^ 0 ^ ^ « c r io f^ ^ o r tla n < J C Iib s e r v e r ^ u l^ 0 ^ 9 8 3
EDITORIAL/O PI N ION
Drop excuses. try honesty
The M etropolitan H um an Relations C om m is­
sion plays an im portant and positive role in the
com m unity. It has been involved in one way or
another — offe rin g in form ation, m ediation,
advocacy and organizing — in nearly every issue
o f concern to m in o rity groups.
M H R C helped organize other concerned
groups around such issues as synagogue desecra­
tion, the growth o f white hate groups, and harass­
ment o f Southeast Asian refugees. It was heavily
involved in the school discrim ination situation
— an explosive issue that required years o f
study, mediation and leadership. Their research
is vital to the employment o f m inorities w ith the
C ity and M ultnom ah County.
The perform ance o f M H R C — its role, its
direction and its leadership — is strong and
proper.
The M H R C was deprived o f its budget, sta ff
and programs by the C ity Council at the insis­
tence o f its liaison commissioner, Margaret
Strachan, w ith the aid o f M ayor Frank Ivancie.
The justifications fo r these cuts have varied
depending on w ho was talking and w ho she was
talking to. A new set o f excuses is heard every
few days.
W hat makes this issue o f particular concern is
not only the gutting o f an essential commission,
but the personal attacks on its executive direc­
tor. The rum ors com ing out o f C ity H a ll, the
personal attacks, arc uncalled-for slander and
libel.
One can only speculate about the real reasons
fo r this action and the in a b ility to provide ade­
quate ju stifica tio n . Is it really a personality con­
flict or a personal quest fo r power?
One o f the activities to be undertaken by
M H R C in the com ing year was to be a study o f
the C ity o f P o rtla n d ’s use o f federal economic
development funds and their impact on the
m inority com m unities. C ould be the C ity can’ t
face the repercussions fro m such a study and its
findings.
The real reason fo r the defunding o f M H R C
should be discussed fra n kly and honestly w ith
the citizens and taxpayers.
The American way of death
The fight o f Jim m y Lee G ray to avoid the
death penalty in Mississippi again turns atten­
tion to the cruel and unjust method society has
chosen to punish its deviants.
The largest num ber in the nation’s history —
1,050 prisoners — wait on death row. This is
22.7 percent more than just a year ago. The
Justice Department reported that the rise o f con­
demned prisoners is due both to length o f appeals
and to an increase in im position o f the death
sentence.
T w o men were executed during the year, one
in V irginia and one in Texas. C a lifo rn ia and
Florida led the nation in death sentences im ­
posed during 1982 with 39 each, follow ed by
Texas and Alabam a. In 28 o f the 37 states w ith
the death penalty, people have been sentenced to
die.
M ore than tw o-thirds o f those on death row
are in the South. The largest death row popula­
tions were F lorida w ith 189, Texas w ith 148,
C a lifo rn ia w ith 120 and Georgia w ith 100. Forty
percent o f the prisoners on death row were
black. Thirteen were women, 59 Hisnanic, 7
Native Americans and 5 Asians.
Another telling statistic is that departures
from death row by means other than execution
have declined each year since 1976 except in
1980 when 42 inmates in Alabam a had their
death sentences invalidated by a court ruling.
F ifty percent o f the inmates who left death
row alive had their sentences o r convictions
overturned by the courts and 31 had their
sentences changed. These are men w ho might
have died fo r crimes they did not com m it or
whose crimes do not fit in to the legal ju s tific a ­
tion fo r the death sentence.
In spite o f the great probability o f injustice,
G overnor V ictor Atiyeh is pushing lo r the death
penalty in Oregon and i f he is successful w ill
subject the people o f Oregon to the agony o f the
years and last few minutes o f w aiting on death
row.
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Quorumof One
Property tax relief strangled by sales tax fervor
S A L E M — The 1983 legislature
has sort-of adjourned, and the 90
lawmakers have kind-of gone home.
But. as has been well-docu­
mented, the lawmakers failed lo de­
sign a properly lax relief plan, and
Gov. Vic Atiyeh has promised to
call the body back lo Salem in late
August or early September.
Popular logic lays responsibility
for the legislative inaction on Senate
President Ed Fadeley. D-Eugene.
According
to
many,
Fadeley
thwarted the will o f the Senate by
dismembering the sales tax and de­
nying the full body a chance to vote
on the plan.
However, most o f us in Northeast
Salem agree with observers like
Charles Beggs o f the Associated
Press, who argues that if sixteen
Senators had committed themselves
to sending a sales tax to (he people.
Fadeley couldn't have stopped the
move. The votes just weren’ t there.
In spite o f this, the House Reven­
ue Committee showed remarkable
myopia. The panel equated signifi­
cant property tax relief with adop-
uon o f a sales tax and then offered
repeated versions o f the same plan
rather than the wide variety of
proposals seemingly promised ai the
beginning o f the session.
Indeed, when House Speaker
Grattan Kerans turned to his Select
Committee on Property Tax Relief
late in the session for an income-tax-
driven property tax relief plan, the
committee lacked sufficient data to
prepare the legislation, this despite
over six months o f hearings and
work sessions.
Is that Ed Fadeley's fault? O r
should some o f the blame be placed
on those around the capitol who de­
cided early in the session that there
is only one way to spell property tax
relief (s-a-l-e-s t-a-xj?
Seems a bit contradictory to label
Fadeley unfair for the way he
treated (he sales tax in the Senate
when no other option got more than
cursory investigation in the House.
O f equal importance to the man­
ner in which property tax relief is
funded is the method used to dis­
tribute the money.
During floor debate on the spend­
ing lim itation. Sen. John Kitzhaber,
D-Roseburg, made a cry for respon­
sibility, arguing that if the state
simply fulfilled its constitutional ob­
ligation to provide public education,
a large portion o f current property
taxes would become unnecessary
and the property tax revolt would
lose its steam.
Kitzhaber is correct, o f course. I f
the stale picked up the cost o f the
schools, property tax bills would de­
crease. However, over half o f the lo­
cal property tax burden falls on
commercial enterprises like Weyer­
haeuser and 7-11. I f the state simply
picks up the costs o f the schools,
over half the relief goes to owners of
business property.
T hat’s not necessarily bad, how­
ever. One o f the few attractive ideas
o f supply-side economics is that a
strengthened economy benefits us
all. Helping both large and small
business enterprises does make
sense. A ll we have to do is come up
with the money.
The source? What about the over
SI S billion being returned each bi­
ennium to Oregonians under the
Reagan lax cuts?
Perhaps (he lawmakers should
shape a plan (hat captures some of
that money from taxpayers earning
over ISO thousand a year. The
income (ax code lends itself well to
such targeting; there should be nat­
ural support for such an idea in a
slate where (he median income is
much closer to $20 thousand a year,
and the state would be using the
Reagan tax cuts to fund education
and aid property owners.
From this perspective, the sales
tax has had more than its day in
court. The jury has obviously voted
no.
Will blacks ‘‘go fo r the gold”?
by Dr. Manning M arable
The Summer Olympics are sched­
uled to be held in Los Angeles from
July 28-August 12, I9 M . Although
the games are over a year o ff, entre­
preneurs, politicians, and corporate
leaders — both black and white —
have been making plans for big
profits since 1979. At many levels,
the Olympics are for some a test for
ibe viability o f the economic strat­
egy o f "Black Capitalism " and Ihe
fiscal programs o f Black politicians.
Los Angeles is, first o f all, a city
o f stark economic contrasts —
affluence and dire poverty, side by
side. Black mayor Tom Bradley has
maintained cozy relationships with
the while private sector and finan­
cial establishment over Ihe years.
Much o f the criticism he receives
from the black middle class comes
from disgruntled black businessmen
who claim that they have not p ro f­
iled as much as they had hoped by
ihe presence o f a black mayor. A
review o f recent data from the Bur­
eau of the Census indicates this.
W hile there were 14,576 black-
owned firms in the Los Angeles/
Long Beach area in 1977, only 2,014
had any paid employees, about 14.4
percent. 618 black-owned construc­
tion firms without paid employees
only averaged annual gross receipts
of $18.314. 2,678 retail stores w ith­
out employees owned by blacks
averaged annual gross receipts of
only $12,740. Even in the more a f­
fluent sectors o f the economy, black
entrepreneurs are far behind their
while competitors. The 1,072 black-
owned financial establishments, in­
surance companies and real estate
dealers averaged gross annual re­
ceipts of $51,360. The total number
o f employees working for a ll black-
owned firms in both Los Angeles
y"
' 'From the Grassroots "
and Long Beach in 1977 was only
9,963 persons.
The general view among most
black business leaders was that the
1984 Olympics could be a boost to
the black private sector’s plight. As
noted in the A p ril, 1983, issue of
Black Enterprise, black entrepre­
neurs were definitely "going for (he
g o ld ." Black businessman Tyrone
Hicks “ plans to turn his $17,000 in­
vestment to produce the official
Olympic seat cushions into big p ro f­
its.” By the end o f January, 1983,
almost half of (he accredited licens­
ees who are using the official O lym ­
pic symbol on their products were
black. Another black company,
headed by Andrew Muse, A C M I In ­
ternational, plans to turn out
"O lym pic lap blankets." Starting
with a modest investment of about
$50,000, A C M , International "p ro ­
jects its $22 to $35 Olympic lap
blankets will gross $8 m illio n ." To
placate black community critics,
planners o f the 1984 games are pro­
jecting hundreds o f temporary jobs,
mostly at minimum wage levels, to
accommodate
the
more
than
250,000 daily spectators.
The Los Angeles Olympic Organ­
izing Committee (L A O O C ) is en­
couraging white corporations to
"buy tax-deductible $25,000 tickets
that not only entitle the buyer to two
premium seats to each event but also
allow 50 children from low-income
families to attend ." Even John C ar­
los, the Olympic bronze medalist
and Black Power advocate who
raised his fist in the controversial
Mexico City Olympic games o f
1968, is now the community rela­
tions liaison for L A O O C . Carlos'
advice to the black business com­
munity? "T h e possibilities are real.
People just have to get together and
work a game p la n ."
The allure o f gold has blinded
many middle class blacks to the
broader political implications o f any
Olympic games. In 1980, former
President Jimmy Carter banned
U.S. participation in the Moscow
games because o f the presence o f
Soviet troops in Afghanistan. But
what o f U.S. military involvement
in El Salvador today? O r the Rea­
gan Administration's cynical sup­
port for the brutal regime o f apart­
heid South Africa, which murders
and mutilates hundreds o f black
people daily? O r the U.S.-backed
subversion o f Grenada, Angola,
and Nicaragua? Do politics take
precedent over athletic competition?
A coalition of Americans have
called for a demonstration for
peace, jobs and justice at the 1984-
games, in part to "ensure that local
communities benefit from the pres­
ence o f the Olym pics.” In their-
view, "there is no better way to car­
ry forward the spirit o f the O lym ­
pics than to bring together people in
a rally for peace.” The endorsers in­
clude actor W illiam Marshall, fo r­
mer Carter Administration aide
Midge Costanza, attorney Leonard
I. Weinglass, Eugene Hernandez,
slate chair o f the California La Raza
Unida Party, and M ark Ridley-
Thomas, director o f the Los Ange­
les chapter of the Southern Chris­
tian Leadership Conference.
W ill the black community simply
"go for the gold?” O r will we unite
with other progressives in labor,
church, and national minority com­
munities, seizing the opportunity to
make an international statement
against war, racism, and poverty?
Washington Hot Line
by Congressman Ron Wyden
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W A S H IN G T O N . D C . — We
hear daily of crime: crime in the
streets, burglary and robbery. But
we don’t hear so much about w hat’s
shaping up to be the crime wave o f
the future: computer crime.
And some o f the main victims of
this sort o f crime are our nation's
small businesses.
This is not to say that some stories
haven't appeared on this new threat.
A story which appeared in the
Washington Post recently told
about a man in Virginia who alleg­
edly used his home computer to gain
private credit card inform ation and
then charged more than $50,000
worth o f goods. Another case tells
o f a firm in Louisiana that was
bilked out of $140,000 by an em­
ployee who programmed the com­
pany's computer to write him mon­
ey orders and then erase the records.
Many small businesspeople may
not report that they have been vic­
tims o f computer crime for fear lhat
they will lose the public's trust, and
hence their business. Reported
crimes may be just the tip o f the
proverbial iceberg.
But one thing is certain: as our
naiion's small firms become more
dependent on the computer to do
their business, they become more
susceptible to this brand-new threat.
Sadly, most businesspeople are
ill-equipped to fight (his type of
crime. W ithout help soon, the
small-businessperson could become
a sitting duck for computer crime of
all sorts.
That is why earlier (his spring I in­
troduced a bill that would be a first
step toward giving the small busi­
nessperson the tools to fight back.
The bill, entitled the Small Busi­
ness Computer Crim e Prevention
A cl, would create a task force of
computer experts from government
and industry to outline ihe problem
o f computer crime and abuse, set up
a clearinghouse for inform ation on
the subject, and develop guidelines
to support small business computer
security efforts.
In short, (he bill would put in Ihe
hands o f small businesspeople the
knowledge they need lo fight the
keyboard criminal.
Hearings on Ihe bill began this
week in (he Flouse Small Business
Subcommittee on Antitrust and Re­
straint o f Trade, and I am hoping
for swift action in the full commit-
lee and on the floor of the House.
Computer crime will not be an
easy crime to stop, and (his bill, un­
fortunately, will not bring it to a
screaming halt. But I am hopeful
that, with the creative partnership
o f government, business and the
academic community, we can stunt
the growth of high-tech theft.
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