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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1983)
: H rs F ra n c » » S cho en -Ä ew ap ap er Foca U a i v c r i '. t y o f Or«(?on L i b r a r y Urban League report, 1982 Pag* 2 tx Response to Reagan Page« ¡PORTLAND OBSERVER Portland Observer Volume XIII, Number 16 January 26, 1963 Section IV Four Sections USPS »59-680-855 Nicaragua says: No human rights in El Salvador M ilita ry and economic aid to E l Salvador requested by the Reagan A d m in istratio n f o r 1983 totals Í 2 26.2 m illion and is based on the Administration’s contention that vi olations o f human rights— murders, torture, kidnapping, imprisonment —have decreased over the p a st year In addition to military aid. the U.S. is providing training and advisors. The Reagan Adm inistration has certified that the human rights si tuation has im proved in E l Salva dor. in order to qualify ' ^ t country fo r continued military aid. from Barricada International Sandinista ‘s official newspaper M A N A G U A . N IC A R A G U A — In 1982 the word •'dem ocracy” was discussed in El Salvador a t in no other Latin American country; par adoxically. in reality every day was marked with kidnappings, mass and individual assassinations, and gen eral evasion o f the law in the pro gress of a violent war. During the year at least 5,352 Sal vadoreños were assassinated, a doz en m ilitary actions were taken against civilian populations in rural zones, 600 persons remained impri soned illegally, and seven foreign ers, including four Dutch jo u rn al ists, lost their lives. In few nations o f the world it the evidence of murder so monstrous as the headless corpses by the sides of the highways, or in the center of the cities; the deform ed corpses with cuts and bullet holes, with horrible signs of torture, and invariably with the thumbs bound with cords. AU of the humanitarian organiza tions that have made investigations in El Salvador have unanimously ac cused the government forces o f re sponsibility for the crimes. Amnesty International said the security forces are carrying out a “ large and systematic plan of disap pearances, torture and mass and in d ividu al m urder o f men, women and children. The victims include not only persons suspected of oppo sition to the authorities, but also thousands who simply are encoun tered in zones chosen fo r security operations, whose murder and mu tilation appear to be completely ar- bitray.” The activist Michelle Arena, of the Hum an Rights Commission o f El Salvador, declared that the murders are the result o f " th e m ilitary re pression o f the regime, that occur with the help o f the government of the United States.** On the 6th o f September three peasant women related a drama that happened to 300 peasants in the De partment of San Vicente. On the 18th o f August, they related, A-37 a ir planes dropped incendiary bombs over Amatitan Arriba. “ When they fell they did not explode but burned large areas of the land,“ related one woman. A t least 134 persons died in this government action. Similar actions took place at least a dozen times in different parts o f the country. Four villages in the De partm ent o f U sulutan were fire - bombed on August 28th; four v il lages on September 2nd; and two villages on June 4th. C olonel Dom ingo M o n te rra , commander of the Special Forces o f Atlacatl, acknowledged, in attempt ing to ju stify these attacks, “ I t is noteworthy that there would be ci vilian assasins, some without arms, including women and c h ild re n .” "T h e result of the counter-insur gency operations is to eliminate any group that is collaborating or sym pathetic with the insurgents,** said (Please turn to page 4 column J) ------------------------------------------- Portland Observer Legislative Forum January 29th -10:00 a.m. - Holiday Inn Coliseum Grattan Kerans, Speaker o f the House The public is urged to attend and participate. task force School Board member Steve Buel w ill present a resolution to the Board Thursday evening calling for the establishment of a task force to assess drug abuse in the Portland schools and to make recommenda tions fo r solutions to these prob lems. The task force is to be com posed of representatives of organiz ations and agencies interested in drug abuse and of parents and inter ested citizens. STEVE BUEL More than 200 students were sus pended fo r drug use last school year, and during 1982 185 juveniles were arrested for drug related crime in P o rtlan d , Buel said. " W e all know that these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg." Buel advocates coordination o f all community drug abuse resources Attending the N AACP Northweet Regional Con ference hoeted by the Portland Branch were. Port lend board member Lome Marple: pest preeldent Lucloue Hlcka IV; Portland Branch preeldent Hazel Hays; board member Robert Phlllpe; Executive Dl- with the school system. Portland’s schools have some good drug abuse education programs and are apply ing for a grant to add school police officers to deal with the program. But, Buel said, some drug abuse abencies have found d iffic u lty working with the school system. The school police need to work more closely with city police and parents need to be involved. In other school systems, including V ancouver, W ashington's drug counselors in the schools have been successful in helping young people “ kick the habit.” Drug abuse is an education issue, Buel explained. Young people do not learn when they arc high on drugs or alcohol. "Kids are wreck ing their lives, not learning, and we should do something about it." rector of the Weetern Region Verna Careon; Eu gene Branch preeldent W illie Polite; Yakima Branch preeldent Deloree Goodman: end Tri-CItiee Branch Preeldent Ed Hurgrow. (Photo: Richard J. Brown) Johneon, accompanied by hia wife Rose Merle, on behalf of the Northeast Rotary. Johnson, a police Court deals Reagan a blow The Reagan Administration suf fered a setback in its effort to over turn long-standing court ordered school desegregation when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Nashville. I h e case was an appeal by the Nashville, Tennessee, School Board o f a U .S . C ou rt o f Appeals deci sion. The Appeals Court had over turned an earlier decision of a Fed eral District C ourt judge who ex empted kindergarten through fourth graders from a court-imposed de segregation order. The Justice Department, carrying oul President Reagan s intention to pro hib it court-ordered busing, joined in the suit. The Justice Department urged consideration of “ educational, social and economic costs of busing." The Justice D epartm ent hoped that if their challenge in the Nash ville case were successful it could be used to challenge other cases. William Bradford Reynolds, who is director o f the Justice D epart ment's C iv il Rights Division, said that the decision in the Nashville case "in no way indicates that the le gal issue o f mandatory busing is closed." The Department plans to busing. "W e continue to believe that it is far better to desegregate cual public school systems through the use of transfer programs that depend on non-mandatory measures," he said. The Appeals Court, in overturn ing the order exempting prim ary students from the desegregation plan, had said that the Nashville schols had still not been desegre gated after 27 years of litigation and the School Board had an obligation to "e lim in a te from the public schools the last vestiges of state-im posed segregation." Employment Officer no easy job by Robert Louthian " F ru s tra tin g ,” is how Duane Washington describes his job. Washington, a job service repre sentative at the Albina office of the Oregon Em ploym ent D ivision, screens up to 50 jo b seekers each day, matching skills and experience with appropriate jobs. "Y ou try your best to help,” said the 12-year veteran with the E m ployment D ivision, "b u t the way the market is, very few get jobs.” It gives him a good feeling to find someone a jo b . said W ashington, "know ing that now they can get a meal and take care o f some bills.” “ But the competition is so over w h e lm in g ," he said. "W h e n you place someone, it doesn't seem like you’ve done that much. You see the same faces coming back. It's like sitting in the mud. spining your wheels." In spite o f the pressures o f his job, Washington said he tries not to lose track o f the human elem ent. " I 'm w orking w ith people,” he said. " I t ’s not 8 to 5, it’s around the clock." Washington said he is some times called at home and on week ends by job seekers with stress and fam ily problems. " W e ta lk ,” he said. Counseling is a m ajor aspect o f Washington's jo b — trying to raise spirits and instill the confidence ne cessary to go ut and find a jjob. He inevitably hears stories of personal hardships faced by recession vic tims. "T h e y tell me right o f f .” he said, "about their homes and m ar riages breaking up, and having to sell their furniture and cars to pay the bills.” One o f the hardest things, he said, is trying to encourage those whose age and low level o f skills make it doubly hard for them to find a job. This is the case, he said when a per son has worked at the same firm for many years and suddenly find them selves laid o ff and out in the market knowing only one job. As many as ISO job seekers pass through the Albina office each day, according to supervisor Martin Bur rows. An average o f ten job refer rals are handed out by Washington • ach day, and o f those "m aybe ine” gets a job, he said. In the three month period ending in December 1982, there were 142 firm place ments out of the office, according to Burrows. People coming to him are “ really getting themselves together" to go out for interviews, said Washing ton. They are more conscious of be ing neat in order to be " a sellable item to an employer,” he said “ I t ’s an employer’s m arket," ac cording to Washington. "T h e em ployer is playing hard to get. They can get just about who they want." Job descriptions have doubled in size, he said, as employers demand more skill and experience. Washing ton described a J3.3S/hr. janitor’s job which required 5-10 years exper ience, and a 1 3 .5 0 /h r. building maintenance position requiring car pentry, plumbing and electrician's skills. Jobs available on an average day might range all the way from "room cleaner" ($ 3 .3 5 /h r .), "security guard” ($ 4 .5 0 /h r ), “ messenger” ($3.8O 9/hr.), "inventory counter” (»3.35/hr.) all the way up to a "neu rosurgeon" ($60,000/yr.j. Job seekers are more likely to be successful at the office, Said Wash ington. if they "a rriv e as early as possible" and "keep coming back on a regular basis. It also helps to develop a "one-on-one” relation ship with a counselor: Washington keeps resumes and a card file so that he can match skills of applicants he knows with appropriate jobs when they come up. An Employment Division publi cation reports that 75 percent or more of job vacancies are not adver tised through traditional channels: newspaper ads, federal/state em ployment services, private employ ment agencies and computer jo b banks. Also mentioned was the myth of the resume: only about one in 245 resumes that a company re ceives leads to a job interview, ac cording to the report. For these reasons, the Albina o f fice offers free "Q u ic k Connec tions" workshops three days each week. Among the topics discussed are "Portland Job M a rk e t," "T h e Untapped Job M a rk e t," and "T he Interview." Duane Washington says he sees no indication that the recession is coming to an end. " I just hope I'm able to stay healthy and do a good job for people,” he said.