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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