and cruise missiles in Eu
rope if the U.S.S.R. removes the 200
SS-20 missiles it has directed at Eu
rope. The U .S. did not offer to re
move the a p p ro x im a te ly 1,000
N A T O missiles in Europe, those of
the “ independent" forces o f Britain
and France, or U.S. missiles on sub
marines and airplanes stationed in
Europe.
The U.S. claims the new Pershing
2 and Cruise missiles arc necessary
to counter the SS-20s. Although the
Defense Departm ent says they arc
for the defense o f Europe, they are
capable o f hitting Soviet targets.
Moscow ays their SS-20 is not a
new missile system, bu, a replace
ment o f earlier systems. They con
sider the Pershing 2 and Cruise mis
siles to be first-strike offensive wea
pons intended to destroy their nu
clear d ete rren t. The Pershing 2
could hit Soviet targets w ithin six
minutes if fired fro m W estern
Europe, much faster than it would
take Soviet missiles to hit the U.S.
The U .S .S .R . rejected Reagan’s
“ Zero O ption” and countered with
its own. On February 10th the So
viets proposed reduction o f interme
diate missiles— those with a combat
radius o f 620 miles or m ore. It
called for reduction to 600 on each
side by 1985, to 300 by 1991 o f inter
mediate missiles “ deployed in the
territory o f Europe and in the adja
cent waters or installed for use in
Europe.” These missiles are capable
o f striking the Soviet Union but not
the U .S. They also said they would
like to eliminate intermediates from
Europe entirely if the U .S . and
N A T O would include all missiles,
not just land-based missiles.
The U .S .S .R . sees Reagan's
“ zero option” plan as a method to
reduce Soviet missiles without sim
ila r U .S . reductions. It holds the
threat that if the U.S.S.R . does not
agree, the U.S. will increase its mis
sile power.
On March 16th, President Leonid
Brezhnev made the surprise a n
nouncement that the Soviet U nion
has unilaterally suspended deploy-
ments o f its new SS-20s. The freeze
will continue until the U .S. and the
U.S.S.R . sign an arms pact, or until
the U .S . begins installation o f the
Pershing 2 and Cruise missiles in
Europe.
The arms talks in Geneva were
suspended on March 16th to allow
both sides to study the options.
When they resume in May, Moscow
will again insist that U.S. missiles in
Europe that are capable o f hitting
the U .S .S .R . be included in any
agreement on “ strategic" weapons;
the U.S. will undoubtedly refuse.
Moscow has repeatedly called for
a halt to the arms race. It presented
declarations to the U .N . in the 1950s
and 1960s. In 1946 it called for a
ban on production o f nuclear wea
pons and for destruction o f existing
nuclear weapons. In 1977 Brezhnev
proposed a halt in production by all
nations. In 1978 he advocated a
U .N . special session to discuss disar
mament and gradual destruction o f
nuclear weapons, banning o f testing
(Please turn to p ig e 11 column 5)
_____
REV. JOHN GARLINGTON
rem inder o f hope in the midst o f
bleakness. Reverend G a rlin g to n
comments:
“ I f people too k the hope o f
C hrist triu m p h in g over death and
related it to Reaganomics and other
hardships, we would see a renewal
in our co m m u n ity. As the saying
goes, ‘ W eeping may endure for a
night but joy is going to come in the
morning.’ ”
------------- 'l
March
against
Racism!
The Black United Front is calling
on the Black com m unity and all
concerned Portland citizens to parti
cipate in the 2nd annual M arch
Against Racist Violence, on Satur
day, A pril 17th. The march will be
gin at noon at A lberta Park, N .E .
19th and Killingsworth, and end at
the King N eighborhood F a c ility ,
4 8 I5 N .E . 7th Avenue.
A ll concerned are urged to parti
cipate and voice their protest on the
school situation, racist immigration
policies, racial harassment of Black
businesses, abuse o f police powers,
welfare and social program cuts, job
discrimination___
For more in fo rm atio n , call 249-
8501.
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