Page 8 Portland Observer, February 23,1983 Portland Deltas host convention JUDGE MERCEDES DEIZ DR. WALTER REYNOLDS Humboldt honors Black History Humboldt Early Childhood Edu cation Center w ill celebrate Black History Day on February 25th with a program featuring local celebra tion. Among the speakers are: Com missioners Charles Jordan and Cladys M cCoy: Judge Mercedes Deiz; Dr. Walter Reynolds; Oregon ian editor Bill Hilliard; Dick Bogle of Commissioner Schwab's office. C rassrool News. AZ. H i — The tragedy of Trina Hunter's death will stain the hands o f Portland for a long time. The Portland Police De partment was charged with insensi tivity, inefficiency and racism in the handling o f the H unter case— a charge denied by the captain of the ship. Chief Ron Still. "T h e re were a lot o f misunder standings about the Trina Hunter case,” Still told this reporter. “ Sev eral members o f my s ta ff looked into the case and we came to the conclusion that it was an emotional outburst to a terrible death. The si tuation was unfortunate but the case was handled quite well. I am satis fied with the way we handled the case.” The public wondered if there was a clear-cut policy regarding missing persons being forced into undei - world activities. C h ie f S till ans wered, Yes: " W e have policies and procedures for all types of cases. But in the course o f human behavior there are all sorts of things that enter into it. We have our poli cies on alleged missing persons but human judgement has to come into those cases. Allegations of persons being coerced into activities they don't want to engage in are worked daily by the Police Bureau. At issue in these cases is whether the person involved wants to be or is forced. Sometimes it tends to be both. A young girl will meet someone we re fer to as a pimp who buys her clothes and is nice to her. The girl may go along with this attentive be havior of the pimp and later decide she doesn't want to go work the streets. Where is the line drawn be tween her wanting to be with the pimp and where he forces her to turn tricks? The issue is not black and white. You have to decide what she or he wanted to do and what they didn't want to do." In October of 1982 Chief Still at tended the March Against Prostitu tion. A fterw ards he sent in rein forcements in the form o f the horse patrol which cleaned up Union Avenue for awhile. Currently, a new crop of street walkers are parading their wares. Where is the horse pa trol now? “ The horse patrol will be used in various parts o f the city based upon need. Crim e occurs in all parts of the city; prostitution is just one of many crimes we have to deal with. Overall our crime rate is down in burglary and robbery. We are making lots of arrests. We made over twenty thousand arrests in 1982. A lot o f those arrested were arrested lime after time again. It's the same way with prostitution. A r resting prostitutes is not the prob Ownership (money management)." Attending the conference will be Bertha Pitts Campbell, a strong par ticipating member of the Northwest Region. She has attended most of the national and regional conferences and also most of the Founders Day celebrations in the Northwest. She is a vivacious bit o f energy who dis pells all knowledge of her more than ninety years by continuing to live a full life, and participate in Delta, to which she is most dedicated. YOU* DO« NEEDS VITAMINS, TOO. A Sergeant s • Lose weight without dieting • Safe and effective • Drink one cup after a meal • For quick results use tw o teabags per cup Bart ha Pitta Camp ball, ona of tha founders of Dalta Sigma Thaat. at tha airport on ona of har traveling jaunts. Call 284 3721 A sk fo r Bishop H B Daniels If not there leave name and number • Natural tea leaf V •N o chemical additives Principal is Thelma Brown; Master o f Ceremonies is Talibat Taylor. Still defends policies by Lanita Duke D elta Sigma T h e ta , a public service sorority, was established at Howard University in Washington, D C. in 1913. Since that time it has grown into a tremendous organiza tion of more than 100,000 members in over 690 chapters in the United Stales, including Alaska and in West Germ any, the Bahamas, L ib eria, St. C ro ix and Port Au Prince. Participants from the Northwest will join the local chapter on Feb. 26 at the Red Lion at Jantzen beginning at 9:15. Chapters attend ing will come from Washington, Ida ho, Alaska and Oregon. The formal for the day will be a workshop addressing issues o f con cern to all women— "Economic De velopment, a woman's key to survi v a l." Featured speakers are John Thomas on " In tro d u c tio n to the concept o f investm ents," Tenora Grisby on " T a x shelters deferred and tax shelter programs." and Bar bara Williams on "Lonership and lem. The problem is arresting once, twice, and re-arresting. When people look at those whores on the streets, I want them to remember that we arrested most o f them be fore. The problem is, there is no damn ja il space. People keep say ing, ‘ Why don't you arrest the rils on the streets,' and my answer to them is we do, we did, but there is no place to pul them. Now, we are going to keep working on getting more jail space.” Around this same time in October S till and (he M ayor launched an anti-crime program. How effective has this program been? "The crime rate is going down. The credibility o f the Portland Police Department rose, especially in Albina. I ’m very proud of that. Crime is going down in every category except aggravated assault, which is caused by frustra tion over the economy. We are see ing a lot more check cases where people are over drawing their check ing accounts. The decrease in crime is not very significant but it's head ed down. I think our efforts arc suc cessful. I wish to God that when we spent the taxpayers’ money to arrest these people we didn’t have to arrest them time after time again.” Does Chief Still feel that the black community is unfairly critical of the Portland Police Department? "The people I've talked with in Albina are not being overly critical of the De partm ent. I ’ ve talked to some people who say the relationship be tween the community and the police is better than it’s been in years. The best evidence is from a survey. Now this doesn’ t mean we don't have a lot of work to do. Whenever we get the money to hire more officers I would like to recruit more black of ficers. I feel good about it and I know we do a good honest jo b ." The lowering of the remand age is a hot topic now. What is the posi tion of the department? " I f it was lowered it would take care of those problem youngsters who were in volved in one m ajor crime after another. I don't believe in using the remand system the first time around. I f Hillcrest is closed there will have to be some place for girls who are repeat offenders.” The reasons for Trina H u n te r’s death are circular but if some punk was trying to force my daughter on the street could I look to the police for assistance? "A b s o lu te ly . We work on cases like that a lot. The problem in a free society is we can't make people cooperate. Without the cooperation from the girl and her fam ily we are in a corner. But if a mother came to us and said some one was trying to put her daughter out we would work on that case. We would rather arrest (he pimp than the prostitute.” The polka dotted skimp—a playful new shaping that’s taking over the junior scene By Tickets in pink fleece with big dots, S to L, 32.00. other versions from 26 00 to 34 00, in The Works, all stores SPOTTED AROUND TOWN meierlTfrank OREGON S OWN STORE