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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1982)
c Portland Observer, September 29, 1982 Page 3 METROPOLITAN Prison inmate seeks better life Grass ro o t News, N .W .— Ms. P. Fisher is serving time fo r forgery. She defines her life before and after C laire A rg o w , M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty ’ s women’ s ja il, as a spiritual ex perience. " M y life was going so fast out there on the streets; I had lost a num ber o f m a terial item s lik e a home and car. I got caught up in the fast life because I felt despondent over this loss.” Ms. Fisher received money from a lawsuit enabling her to acquire a home and car. Her spouse began to use drugs and de pleted her savings and assets. Like so many other inmates she was in troduced to drugs by her man and attained a desire fo r material things without the discipline o f savings. ” 1 fe lt I had to make up fo r what I lost and really when you are out there your are not m aking up fo r w hat you lo st. There are so many things going on in your life you are not m aking up. You are just adding to the problem. Over a period o f eight m onths I accum u lated so many cases. A nd p rio r to this I had no record. I feel that I was going so fast that i f I had stayed in the streets I could have died. God to o k me o f f the streets so that I could have time to think and get my life back together.” Ms. Fisher was spiritually reborn behind bars, which she feels gave her this new attitude. “ I t ’ s only by the grace o f God th a t I ’ ve m a in tained. Two women have died right under me. One hung herself and the other O .D .’ d. You see so m any women that are confined and the ex perience can either make you bitter or a better person. I ’ m at a very soul-searching state. I ’ m thinking o f my children and how I can be a bet ter mother to them. Now that I am reborn I can see w hat life is a ll about. It is not about all those ma terial things. When you get caught up in that material bag i t ’ s easy to get caught up in drugs to escape what you are doing to attain those things. Instead o f dealing w ith life as it is you are debating the whole purpose o f life .” W ith this unique outlook on life how are her fellow inmates respond ing to her? “ Many knew me when I was out there and they see me and they th in k I ’ m really h a n d lin g it. But it is not th a t. There was a purpose fo r me in here. It does not make you slick or bad to be behind bars. There are a lot o f people suf fering mentally in here.” Ms. Fisher says that none o f her friends in the fast life came to her aid when she was arrested. “ I just hope God uses me to get to them. People are always ta lk in g about what they can and cannot do. But you never know what each day brings. You could be like me. One day you are free o f a record and the next you are in the p e n ite n tia ry . That is a hard thing to accept. Life is going so fast now where no one can really capitalize on anything. A ll you can do is take each day at a tim e .” She concludes that she’ ll take each day as it comes w ith the help o f her new-found strength. • • • The first woman to run for President of the U.S. was not anyone in recent tim es, but V ictoria Woodhull who ran for President on the Equal Rights Party in 1872. Nicotine is named after Jacques Nicot, a French ambassador who imported tobacco plants. • The youngest movie star to w in an Academ y Award was Shirtey Temple who won an Oscar in 1934 at the age of 6. Democrats ask precinctperson resignations by C. Eddie Edmondson The M ultnom ah C ounty Demo cratic Central Committee voted last Thursday night to censure tw o o f th e ir precinctpersons and to ask them to resign, because they arc ac tiv e ly w o rk in g fo r opponents o f Democratic candidates in their dis tricts. In a d d itio n , a vote to reject the a p p lic a tio n fo r precinctperson o f Charles Stoudamirc, a State Repre sentative candidate in the 18th Dis tr ic t p rim a ry last M ay, was over turned after Stoudamirc was given a chance to a ffirm his allegiance to the Democratic party. “ A Democrat is a Democrat is a D em ocrat,” said M indy Leek, fo l lowing introduction o f a m otion to censure Rose Ganglc, a precinctpcr son in District 18. Ganglc, who also was a candidate in the 18th District State Representative p rim a ry , is cam paign chairperson fo r Kent Ford, running as an Independent in the district. Ms. Leek’ s husband, Ed l.cek, is the Democratic State Representative candidate. Several blacks in the dis trict have offered themselves as al ternatives to Leek, in a district which is roughly half black. The Central Committee executive board said that a fte r review ing charges against G anglc, it was recom m ending censure. T hat is when Mindy Leek rose to speak. “ ,'m sorry this has to do w ith a district where my husband is a can didate, but the number one goal o f a precinct committecperson is to elect Democratic candidates. And when you sign that piece o f paper, you have promised to do that.” She amended the m otion to cen sure by asking that Ron M cC arty, 19th D istrict State Representative candidate in last M ay’ s prim ary, be included. He is actively campaign ing for the Republican candidate in the 19,h D is tric t. N either G anglc nor M cCarty appeared to be at the meeting. By voice vote, Thelm a C arlson, C e n tra l C o m m itte e ch airperson , said the vote to censure and request G angle's and M c C a rty ’ s resigna tions carried. Ross D anielson, D is tric t 18’ s D em ocratic leader, spoke fo r Gangle. She had not thought sup p o rtin g a candidate who was sup p o rtin g the D em ocratic p la tfo rm and principles was a c o n flic t w ith her o ffic e , he said. **I th in k that that’s kind o f loose th in kin g ," Dan ielson said. “ However she has been a hard worker and has carried more cam paign lite ra tu re than alm ost anybody. I f she resigns, I ’ ll cer tainly promote her for reinstatement after this campaign is over.” Charles S toudam ire’ s request to be a precinctperson in the 18th Dis trict had been held up by the execu tive committee pending clarification o f his name being listed as Kent F o rd 's cam paign treasurer. Ms. Leek read fro m a story in last week’ s Observer q u o tin g Stouda mire as saying he had not thought o f running as a Republican because he had always been a D em ocrat. “ There is a big difference between whether you run as a Republican or as a Democrat,” she said. D anielson appealed an earlier vote by the body to reject Stouda m ire’s o ffe r on grounds he had no, had a chance to defend himself. Be sides, he said, Stoudamire told him he had called the Secretary o f State’ s o ffice to have his name re moved as Ford’ s treasurer. Danielson said the 18th is a new district with a number o f candidates running fo r the state representative office. “ People don’ t even know who the Democratic Party candidate is,” he said. In addition, he as actively been tryin g to get black precinctpeople. And they were rejecting the first one he had gotten, he said. “ And you tell me the first black person I sign up to become active there is reject ed? I f this m otion remains, I ’ m go ing to subm it my re sig n a tio n .” A m otion to allow Stoudamire to de fend himself was passed. “ I ’m no, helping an independent candidate,” Stoudamire said. “ I ’ m a Democrat and I never considered being a n yth in g else bu, a D em o crat.” The group voted to accept Stou damire’ s application to be a precinct- person in District 18. J Wv !>/ J A U a J /J > l>J4AïT7Jdû Ä b b b l J i i J IM t J A l i b d w i l l f J i b J J i/J w b ib i b b A iZ J d û ô * b b J l iw * b A illb bdi» Art Media • 820 S W .Oth Avenue Portland Oregon - '. 06 • A. - jss noir. the main Library ■ JOHN R. CHECKETT ESTER HUEY DON CLARK s jj’ • - ru t ' ■ KAY TORAN PSU workshop stresses affirmative action To help raise public and o ffic ia l awareness o f the m inority em ploy ment situation, Portland State Uni versity A ffirm a tiv e A ction O fficer M ajor M o rris, with the help o f the PSU President’ s A ffirm ative Action Com m ittees, has organized A f f i r m ative A c tio n Awareness Week, Oct. 11-14, on the University cam pus. The week w ill he highlighted by a four day workshop examining re cent activities affecting affirm ative action laws and regulations and as sessing the current a ffirm a tiv e ac tion environment. Morris says specific issues such as sexual harassment and sex discrim ination, services to handicapped in dividuals and alternative remedies for discrim ination w ill be addressed d u rin g the w o rksh o p . The w o rk shops, which arc free and open to the public, w ill feature discussions with federal, state and local officials as well as representatives o f private business. The workshop sessions run gener a lly from 11:30 a.m . to 2 p.m . on Get. I I , 12, 13 and 14, in 338 Smith M em orial Center on the PSU cam pus. The opening session, Oct. 11, will feature a keynote address by Ester Huey, Assistant Vice President for S taff Relations at Washington M u tual Savings Bank in Seattle, Wash., who w ill give an overview o f the his torical background and the laws and regulations surrounding affirm ative action. Her presentation w ill be fo l lowed by a panel discussion. Other m ajor topics to be covered during the four days are: sexual har- assment and sexual discrim ination; handicapped services; a ffirm a tiv e action and PSU administrators, fac ulty. staff, students; and current a f firm a tive action environm ent and strategies. The fin a l session, 11:30 a.m . on O ct. 14, w ill feature M u ltn o m a h County Executive Don Clark. For in fo rm a tio n regarding the PSU Affirm ative Action Awareness Week workshops, contact the Uni versity’s A ffirm a tive Action O ffice at 229 4417. i s
