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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1982)
Portland Observer, December 1,1962 Page 13 Fight card cancelled A tra in in g in ju ry to fo rm e r na tio n a l B ritis h heavyweight cham p Ishaq Muhammad Hussein— highly regarded foe for ranking Northwest heavy L a rry F ra z ie r— has forced postponement o f the scheduled Dec. 2 boxing program at Seattle’s Para mount Theater. The inaugural Thad Spencer Pro ductions card w ill take place now shortly after Christmas. As soon as the best-date-available is confirm ed by the P aram ount T heater, the exact date w ill be revealed, probably early next week. “ We could have brought in a sub s titu te ,’ ’ noted prom oter Spencer, him self a onetim e ranking heavy weight challenger, “ but we like this Frazier-Hussein ten-rounder and we know the fans are going to like the matchup, too. “ Hussein suffered the in ju r y Wednesday while skipping rope. I t ’ s not terribly serious, in fact i t ’ s kind o f common—a slightly pulled mus cle in his lower back. But the physi cian dow n there [L o s Angeles, where Hussein now trains under the supervision o f veteran M orris R olf) urged us to give him three weeks’ rest. So we w ill. “ Those fans w ho’ ve already pur chased tickets are urged to hold on to them, bccaue they’re going to see the same card that was advertised for Thursday flig h t.” The postponement w orks fo r the fans in a couple o f other ways, too. The time differential allows rugged featherw eight Greg Haugen, w ho has been campaigning in Alaska, to make his area pro debut. Haugen, fro m A u b u rn , is n o t stranger to amateur boxing customers. In fact, he holds two amateur wins over un defeated (16-0) Johnny Bumphus. More good news: Up-and-coming Irish Randy M cN urlin, who stopped undefeated Tony Talley o f C a lifo r nia in tw o rounds in E v e re tt November 20th, w ill now be able to go the f u ll scheduled ten rounds with H a iti Jimenez o f Sacramento. M c N u r lin ’ s veteran m anager, George Chemeres, had considered showing this action lightweight (14- 3, 9 KOs) in only an exhibition four- rounder to protect a forehead cut in curred when T alley butted him in the first round o f their fight. Chem eres said the postponem ent is “ a blessing, ’cause now Seattle fans can see my fig h te r in a regular b o u t, w ithout the special headgear I was going to use to protect that cut while it heals.” The th ird ten-rounder pits W B A No. 5-rated lightheavyw eight c o n tender Dale G ra n t o f Tacom a against Veteran King David Sm ith o f Los Angeles. Tree sales aid students Thomas Kennedy; Kittle Robinson, president of Trailblazer Boost era; Audi* Norris; "Fats" Lever; Sandy Armstrong and Linton « ; • i ; ,’ .* j ; I j ; I • j I • • Townes at racent booster party for Blazer rookies held at Geneva's. (Photo: Richard Brown) Lackluster Portland team falters and falls by Joe White P o rtla n d T ra ilb la z e r head coach Jack Ramsay has been sitting back patiently waiting fo r his young and inexperienced team to grab hold o f his concepts and develop in to the fine team he’s been saying is hiding somewhere. Ramsay’ s patience is weWidg'as th in as the h a ir on his head and something must be done or the Bla- zers w ill continue to falter as they did on the recent four-gam e road swing. E xa m in in g the last fo u r games shows the problems the Blazers are experiencing. A n u n ch a ra c te ris tic P o rtla n d squad surprised the P h ila d e lp h ia ’76crs 106-103 in P hiladelphia last Tuesday but since then have dropped three games in a row. H ow can a team that beats the 76ers then come out and embarrass themselves in overtim e at D e tro it and then at W ashington? Boston out-defensed the Blazers in a 104-95 win but th a t’ s to be expected, the Celtics arc one o f the league’ s best teams. But i f Portland is going to go any where this season games like those against the Pistons and Bullets must be reversed. W hat should have been a P o r t land w in F rid a y n ig h t in D e tro it only serves to point out that the Bla zers arc missing something and the season isn’ t getting any younger. Detroit was playing without Kelly Tripucka and John Long, both high scorers for the Pistons and nursing injuries. W ithout these two Detroit can forget its fight w ith Milwaukee fo r the C entral D iv is io n crow n. That is unless the teams play like the Blazers did against D e tro it. P o rt land got into overtime but then they m ight have well taken an early trip to the showers. The Pistons buried the Blazers for a 132-118 win. In the N ational Basketball Asso ciation, teams that win and are good w in the road games against the weaker teams. Portland has to play as tough on the road as they should at home. These arc the highest aver age paid professional athletes but a re n ’ t p la yin g w ith any e m o tio n . L a c k lu s te r e ffo rts are becom ing commonplace. P ortland is 8-9 heading in to last n ig h t’ s game w ith San D iego. Thursday the team travels to Utah and both o f these games should be w ins. I f they are n ’ t, Ramsay w ill really have to shake things up. Friday night the Blazers travel to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers. Unless an unforeseeable miracle like the 76er upset occurs, it is likely the H igh school students are selling $1 coupons that give the purchasers $2 o f f the purchase price o f a Christmas tree at more than 20 par ticip a tin g tree lots. O f the S1, 50« goes to the school group, 25« to bo nuses fo r outstanding student sales- Blazers w ill lim p out o f L .A . in be young but they’ re professional ath wilderment. letes. Being paid all that money dic Los Angeles always works its way tates that these players should be into top shape and so an early sea able to adapt to any system and do it son game like this one may not be as for an entire season. im portant to the Lakers as it w ill be Only seven or eight players on the for Portland. team are getting significant minutes The Blazers do have some talent on the court. For the others to get on the b all club. W hether or not adapted to playing w ith their team that talent w ill m old in to the team members they need game playing Ramsay wants is the only question. time. Ramsay’ s big problem is how Ramsay and Stu Inman, director o f does he give these players time and player personnel and general mana get the o u tp u t needed to w in b all ger o f the club, warned o f the slow games? start. Just how slow o f a start w ill The Blazers are currently located the team allow itself before produc ju s t above the league's d o orm at ing? teams on the power ladder. Teams In d iv id u a lly the team has to get like L .A ., Boston, Seattle and P hil consistent play and play w ith some adelphia stand alone on top. The th in g that separates the w inners Phoenix Suns, M ilw a u ke e Bucks fro m the losers— em otion. C alvin and San A n to n io Spurs are on the N att and Jim Paxson are the only next level. P o rtla n d rests below tw o that are pla yin g consistently these teams and only time w ill tell i f good b a sketba ll. W a tching N att they can achieve the success predict fight fo r every ball is a joy and see ed earlier this year. ing Paxson moving all the time gives Time w ill start to become a factor hope. as the g ro u n d w o rk is la id fo r the Mychal Thompson is running like rest o f the season. Should the team hot and cold water. He said earlier continue to fla tte n out instead o f this fall that he wanted to average 28 building upward, a long season w ill points and 12 rebounds per game be in the offing. while winning 50 ball games. Unless They are s till in the running fo r he finds his enthusiasm o f the past, the playoffs and may even make it none o f those goals w ill be obtained. to a m ini-series. That w ill be a ll Questions abound about whether though unless the players start to Ramsay’ s system may just not fit play consistent basketball games for this young team. The team may be four quarters. men, and 25« to Green Flag Promo tions. Participating schools include; efferson, Benson, Grant, Madison, M ilw a u k ie H .S ., H ills b o ro H .S ., Glenco (H illsboro) and Sandy H.S. B right green flags w ill id e n tify the participating tree lots. Immaculate Heart Christmas Tree Sale First th re e w e e k e n d s in D e c e m b e r, 9 a .m .-6 p .m . and Immaculate Heart Christmas Bazaar S aturdays; Dec. 4 & 1 1 /1 1 a .m .-4 p .m . Sundays; Dec. 5 & 1 2 /10 a .m .-2 p.m. Location; N.E. Stanton o ff W illiam s A venue fr l. fry frry fry S iryfrK Election N .A .A .C .P. Portland Branch Elect - Elect - Elect Bernard B. Richardson President of Ptld. Branch of the N.A.A.C.P. | The election w ill be held Sunday, Dec. 12,1962,4 p.m. Chrysler strike opposes concessions (Continued fro m pane I col. J) tw o-day strategy session to devise means fo r fighting concessions and to establish networks o f assistance. The meeting was not sponsored by a union, but by a small magazine. L a bor Notes, which has provided sys tem atic coverage and support fo r the movement against concessions. Besides the Chrysler strike, other recent anti-concession labor actions include: • 12,(XX) workers on strike against Caterpillar Tractor in the Peoria, I l linois area, where nearly 30 percent o f the work force is unemployed. • Dakota C ity, Nebraska, packing house w orkers struck Iow a Beef rather than take concessions, but were beaten and forced back to work without a contract. •E m ployees o f M orse C u ttin g Tools, a G u lf Western subsidiary in New Bedford, Massachusetts, won com m unity support earlier this year and successfully beat back the par ent firm , which was determ ined to reduce wages and eliminate various fringe benefits. •Employees o f the Wcstinghouse A ir Brake Com pany in P ittsburgh successfully beat back concessions. •A n d in N o rth K ensingto n, Rhode Island, 1,600 employees o f B row n <Si Sharpe, a m achine to o l o u tfit, have conducted a bitter year long strike against concessions. This strike, launched in O ctober, 1981, continues with the company resort ing to the use o f strike-breakers and tear gas against the plants. It has po larized business-labor relations in the state along battle lines re m in i scent o f the 1930s. The pro-concessions theory is thai concessions save jobs by low ering labor costs to improve the financial health o f companies. Behind this ar gument is the belief that rising wage costs are at the ro o t o f business’ economic and financial difficulties. The anti-concession union mem bers are beginning to argue that the rate o f increase o f non-labo r costs such as energy has risen faster than labor costs. The growth rate o f unit labor costs has actually slowed, they contend, and when viewed as a per centage o f sales, actually declined fro m 31.8 percent in 1970 to 29.2 percent in 1980. In any event, today’ s concessions have little impact on overall costs, say the u n io n ists. The SI b illio n w orth o f concessions, spread over 31 months, which Ford got from the United A uto Workers w ill have less than one percent effect on F o rd ’ s annual costs o f $40 billion or more. The anti-concession argum ent holds that pressures on corporations come less from labor costs and more from huge debt burdens, which have been grow ing steadily over the last 20 years. This trend o f borrow ing, tied to spiralling interest rates, dram atical ly worsened the financial picture for many corporations in recent years. For example, Ford’ s annual interest expense m ore than d o uble d fro m 1978 to 1980, rising from $195 m il lio n to $452 m illio n . For General M otors, annual interest costs rose from $368 m illio n in 1979 to $897 m illion in 1981. This high cost o f debt encourages plant closings to generate the money to puy the interest. More money can be made by d iv e rs ify in g in to new p ro d u cts lik e chem icals or in s u r ance, or by go ng abroad, than by pumping capital into existing opera tions. Many workers believe that in this situation concessions merely begin a headlong slide towards eventual loss o f jobs and serious erosion o f what little bargaining power unions have le ft. W orkers o f B r a n iff A irlin e s , fo r instance, took a 10 percent pay cut in the spring o f 1981. A year later, 9 (XX) w orkers were throw n out o f w ork when the airlin e filed for bankruptcy. Workers now are beginning to ar gue that rather than agree to conces sions, future bargaining must take in to account un io n p a rtic ip a tio n and some measure o f co n tro l over corporate investment policies. This trend lik e ly w ill lead to an e ffo r t, fo r the first time since the Second W orld W ar, to gain a union say in the way goods and services are pro duced. Vancouver Ave. 1st Baptist Church 3138 N. Vancouver Ave. - PERSI PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE, I9S2 Clinic Free D r. M ichael F reistat o f N o rth Portland Family C linic w ill provide free check-ups for infants and c h il dren to 12 years o f age and blood- pressure tests fo r persons o f any age. Hours are 10:00 a.m . to 4:00 p.m . at the c lin ic , 105 N. K illings- w o rth . No a p p o in tm e n t is neces sary. Eight a d d itio n a l doctors are expected to volunteer th e ir assist ance. & CAR TELEPHONES THE BEEPER PEOPLE. 713 S.W. 12th Street Call 224-BEEP for a free demonstration. »