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S e h o o n - 'C r s p a p e r Eooa
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Thanksgiving greetings
n Oregon
wins. . .
finally
Eggnog—
options
Page 2
THE NEW
Page 13
PORTLAND OBSERNER
November 2-f, 1982
Volume XIII, Number 7
25C Per Copy
Two Sections
USPS959 6HO-855
-
Reagan asks M X dense pack deployment
President R onald Reagan has
uiged Congress to fund his M X mis­
sile plan at a level o f $26 b illio n ,
Over the next ten years the plan
would cost more than $40 billion.
The U .S. wants peace, Reagan
s a id . ’ ‘ Hut unless we dem onstrate
the w ill to rebuild our strength and
restore the m ilitary balance, the So­
viets, since they arc so far ahead,
have little incentive to negotiate
w ith us. I f we had not begun to
modernize, the Soviet negotiators
would know we had nothing to bar­
gain w ith .”
Reagan has recom m ended that
the M X missile silos be placed in a
“ dense p a c k " fo rm a tio n in a 20-
square-m ile area near Cheyenne,
W yom ing. T his is a change fro m
President Jim m y C arter's proposal
to house the missiles in m ovable
sites over a large area o f U tah,
which was met w ith public opposi­
tion.
Reagan’ s plan is based on the
theory o f “ fra tric id e .” A b o u t 100
missiles w ould be placed in con-
crcte-and-stccl capsules about 1,800
feet apart in a long slender column.
Theoretically when a Soviet missile
exploded, other missiles entering the
small area w ould be destroyed by
the blast o f the fir s t. As a result
some o f the MXs would survive and
could be used in a retaliatory strike.
C ritic is m o f the plan takes tw o
m ajor thrusts. First, Reagan based
his case fo r added nuclear strength
on statements that the U.S. is be­
hind the Soviet U nion. C ritics say
U .S. nuclear forces are superior
both in q u a lity and fle x ib ility and
the U .S. has already budgeted
$1.600 b illio n fo r m ilita ry build-up
over five years. The U.S. superiority
is in its subm arine and other sea-
based missiles that the president fo r­
gets to count when co m paring
warheads.
O thers say the "d e n se p a c k "
fo rm u la w ill not w o rk . R ichard
G arw in, one o f the builders o f the
hydrogen b ^ m t, said ail an enemy
would have to do to avoid “ fr a tr i­
cide“ is to d e live r its m issiles in
waves 20 seconds or m ore a p a rt.
G arw in said the M X is a waste o f
money and that upgrading the
"T h e Soviet Union knows that we
are now serious about our own stra-
tegic programs and that they must
be prepared to negotiate in ea rn ­
est,” Reagan said.
In the strategic arms talks the
U.S. has proposed reducing missile
warheads from about 7,500 on each
side to 5,000 on each side. The
U.S.S.R. has countered by seeking a
reduction o f strategic delivery vehi­
cles, including long-range ballistic
missiles and long-range bombers—
from 2,250 agreed to in the strategic
arms lim itation treaty (S A LT II) to
1,800 on each side. That accord was
negotiated by the C arter A d m in is­
tra tio n in 1979 but not ra tifie d by
the Senate. Reagan opposed that
treaty.
In Congress, opposition is already
building. House Speaker Tip O 'N eill
said the program is a waste o f mon-
- e y . Senator Ernest H o llin g s (D -
t
S .C ., said he has enough votes to
cancel 1983 funding fo r the M X . In
September, Congress had voted to
leave funds in the budget to keep the
project research alive.
Hollings said he believes the U.S.
is overprepared for nuclear war and
underprepared fo r c o n ve n tio n a l
warfare.
R ather rtian p fo ve to the
U.S.S.R. that the U.S. “ means bus­
in e ss," H o llin g s is o f the o p in io n
that deployment o f the M X system
w ould dem onstrate th a t the U .S.
doesn’t know what it is doing—that
the $35-$4O billion would be wasted
in a non-survivable system.
He supports the C a th o lic B ish­
ops' e ffo rts fo r a nuclear freeze.
"W e have got to forswear the use o f
nuclear weapons on both sides o f
the Iro n C u r ta in ___I th in k it
should be done in the context o f the
survival o f m a n kin d . T hat w ould
give our foreign policy more credi­
b ility .”
The first test fo r Reagan's propo­
sal w ill be a N ovem ber 30 House
S ubcom m ittee vote on m ilita ry
funding.
RONALD REAGAN
Mediation resolves neighborhood conflicts
If you happened by the home economica classroom at Jefferson
High School recently, you would have seen a room full of students
whose eyes were riveted to a cooking demonstration at the head of
the room . P rin cip al N ate Jones visited th e classes and d e m o n ­
strated p reparation of a chicken dish and some o rien tal cooking
techniques.
(JHS Photo: Fred Greatorex)
Four years ago the M etropolitan
Human
Relations
Commission
began a p ilo t p ro je c t to involve
volunteers in the resolution o f
neighborhood conflicts to avoid
police and court involvement.
Purely voluntary, the project uses
trained
volunteers
to
bring
disputants together, find a mutually
satisfactory resolution, and make a
contract between the disputing par­
ties.
Reduction o f funds reduced the
four area offices to one located at
K ing
N e ighbo rh ood
F a c ility ,
directed by Emmanuel J. Paris. The
project continues to serve a city­
wide clientel with a phenominal
success rate.
O f the 360 cases accepted during
the 1981-1982 fiscal year, 359 were
resolved successfully. Ninety-three
per cent o f the parties responding to
a one-month follow -up survey ex­
pressed satisfaction with the service
and 92 per cent had no further
contact w ith law enforcem ent o f ­
ficials.
The Mediation Center handles a
variety
of
problems
between
neighbors involving minor crimes
and civil disputes. Sixty-five per
cent were civil cases—property
related, nuisance, and inter-person­
al problems. The crim inal cases
included:
verbal
abuse
and
disorderly conduct (22 per cent),
vandalism and property damage (23
per cent), trespass (21 per cent),
littering (18 per cent). Disorderly
conduct, vandalism and littering
make up the largest number o f adult
complaints and juveniles are most
often referred for disorderly con­
duct, vandalism and trespass.
Although referrals are made by
the police and city bureaus and
social agencies, nearly one-third o f
the persons seeking mediation were
self-referred. Southeast residents
take advantage o f the service in the
greatest numbers, followed by
Northeast. Black people were 12 per
cent o f the participants, an increase
over the previous years. O ther
m inority persons using the service
were:Asian, 2 per cent; Hispanic, 1
per cent; Native Americans, a negli-
gable number.
The mission o f the Mediation
Center is to settle neighbor to
neighbor problems and conflicts at
the neighborhood level and to
prevent the issue from exploding
into a situation that involves police
and the courts and the resulting cost
to the participants and the commun­
ity. A side benefit is the freeing o f
police agencies and the justice
system from being entangled in
persistant and time consuming
problems that they are not suited to
handle. In this regard the Mediation
Center shows striking success.
During the past year 48 per cent
o f the disputes had been reported to
the Police Bureau, with police being
dispatched in 23 per cent o f the cas­
es. One month follow ing conclusion
o f m ediation, only 6 per cent had
further contact with police. Also 92
per cent had no further contact with
law enforcement, city/co u n ty agen­
cies or social agencies.
A large category o f complainants
consisted o f landlord/tenant related
c o n flic ts and were assisted w ith
inform anion and referral to appro­
priate services. A ll persons in the
C ity o f P o rtla n d are e lig ib le , but
M ultnom ah County residents were
provided services via telephone.
Although
new to
Portland,
neighborhood mediation is not a
new concept. In many less indus­
trialized areas o f the world local
non-professional discussion and
concilliation is the normal method
o f solving problems. In the indus­
trialized w orld, Australia has a
h ig h ly sophisticated n a tio n -w id e
mediation system that resolves civil
disputes and minor crim inal cases at
small cost and great success and
which commands equal respect with
the court system.
Portland's Mediation Center—if
appropriately supported by local
government—could serve as a
model for more efficient problem­
solving in this country.
Mental health workshop explores cultural differences
A conference on "M in o rity Issues
and M ental H ealth: Problems and
Practices," w ill be held in Portland
on December 2nd and 3rd. Ihe con­
ference w ill explore policies and is­
sues o f concern to m ental health
professionals working with m inority
people.
Mrs. Barbara Gaines, conference
co o rdinato r fo r Ihe N o rth /N o rth -
east Mental Health Center, Inc., the
conference sponsor, said this is the
first m ajor conference held in Ore­
gon to discuss the provision o f so­
cial services to m inority people.
P roviding mental health services
to m inorities requires knowledge o f
and s e n s itiv ity to m in o rity c u l­
tures,” Ms. Gaines said. “ It is natu­
ral fo r any person to sec others in
light o f their own culture, but this
makes it impossible fo r white social
workers to treat m inority clients un­
less they learn to avoid their own
cultural value judgements.
"Som e traits that are seen as i l l ­
ness are part o f m in o rity culture.
For example, when black people are
noisy and excited, this is not i l l ­
ness—it is a cultural expression. It is
the way we act. I f a white professon-
al does not understand that, he can
label the behavior as inappropriate
and consider it a sym ptom o f i l l ­
ness."
Very little has been done to ex­
pose mental health professionals to
c u ltu ra l differences, according to
Ms. Gaines. An additional problem
is the small number o f minorities in
the professional agencies. Since few
m inority clients have the opportun­
ity to receive treatment from m inor­
ity professionals it is urgent that
w hite professionals be exposed to
c u ltu ra l differences and th e ir e f­
fects.
M ental health program s are de­
signed to operate in the white social
structure, even when they are de­
signed specifically for m inority peo­
ple. Designing programs that meet
the needs o f m inority people and are
structured in a way that w ill encour­
age m in o rity persons to participate
w ill be discussed.
"There are many concerned white
professionals who can do a good job
w ith some exposure. The person
w ho likes and respects people and
provides a good treatment for white
clients can learn to treat m in o rity
clie n ts." That is the purpose o f the
conference.
Keynote speaker fo r the co n fe r­
ence is Byron Kunisawa, one o f the
a
nation's leading consultants on m i­
nority issues. Born in a concentra­
tio n camp in T opaz, U ta h ,
Kunisawa grew up in housing p ro ­
jects in West Oakland.
W ith a background in Sociology
and E ducational A d m in is tra tio n ,
his clients include government agen­
cies, Indian reservations, alcohol
and drug abuse program s, school
districts, etc. He recently designed a
program o f M u lti-C u ltu ra l Aware­
ness Training Initiative fo r the State
o f Arizona.
Kunisawa w ill speak on " A m e r i­
can Problems o f the '80s: Systemic
Failures and Design o f O m issio n ,"
on December 2nd at 9:00 a m.
The conference w ill cover issues
o f im p o rta n ce to a ll o f O regon's
major m inority groups and w ill con­
centrate on policies and programs,
clinical treatment, child and family,
service delivery, education and com­
m unity. Am ong the 27 workshops
to be o ffe re d are: N a tu ra l helpers
w ith in the m ental health com m u­
nity; M ental health perspective o f
m inority children in the school sys­
tem; P itfa lls o f diagnosing mental
illness in m inorities; Psychological
testing and m inority children; class
and m in o rity status— im plications
in the classroom; model programs
serving ethnic minorities.
Leading workshops on m inorities
and educatio n w ill be D r. R obert
G uthrie o f San Diego, specialist in
the problems o f Hispanic and black
children.
For inform ation and registration,
contact Barbara Gaines at 239-8871.