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
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Call 284 3721
A sk fo r Bishop H B Daniels
If not there leave name and number
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•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
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