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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1983)
- ~ J L l' X- *- * • * • • METROPOLITAN Portland Observer, February 2, 1983 Page 3 Utility bills Where to go for help costs only. According to the PUC publica To qualify for Project Help, in tion, Consumer Rights and Respon come of applicants must fall within sibilities— Disconnection o f Utility 125-150 percent of the federal pov Service, customers having (rouble erty level. making payments have the right to According to P PA L spokesper set up an installm ent plan where son Barbara Douglas, the purpose they pay ten percent of past due bills of the program is to assist the "new over a 10-month period. poor— the ones that have been good Three w ritten notices from the customers and suddenly find them utility are required if disconnection selves faced with a crisis.” is threatened— 15 days before, three " W e ’ re trying to reach people days before, and a third notice on who are just above the poverty the day scheduled for interruption lin e," said Sonia Eetherston of (he o f serveie. The utility must try and Salvation Army. " I t helps, but it's contact the customer in person on not mandatory," she said, "to be a the day of shut-off, and explain op senior citizen or handicapped." tions. Project Help was created out of The publication states that “ Ser concern by PPAL employees about vices cannot be turned o ff on, or the the "terrible economic times" faced day prior to, a holiday or week by customers in the company's six- end." Also, " Y o u r service cannot be state service area, which includes Oregon, Washington, northern Cal disconnected if the physical health ifornia. and parts o f Idaho, M o n o f a person in your household would be endangered without heat tana and Wyoming, said Douglas. Sonia Eetherston said the Salvation or power." The utility must receive Army became interested because a certificate from a health care pro many people had been coming to the fessional in such cases. The PUC fact sheet on utility cus agency seeking energy assistance. tomers’ rights can be obtained by Douglas said that Project Help has received an "overwhelming re- contacting John Clay, Oregon Pub lic U tility Commission, Room 300, spone" in donations from P PA L employees, corporations and inter Labor and Industries Building, Sa ested individuals. The original lem , OR 97310 (P o rtland phone: $100,000 has been met already, she 229-5700). Persons interested in said, and the company is deciding L IE A P should go to the Urban now whether to increase its contri League o ffice, 5329 N .E . U nion, 287-1506. Northeast Portland resi bution. Success o f Project Help is an ex dents can apply for Project Health ample o f "p eop le showing their at the Salvation Army's Moore St. goodness when times get to u gh ," C om m unity Center. 5430 N. Moore, 282-2571. said Douglas. by Robert Lothian Speaker of the House of Representatives dis cusses state budget and tax proposals with com munlty residents at Portland Observer'» Legislative Forum January 29th. Genetic research ethics explored by Brenda Braxton University of Portland News Service A panel discussion was held at the University of Portland on January 26th to examine the contributions and conflicts of genetic research in the 1980s. Panelists included faculty from the University’s Biology, Phil osophy, Theology, and Education departments. Dr. Becky Houck, assistant pro fessor o f Biology, called human genetics a "tw entieth century phe nomenon a n d .. .the most rapidly changing branch o f science." Dis eases including herpes, tuberculosis, and some cancers have a genetic base, she said. Karen Kovach, genetic counselor at the Crippled Children’s Division, stated that the first goal of genetic engineering was to ‘^prevent genetic disease." She said that there were thousands and thousands of genetic conditions and five to ten percent of the population has a genetic disease. There are many good uses for genetic research. It is now possible to detect genetic defects in a fetus and perform surgery at a cellular level to correct the problem. In ad d itio n , H um u lin , insulin derived from humans instead o f animals, will appear on the market this year, said Dr. Seidler, assistant professor o f Philosophy. A human growth hormone is being perfected in the re search stage, also. Along with the contributions of genetic research comes conflicts. Is sues such as safety and ethicality have not been resolved. According to Dr. Seidler, safety laws regulating genetic research have been relaxed since the early twenties. Eighty-five percent of the research conducted today is not ob ligated to adhere to these laws. Industrial genetics, which con ducts its research on a larger scale than that done at a private labroa- tory, has never been subject to safety laws, said Seidler. He pointed out that it is d iffic u t to m onitor leakage and dumping on a large scale. S till he estimated that 130 companies have sprung into exist ence over the past few years. ’’These are the companies who are the big gest polluters a lre a d y ,’ * he said. "There is such a rush to develop this new technology.. and to me speed and safety are not compatible." Both D r. Seidler and D r. M a t thew Baasten, associate professor of Theology, touched on the ethicality of genetic engineering. Dr. Seidler raised a question as to whether or not scientists are ad vanced enough to intervene in hu man evolution. Could their inter vention lead to positive eugenics, the creation o f perfect human beings? During the 1920s there was a positive eugenics movement in the United States. In 1928 three-fourths o f colleges taught positive eugenics courses. Some felt that the "purity” of the American people was threat ened by such factors as im m ig ra tion, said Dr. Seidler. He also stated that during the 1930s Hitler contact ed the United States in regards to positive eugenics. If positive eugencis strives for the perfect human being, the fate of the less fo rtunate like those with genetics defects is dismal. Dr. Baasten presented three com mon ju stifications for selective abortion. The first on is that these abortions are perform ed for the good of society. Resources are need ed for the independent and healthy person and not for the dependent, defective ones. Secondly, a genetically defective person has little chance of being useful to society. Lastly, selec tive abortion is needed as an alterna tive for parents who feel that bring ing a defective child into their home would not be in the best interest of their family. If genetically defective individuals are not allowed to be born, what other types o f individuals w ill be aborted so as not to burden society? D r Baasten was concerned with where the line would be drawn in such an instance. Dr. Carol Sivage, Coordinator of Special Education at the University o f Portland, discussed the cost of care for the handicapped. Every child that attends a public school receives the basic school sup port of 1,200 per year (figures vary between school districts). H and i capped children receive up to $6,000 per year. This amount covers special equipment, extra teaching staff, and transportation, said D r. Sivage. These funds are raised through local property tax or state wide taxes. Social Security also goes to aid the mentally retarded and disabled adults living in a group home. These individuals receive a Social Security Income (SSI) check of approximate ly $300 per month. Rent, electricity, and spending money are paid by these checks, said. Dr. Sivage. Help is available for low income people having trouble paying their heating and utility bills, and facing shut-offs. Two programs— L IE A P (Low Income Energy Assistance P ro gram ), conducted through the Northeast Portland office of the U r ban League, and Project H elp, sponsored jointly by Pacific Power and Light Company and the Salva tion A rm y — o ffe r help with pay ment of heating and utility bills. In ad dition , the Oregon Public Utility Commissioner’s Office has a free fact sheet, "Consumer Rights and Responsibilities— Disconnec tion of Service," which explains le gal rights of customers and ways to avoid shut-offs. To qualify for L IE A P , income of applicants must fall within 123 per cent o f the "federal poverty level," which is $38OO/year for a single adult, according to Don Allen, ener gy projects coordinator for the U r ban League. In the case of an immediate need (running out o f heating fuel, or a threatened shut-off, for instance). Allen said (hat a direct payment can be made to a fuel company or u til ity. When the need is less im m e diate, he said, cash grants are awarded to q ualified applicants within 4 to 6 weeks of application. L IE A P was made possible by the "w indfall profits tax" imposed on oil companies by Congress in 1975, according to A llen . It was deter mined at that time that at least part of the money should go to low income persons “ for relief from the high cost of energy," he said. Over 4,000 Northeast residents were assisted by L IE A P in 1982, said Allen, and he expects "quite a bit more” in 1983. In Project H elp, Pacific Power and Light Company has offered $100,000 in stockholder’s funds to match tax deductible volunteer do nations. 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