Portland Observer, August 18, 1982 Pane 5 F re e s p e e c h f ig h t c o n tin u e s M an On The M ove Ethnic and women’s studies pro­ grams are under attack in Portland and across the nation. In response, tw o free speech case battles have been fought in the west by a coali­ tion o f local and national support groups. The cases concern C la ra Fraser and Merle W oo. C lara Frnser, a veteran labor and civil rights activist and founder o f n a tio n a l R adical W o m en , won a seven year old political ideology and sex discrimination suit against Seat­ tle C ity Light in State Superior C o u rt in Seattle A u g . 9. Judge Goodloe awarded her seven years* back pay, reinstatement at Seattle C ity Light and adequate attorney’s fees, which will total, say support­ ers, well over S 100,000. by Kathryn H a ll Bogle back pay but her victories were al­ ways overturned. H er August 9th appeal was of the split decision o f a city hearing panel which ruled against her in July, 1980. M erlw W oo is a popular lecturer in Asian American Studies at U .C Berkeley, a widely published poet, a socialist feminist and a member o f Radical W om en and the Freedom Socialist P arty. She has protested the firings o f staff, tutors and facul­ ty who are community activists and has fought to keep the Ethnic Studies Program intact. Good Food Cocktails Serving Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Special Dinner Served on Sundays 5016 N.E. Union 287-4755 She is the first lecturer fired under a newly im plem ented U n iversity policy which states that lecturers may only teach for four years. This prohibits some 2500 lecturers throughout the C alifornia state col­ lege system from being rehired after E ’ S M A N Y persons— that do their w ork. The sunset and the ocean have given me the m ood to Thomas Boothe. O r, better, he is a person with a great variety compose of around 25 pieces o f music, interests. principally for the flute. “ M y w ife , R osalee— she’ s also D aily, he sits with bank officers, from St. Thomas— asked me to help m ethodical, sober-minded, calcu­ her with her own compelling inter­ lating, unhurried and deliberative est: ‘The House o f Exodus.’ I t ’s my fo lk — usually. The people Boothe wife’s concept o f something she can works with fit the m ajor pattern o f do to help alcoholics and persons on bankers everyw here. T h ey have drugs. She saw two persons in her made a study o f how they (and even own family trapped and involved— quite possibly, you) can make mon­ saw them ill and in death from alco­ ey. hol abuse. But. Boothe is not a banker. He is “ I ’ ve been in the background a consultant in business m anage­ with my w ife’s project because she m ent. H e jo in e d A m erican State looks upon House o f Exodus as her Bank in the latter part o f 1975 as own contribution o f something ben­ Consultant and Director o f M arket­ eficial to the world. She took formal ing. He was head o f their staff train­ training at U . o f Oregon and at U . ing, was on hand to encourage the o f Utah, and, in 1977, she opened a nam e-change and accom plished free clinic. early w ork on the location choice " In 1978 Rosalee received a grant fo r the establishm ent o f its tw o from M u ltn o m a h C o un ty w ith f i ­ branches. Bank owners w anted nances to help. The County realized com m u nity acceptance fo r the that there was no other agency in fledgling institution. N .E . Portland for the treatment o f A m erican B an k's Venerable alcoholism . It was not u n til 1979 Booker has not been sorry. A m eri­ that my w ife asked me to become can Bank closed its year with assets. more active in the affairs o f House Boothe had w orked earlier as a of Exodus. consultant in business planning with “ N ow the agency has become a Oregon Bank and Portland Federal business,” Boothe continued. “ We Savings (now called Far-West). have moved twice since then and we Born in St. T h o m as . V irg in Is ­ now have a large building and access lands, a tropical vacation land in the to a whole block on N .E . A lberta. beautiful Caribbean ocean, Boothe There are 20 people on staff, includ­ remembers his boyhood o f boating, ing volunteer persons. W e have fishing, and visiting the little retail seven counsellors, four house man­ stores set up for the tourist trade. It agers, and tw o instructors who was beautiful, Boothe recalls, but it teach socialization, alcoholism, nu­ was ru ral and slow and there was trition and hygiene.’ ’ never enough money in most fam i­ Clients pay on a sliding fee scale, lies who stuck to the tra d itio n a l according to Boothe. ways o f the islands. “ W hen I was eight years o ld ,” “ House of Exodus is seeing about Boothe relates, “ my m other and I 1,000 persons a year,” says Boothe. went to New York City to visit rela­ " O u r clients are our products. We tives there. They encouraged me to are also a residential treatment cen­ stay and go to school. So, you might ter and can house clients. Some o f say, I grew up in B ro o k ly n . O h , our clients are with us because o f a there were occasional visits back drug addiction or because o f some home and to P uerto Rico, but we other drug related problem. learned to think o f B ro o klyn as “ I'm p a rtic u la rly pleased w ith home. our active youth component. M any “ I have my doctorate degree in young people, including children, biochemistry from New York Univer­ need help, not necessarily fro m sity,” Boothe said. " I am interested drugs or alcohol problems. W e can in cancer research (did a paper for help raise their self-esteem by help­ my thesis on this) and I w orked ing them find jobs or involving them eight years at the U . o f O . H ealth with our youth theatre (w hich, by Sciences Center in the opthalmology the w ay, was funded by the U .S . departm ent when I first came to D cp t. o f L ab o r fo r the summer Portland.” months). For relaxation, Thom as Boothe “ Our Exodus Clean T e a m ," said turns to his music. He plays flute, B oothe, really w a rm in g up to his drums, alto sax and guitar and holds subject, “ is going just great. It John Coltrane as his inspiration. He really is a group o f citizens in te r­ is o ften heard w ith the “ C alypso ested in keeping our city clean. W e, C a ra v a n ," an A fro-C u ban band— and they, believe that a clean spirit, or “ O y o y o ,” a group he co-chairs clean p ro p erty , a clean mind and w ith Chuks O g b u o b iri. B o o th e ’ s body all produce a clean citizenry. A musicianship gives him a treasured clean community is the result." memory when he recalls a very spe­ In his "sp a re" time, Boothe has cial night when he sat in w ith the become a licensed pilot to fly small Duke Ellington Band when E llin g ­ planes and helicopters. He also is ton played at Harvey D ic k ’s R oar­ president o f the Contractors M a n ­ ing Tw enties Room at the H o y t agement Association, is a member Hotel. He has also played with Billy o f the Oregon Building Congress, a L a rk in w ith the P o rtla n d O pera member o f the P ortland C o m m er­ Jazz ensembles, and enjoys playing cial C lu b , a vice-president o f the flute a eappella. Royal Esquires, and is the treasurer “ Restoration and peace come to of the Albina Rotary Club. In addi­ me in s o litu d e ,” B oothe said. “ I tion, he has the greenest lawn in his like to be w ith m oving water. I t ’ s block. Ask him how he accom ­ good for the soul to be with Nature. plishes that, and he touts the green­ Sometimes I ride my motorbike up ing potion he as a bio-chemist mixes into the mountains and just let the himself. clouds, the butterflies and the quiet H E ld o r a d o C lu b For constipation relief tomorrow reach for EX-LAX tonight. Lx I ax helps restore your system's own natural rhythm overnight Gently. Dependably, fry it tonight You'll like the relief in the Chocolated or pills, Lx l a "The Overnight Wonder" Read label and follow direelinns. i I s I as. In« . 19*.’ more than four years o f fu ll tim e teaching. The ruling is designed to m aintain a constant turnover and discourage unionization among lec­ turers, the lowest rank in the teach­ ing hierarchy. It also eliminates a number o f experienced, popular and progressive teachers like Woo. Fraser was illeg a lly fired eight years ago because o f her advocacy o f affirm ative action and pro-labor policies and her feminist, civil rights and socialist convictions. She con­ tested her firing and won decisions in her favor from the Seattle C ity Hum an Rights Department, the Se­ attle M ayor and Hearing Examiner o f her C ity hearing. Twice she was aw arded thousands o f dollars in Both cases have received nation­ wide support from writers, fem in ­ ists, unionists, people o f color and gays. Activists like Florence Ken­ nedy, D ick G regory and G lo ria Steinem were long-time supporters of Clara Fraser’s case. Merle W oo, who was fired in June 1982, has gathered over 1,000 signatures pro­ testing her firing and national sup­ port grows daily. Congressman Ron Dellum s o f C a lifo rn ia added his support to the cases at the July 16 P o rtla n d Observer A chievem ent Awards Banquet. A ctor Ed Asner also announced his support recent­ ly. You’ve prt hibly heard about I’NB’s upcoming separation fmm its parent uxnpany, AT&T A separation that was prompted by the U S Department of Justice. What yrxive probably little idea of, ¡show exactly; the changes will affect you. First, we’d like to dispel any fears yxxi may have. It has «always been, and will always be, our primary concern to pro­ vide ytxi with quality, affordable tele­ phone service*. Il IE REAS( N R >R Tl IE CI IAN( ÎE In the developing days of the tele­ phone industry; die oxem ding goal was to pmvade evety hi xne with a p h me. Today, more than 9H" of all hixiseholds in America enjov the use of a telephone. With the advent of near-universal service, die pink >s >|ihy