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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 10, 1982)
Portland Observer, June 10, 1982 Page 3 $ UU z ID Z PORTLAND OBSERVER Rose Festival director predicts greater success CLAYTON HANNON Every June Portland presents one o f the nation’s major celebrations— the Rose F estival. A ccording to Clayton H annon, Executive M a n ager, the Rose Festival has two im portant functions: to provide Port land with a m ajor celebration— nu merous activities in an atmosphere o f celebration; and to generate eco nomic and promotional benefits for the community. The Rose Festival is produced by the Rose Festival Association, with 72 directors, 32 honorary directors, 23 committees, and a full-time staff o f five. The Association is self-sup porting, generating income through events and donations. Since he joined the Rose Festival Association staff in 1969, Hannon has seen the festival events grow from 23 to 50 and the annual budget fro m $212,000 to $ 80 0,0 0 0. The Festival now includes three m ajor parades— the Grand Floral Parade, the Starlight Parade, and the Junior Rose Parade. The philosophy has changed from providing entertain ment to providing opportunities for participation. Some events— m ilk- carton boat race, boomerang con test, L ittle Britches Rodeo, square dancing— do not draw large crowds but they are important additions in that they provide a range o f activi ties for specific constituencies. One o f the concerns expressed about the Rose Festival is the image o f racism. Over the years the black community has felt that queen selec tion processes w orked to exclude black youngsters, and that those few events that did include black partici pation have been eliminated. To the black community the Rose Festival, the Rose Society and the Royal Ro- sarians have a definite " w h ite im age." H an n o n said this is one o f the areas o f most concern to him . He expressed the opinion that Queen Robin Marks (1980) should not have been the first black queen but denies that queen selection processes are "rigged” to exclude blacks. The dri vers and escorts tend to be w hite, but the Rose Festival does not select the applicants for the schools. Regarding the local high school bands which have now been dropped from the Grand Floral Pa rade, he said, "T h e y have elim inat ed them selves." Since the drastic budget cuts o f 1970, when music was cut along with other areas, the P o rtlan d School D is tric t’ s music program has never recovered. Only Jackson, M adison and possibly Cleveland have marching bands o f any quality and these are small. " Y o u cannot take young people in the n in th grade, teach them to play an instrument and make a qual ity band. They cannot compete with schools like the Centennial District, where they can field two large mid dle school bands. By the time they reach high school there is competi tion for band positions. " P o rtla n d directors have said, ’ D on’t invite us.’ W e could not put a small Portland band in the parade behind a Centennial.” Visiting bands are generally from the N orthwest, C a lifo rn ia and the M idw est— areas where there is not high participation o f blacks. Bring ing a black school band fro m the East or South is nearly impossible because o f the trav el cost to the band. Black people have served on the Rose Festival board— as Cora Smith currently does. Hannon hopes to in clude the black community more ac tively— both in com m ittee w o rk — and in designing events that will in crease participation. Another role the Festival plays is econom ic. A recent economic im pact study estimates that the Rose Festival contributes $4.8 m illion in direct expenditures in 1981. This in cludes an estimated $1 million spent by visitin g N av y personnel, $ 4 9 0 ,0 0 0 by the sports car races, $ 1 5 0 ,0 0 0 by visitin g bands, $ 9 6 0,0 0 0 by the fun center, and $1.1 m illion by tour groups and the like. Economists figure that money turns over from 3 to 5 times, so us ing a conservative 2.5 multiplier, the festival would bring $12 million an nually. The Rose Festival Association is already contemplating the 1983 fes tival— which will be the 75th A n n i versary. The festival will be larger, with special entertainment. Black community seeks House District 18 candidate The Northeast C om m unity C o n gress announced Wednesday that it will support the candidacy o f Rever end John Jackson for the Oregon Legislature, District 18. D is trict 18 includes the state's largest con cen tratio n o f black people and was created by the legis lature to provide an opportunity for black citizens to elect a black repre sentative. Five black candidates and three white candidates filed for the Democratic Party nomination in the P rim ary; the election was won by Ed Leek, who is white. Reverend M A . W a tle y , N C C v ice -c h airm a n , said the d is trict would be best served by a black per son and that Reverend Jackson was asked to run because "he is a Chris tian, and he is black." Jackson said he had not run in the Primary because politics was not his calling, but that he had agreed to run because the Congress had asked him. He has a long record o f com m unity service including being the first black to be appointed to a state commission, when he was appointed to the Welfare Commission by Gov ernor M ark H atfield. He served on the A lb in a W ar on Poverty C o m mittee, the Model Cities Board, the Foster-G randparents' B oard, the U n ited W ay B oard. He has been chairman o f the A lbina M inisterial A llian ce and President o f the N A A C P , and is co-chairman o f the Black United Front. In a separate e ffo r t, Jim m y "Bang Bang" Walker has circulated petitions to form a new party— the "N ew District— New Party, District 18” party. He plans a party conven tion on August 1st, to select a candi date. W a lk e r, who has previously run for political office, said he is not a candidate but w ould accept the nomination if asked. Oregon law dictates that in order to run in the General Election as an In dependent, the candidate must have been registered as an Indepen dent at least 180 days prior to the fil ing date. This would eliminate Jack- son from candidacy as an Indepen dent because he is a registered Dem ocrat. T he only m ethod by which a person who is currently a registered Democrat can be placed on the N o vem ber G eneral E lection b allo t (other than winning the Primary) is to represent a " m in o r” party (the Democrats and Republicans being regarded as " m a j o r " parties). T h ere fo re the altern atives are to form a new party or to become the candidate o f another m in o r party such as the Citizens Party, the L ib ertarian Party, or one o f the social ist parties. W alker and representatives o f the Congress met for the first time fol lowing the Wednesday press confer ence to discuss how they can work together to achieve a common goal. W a lk e r wants the new p a rty ’ s convention to be open — w ith no pre-selected candidate. He envisions several c a n d id a te s . presenting petitions to be considered and either delegates representing precincts or all registered voters present selecting a candidate. The candidate could be o f any race, but would be active in the community. The Congress, on the other hand, has already selected its candidate. W a lk er and Congress representa tives said they are w o rkin g to get together to prevent fragm entation o f the effort. Also in contention is Kent Ford, who is registered as an Independent and can be placed on the b allo t through petitions or a nom inating convention. JÒHN JACKSON Guardian Angels: Solution for Portland? by Tracy M. Smith Who ara you? "Jaim lnl” rapila« Darlck Spaars aa ha awalta signal to continua tha march during Roaa Fastlval Starlight Parada. (Photo: Richard Brown) Linus Pauling speaks for peace D r. Linus P a u lin g , N obel L au reate, w ill speak on the "C am p aig n for W orld Peace” on June 13th, 8:00 p.m. at First United M eth od ist C h u rch , 1838 SW Jefferson. The talk will be preceded at 7:30 p.m. by the film " T h e Last E p id e m ic " on the medical consequences o f nuclear war. P au lin g , a native o f P o rtla n d , was awarded the N o bel Prize for Chemistry for his work on chemical bonds and structures, and the Nobel Peace P rize. H E has dedicated h im self to w ork fo r peace and against nuclear weapons. Today the use o f force by the po lice is being called in to question more and more. Alm ost every day brings some new revelation o f police misbehavior. For whatever reasons, police are accused o f a variety o f transgressions. As a result, citizens are exploring new avenues to help ensure their safety. Founder o f the Guardian Angels, Curtis Sliwa, is scheduled to come to Portland for a two-day visit. Sli wa was invited by M ich ael A . Stoops, Board Chairperson o f the Burnside Community Council, Inc. The Burnside Com m unity C oun cil is bringing Sliwa to Portland to learn more about the G u ard ian Angels program. The Council also hopes to deliberate on a m odified version o f the G uardian Angels to determine whether it may be proper for the Burnside neighborhood, borhood. Stoops is hopeful that he will be able to schedule two town meetings while Sliwa is in Portland. Invited to attend these meetings are several or ganizations: Gray Panthers, Neigh borhoods Against C rim e , Black United Front, and Urban League. As o f now, only one public o ffi c ial, C om m issioner Jordan, has been asked to meet w ith Sliw a. Commissioner Jordan was not sur prised that he was the only official invited. Jordan said he is concerned with crime in Portland and is one of the few who would be receptive o f Sliwa. Jordan stated that he will keep an open mind when the Guardian A n gel group is in Portland. Nonethe less, he made it clear that "la w en forcement” is appropriately a func tion o f local government by means o f officers who have met established selection and tra in in g standards, and who can be held accountable. W h at are the G uardian Angels? They are a private, n o n -p ro fit o r g an iza tio n o f trained volunteers which conducts unarmed patrols in high crim e areas to guard against crim inal assaults on innocent per sons or property. They dress in red berets and insignia T -s h irts that serve as a visual deterrent to would- be criminals. The Guardian Angels was started in 1979 to protect persons who rode the subways in high crime areas in N ew Y o rk C ity . They also p atro l streets, parks, public tran sit sys tems, shopping districts and neigh borhoods. The Guardian Angels do not use weapons. Their two main concerns are public safety and public accept ance. The G u a rd ian Angels are trained in how to avoid injuries. In addition, there is a 10-week training p ro g ram which includes physical conditioning, self-defense, first aid, C P R , and citizen’s arrest procedure. Trainees must make 3 two-hour ses sions per week. Trainees may be dis missed due to tardiness, refusal to follow orders, or serious character defects, as well as for other reasons. Guardian Angels are not perm it ted to in te rfe re w ith drug use or dealing, prostitution, gambling, un der-age drinking, or other crimes in which people are not directly violat ing the rights o f others. Anyone 16 years o f age can enter the training program to be an A n gel. However, no one with a serious c rim in a l c o n v ic tio n , d e b ilita tin g handicaps, or app aren t a ttitu d e problems such as bigotry or violent tendencies can qualify. The G uardian Angels have been called vigilantes. However, they de ny the word vigilante. The Angels say the rely on the existing A m eri can system o f justice. Vigilantism is commonly defined as taking the law in to o n e’ s own hands. There appear to be three pur- poses that predominate in vigilante action: crime control, social-group control and regime control. The vig ilante may be said to o ve rid e n tify with authority rather than to be re belling against it. The vigilante as sumes the desired role o f the father as p ro te c to r o f home and the mother. The vigilante turns his an ger against others who share his own forbidden impulses to challenge au thority. C h ie f Ron S till and M a y o r Ivancie m ake a statem ent o f p u r pose in their "Focus on C rim e and Street D is o r d e r." The statem ent says, "T h e Crim inal Justice System in the State o f Oregon is not provid ing an acceptable level o f security and safety fo r Portland citizen s.” Given that the M ayo r o f P o rtlan d and the Chief o f Police are in agree ment that crim e is a serious p ro b lem, how will citizens protect them selves against the ascending crime (Pieate turn to page 2 col. 4) WPPS bonds cost $3 .75 billion W A S H IN G T O N — U S. R epre sentative Jim W eaver (D -O R ) has revealed that the Bonneville Power Administration and the Washington Public Power Supply System’s ef forts to sell m ore bonds fo r con struction o f the W P P S S nuclear plants w ill cost N orthw est u tility customers an additional $488 m il lion in ’bonus’ interest payments. W P P S , B P A , and W a ll Street bond brokers floated a bond issue M ay 20, 1982, w ith a principal o f $680 m illio n . W ith interest and am ortization costs over the thirty- year life o f the bonds, the total re payment on the $680 million will be $3.75 billion. The interest rate paid on these bonds was 2.01 per cent higher than comparable bond issu ances that week, according to the D a ily B ond B uyer w eekly index which charts average interest rates for 25 bond issuances each week. " W P P S S and B P A did every thing they could to sneak in under the wire and sell as many bonds as possible,” Weaver claimed. Weaver was referring to the fact that due to the passage o f In itia tiv e 394 by W ashington state voters last N o vember, no new bonds can be float ed after July I, 1982 without the ap p roval o f W ashing to n voters. " T h e y even threw in a 2 per cent bonus, at our expense. T h at 2 per cent giveaway will cost the people o f the Northwest $488 million over the next thirty years,” Weaver added. According to W eaver, the 2 per cent higher interest rate is a direct reflection o f W all Street’s growing concern that investments in W PPSS are “ shaky, at best.” " H a d WPPSS and BPA acted responsibly and got ten the support of the Northwest be fore floating this bond issue, W a ll Street’s fears could have been allevi ated enough to sell the bonds at the going r a te ,” W eaver said. " I t ’ s clear that B P A and W P P S S are more interested in satisfying the de sires o f W all Street speculators than in meeting the needs o f N orthw est ra te p ay ers ,” W eaver claim ed . " W e ’re being soaked for $488 m il lion so B PA and W P P S S can con tinue their nuclear fa n ta s y ," W ea ver concluded.
