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Mr« France» Sehoen-Xeespsper Poca U n iv e r s it y o f Orezcn L ib r a r y i-ugene, Oregon 57403 Observer Achievement Awards s,K, IIPo;)„a Apartheid ’ boosts unemployment Page 2 LU LU Caribbean cooking Section II Portland boxing nemesis Page 9 PORTLAND OBSERVER Ju ly 7, 1982 Volum e XII, N um ber 39 25C Per Copy T w o Sections USPS 959-680-855 Exit the general, enter the businessman Economics shape US foreign policy----------- by Franz Schurmann Pacific News Service A fte r the welter o f analyses o f the fa ll o f Alexander Haig and the rise o f George Shultz is sifted, one fact stands o u t: H aig is a general and Shultz a man o f business. The fall o f one and the rise o f the other say a lot about what the Reagan adminis tration has tried to do— and where it now seems to be heading. Ronald Reagan was elected to o f fice on a dual promise. He was go ing to get the econom y m oving at home, and get tough w ith com m u nists abroad. Determ ined to ju n k h a lf a century o f liberalism 's social program s, Reagan vowed to lim it government’ s domestic role to help ing the p riv a te sector spark new g ro w th . Overseas, he was equally determined to ditch Jimmy C arter’s hum an rig h ts p la tfo rm and set about building new alliances to con ta in the Soviet U n io n and check mate regional communist menaces, such as those alleged in Central A m erica. By early 1982, the President was s till carefully avoiding most o f the perilous fo re ig n p o licy lim e lig h t, and A l Haig had managed to rout R ichard A lle n to gain n e a r-to ta l control over foreign policy. But i f the two remaining lead ac tors were s till starring in their own respective film s at this p o in t, the themes were becom ing entangled. As the President touted his tax and spending cuts, he was increasingly embarrassed by huge defense o u t lays designed to give H aig’ s foreign policy the m ilitary muscle it needed. In response, the Secretary o f State cajoled his European friends to help beef up N ATO , and pushed the new m ilitary alliance with Saudi Arabia. But Saudi A rabia’s biggest contri bu tio n by fa r to U.S interests was not m ilitary power; it was its ability to virtually dictate world oil supplies and prices. When the in fla tio n rate went down steadily in 1982, it was largely because o f gas prices. Thus, the President co u ld th a n k the sheikhs for having given him his one and only clearcut economic success Soon after the inauguration it be came apparent th a t the W h ite House screenplay called fo r the President to stick to domestic m at ters, namely econom ic problem s, while his foreign affairs experts han dled fo re ig n p o lic y . A t fir s t, the leading role in th a t realm was fought over by Richard A lle n and Alexander Haig. Both took m ilitary views, but differed as to who should be the key Am erican allies. A lle n , the neo-conservatives’ man, argued fo r links w ith sm all, but m ilita rily pow erful and pro-A m erican coun tries like Taiwan, South A frica and Israel, as w ell as A rg e n tin a and Chile, which had been ostracized by Carter’s human rights policy. Haig, the heir to Richard N ixon’ s grand-design foreign policy, wanted to strengthen the connection w ith the People’s Republic o f China, re energize N ATO , and build on ties to the A rab nations, especially Saudi Arabia and Egypt. In a sense, then, A lle n w anted Israel on the fr o n t burner, and Haig wanted it shoved to the back. on the home front. A t the same tim e he was m ild ly applauded fo r fig h tin g in fla tio n , how ever, a deafening chorus o f boos met the President as interest rates rem ained h igh. A n d as the steady critical drumbeat from W all Street indicated, a sig nificant part o f business paralysis, in the busi nessmen’ s view, was due to the pros pect o f the U .S. T reasury m aking massive raids on the capital markets to cover deficits from actual and an ticipated defense spending. By spring o f this year, domestic and foreign policy alike were falter ing badly. The economy was deteri orating, and squabbles w ith N A T O allies and China began to hack away at the g lo b a l stra te g ic system A l Haig was building up on the fo u n dations laid a decade earlier by his fo rm e r bosses R ichard N ixo n and H enry K issinger. W h ile nobody w ould a d m it it , it slo w ly became clear that there was, in fa c t, only one film , w ith the President and .^ "•g both playing the lead role. Yet (Please turn to page 5 col. 1) ESD initiates Jackson secession plan The M ultnom ah C ounty Educa tional Service D istrict Board took the firs t step tow ard a llo w in g the Jackson High School D istrict to se cede from the Portland School Dis trict Wednesday night. A fte r considering fo u r o p tio n s, the Board voted to ask its superin tendent to develop a plan fo r the creation o f an administrative school district for the Jackson High School area and a plan for the Jackson area minus the Tcrw illigcr, Corbett, Lair H ill section. The superintendent was directed to cease p la n n in g at any tim e that he received a w ritte n d i rective fro m the P o rtla n d School Board indicating that its policy w ill be to operate Jackson d u rin g the 1982-1983 school year and the fo l lowing four years. Am id jibes at the Portland School by ESD Board Members Anderson and Robert and John Sweeney, the Board considered fo u r o p tio n s , some o f which would have required m e d ia tio n between the P o rtla n d D is tric t and Jackson C o a litio n at ESD expense. Both Sweeneys reject ed the idea o f payment o f the cos, bvthc ESD. D r. H o w a rd C h e rry , a fo rm e r member o f the P o rtla n d School Board, was the only member o f the Board to oppose the move tow ard secession. Cherry explained that the Portland D istrict has closed several elementary schools and three high schools as a response to shrinking enrollment. He questioned the legality o f se cession on two basis: that the A tto r ney G eneral ju s tifie d the process based on one sentence in a law w rit ten to allow small districts to consol idate and that he ordered that only the Jackson area residents and no, the residents o f the Portland School D is tric t be allow ed to vote. In all bound ary changes (except when a union high school is allowed to sep arate) all affected areas are allowed to vote. As a legislator, Cherry ex plained that the p olicy o f the O re gon Legislature is to oppose seces sion o f parts o f districts and to a l low all concerned to vote in bo u n dary changes. Cherry also pointed ou, that this could be a dangerous precedent. I f Jackson were a llow ed to secede, W ilson and L in co ln could fo llo w , DR. HOWARD CHERRY dividing the city into two school dis tricts. One, on the west side, would have higher property value and the other, on the east side, w ould have lower values and more educational problems. He warned that any deci sion to a llo w Jackson to secede could expect a legal challenge. The remainder o f the board mem bers favored o p tio n s th a t w ould proceed toward planning fo r a new district bu, could be stopped i f the P o rtla n d Board and the Jackson C oalition came to terms or i f Jack- son remained open. Dan Mosec favored keeping Jack- son open, at least u n til there could be a determ ination whether vacant land in the area would be developed fo r housing. I f the Portland district does not keep the school open he w ould like to sec a vote o f the resi dents to enable them to secede. He sees the ESD decision as a way to pressure the P o rtla n d D is tric t to keep the school open. P ortland School Board Member F rank M cN am ara to ld the ESD Board that the P ortland Board has repeatedly determined no, to reopen the issue and he does not project a change in that decision. I f the school is no, reopened by the P o rtla n d D is tric t, the plans draw n by the ESD superintendent will go to the ESD Board for approv al. I f approved by the Clackam as C o u n ty ESD Board and the State B oard o f E d u c a tio n , the m atter could be referred to a vote by the Jackson area voters. Vice President George Bush is In Portland to speak at Governor Atiyeh's New Federalism conference. Held at the Hilton on July 8th, the conference will focus on corporate social responsibility in the wake of the Reagan Administration's New Federalism. Bush will speak on the administration point of view. Bush, pictured at his afternoon press conference, also attended a fund-raiser for the Re-elect Atiyeh Committee. (Photo: Richard J. Brown) Environmental Protection Agency moves quietly to lift ban on PCB by Diana Hembree and Susan Ferriss Pacific News Service Jus, seven years after a study by the E nviro n m e n ta l P ro te ctio n Agency (E P A ) found traces o f the chem ical PCB in the m ilk o f an a larm ing percentage o f nursing m others, the agency is q u ie tly moving to deregulate the highly tox ic substance. In what some scientific experts— including reviewers in the agency it self regard as a dangerous step, the EPA has proposed Io authorize the u n lim ite d use o f P C B ’ s (p o ly ch lo rin a te d biphenyls) in many types o f electrical equipm ent. The agency is also proposing a ten-fold increase in acceptable con ta m in a tio n levels fo r equipm ent using PCB, which was technically banned in 1976 fo llo w in g the m ilk c o n tro versy. The E P A ’ s proposed rules, say c ritic s , appear to discount lo n g standing studies linking PCB to liver disease, jaundice, male sterility, and abdominal illness in humans, as well as cancer and birth defects in labor atory animals. The regulations are based on two new studies by electrical and chemi cal industry consultants, which con elude that “ PCB poses no serious risk o f injury to human health." The studies were submitted to the I PA this February by the Chemical Manufacturers Association (C M A ), the Edison E le ctrica l In stitu te (E l l), and the U tility Solid Waste Management G roup (USW AG). One o f the studies concluded that workers exposed to PCB on a regu lar basis exhibited little more than skin problem s. Yet according to a document released during the Carter adm inistration, "studies o f workers exposed to PCBs have shown a number o f adverse effects, included but not lim ited to chloracnc (skin ir rita tio n ], digestive disturbances, jaundice, impotence, throat and res piratory irritaitons and severe head aches." Because o f the chem ical’ s poten tial threat to human health, the pol icy changes on PCB have generated controversy w ith in E P A ’ s own ranks. Dr. Irw in Baumel, who directs the E P A ’ s H ealth and Environm ental Health Review D ivision, confirm ed that his s ta ff reviewers did not ac cept the conclusions o f the second industry report: " W e do not agree that the in fo rm a tio n presented proves that PCBs do not pose any serious risk to human health.” P a rtic u la rly d is tu rb in g to some inside EPA is the agency’ s new em phasis on w eighing risks to public- health against the costs o f PCB reg ulation. Though the EPA adm itted that phasing ou, PCB transformers w ould reduce health risks, fo r ex ample, it concluded that the dollars needed fo r a 10-year phase-out would be too high: $2661 per pound o f PCB released in to the e n v iro n ment. PCB, hailed as an inexpensive "m ira c le c h e m ica l" upon its crea tio n in 1929, was w idely used as a coolant in in d u s tria l electric p ro ducts fo r almost 40 years. But nu merous incidents o f contam ination eventually made it one o f the most co n tro ve rsia l substances in the world. In 1968, nearly I 3,(XX) Japanese poisoned by PCB-contaminated rice suffered severe skin diseases and v i sion problems, as well as liver can cer six times the norm al rate. Tw o years later, in New Y ork State, tens o f thousands o f chickens containing high levels o f PCB were destroyed on government orders. The Hudson River, contaminated by PCB dum p ing, was closed to commercial fis h ing in 1976. A nd in 1979, a single transformer leak contaminated food and grain d is trib u te d to 19 states and two foreign countries, resulting in hundreds o f m illions o f dollars in damage. In 1975, an EPA study o f I ,(XX) nursing women in the U nited States revealed that alm ost one third had PCB in their milk. In 1976, Congress passed the Toxic Substance C ontrol act, which banned the m anufacture and co m mercial distribution o f PCB Though the agency claim s tha, stricter PCB regulations w ould be to o costly, D r. K im b ro u g h o f the Center for Disease C ontrol believes that the government "s h o u ld try to c o n tro l as much as possible the amount o f PCB released into the en vironm ent.” Because the chem ical enters the food chain and lodges its e lf in the fatty tissues o f humans and animals, " i t takes years to break d o w n ," she pointed out. D r. K im brough added that the d iffic u lty o f proving chronic health effects argues fo r more research, not fewer restrictions. " I he genera tio n exposed to PCB th ro u g h m other’ s m ilk, the lo o d chain, wa ter, the air we d o n 't have any idea whal w ill happen to those p e o p le ," she said. PACII It NEWS SI HVM I