P««* 2 Portland Observer, August 17,1983
I T
^k|
KGW"manipulates"meaning
Defense protestors
misunderstood
by Chuck Good mac her
NEW QUEEN/OLD KINO - Barbara Althouee,
the 1*83-84 Queen of the Hobos, glvee moral
support to Marcad "Buttons" Hansan, tha 1882-83
King of tha Hobos, who recently announced his
political ambitions by declaring: "I am going to
seek tha mayor's off les In 1884."
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
King of the Hobos
enters mayor's race
by Nathaniel Scott
As hobos, street people and the
down and out prepare for Port
land’s Third Annual Hobo Parade,
Sunday. August 21. the 1982-83
hobo king gears up for a political
Tight.
Marcell “ Buttons** Hansen, the
1982-83 King o f the Hobos, accord
ing to Michael Stoops, co-founder
o f Baloney Joes and “ Buttons’ *
campaign manager, “ has decided to
run for m ayor.“
In addition, Stoops announced
that the 1983-84 king and queen,
whose selection “ is not based on
race, income, sex or looks," are,
Richard Huntley and Barbara A lt-
house.
“ Buttons" said he decided to run
for mayor because "some o f the
policies that M r. Ivancie have are
against the poor people in the Burn
side area.” Moreover, he said, he is
against the Greyhound Depot pro
posed move to Old Town because it
will leave many a street person with
out a place to rest their weary heads.
According to "B uttons,” a num
ber o f street people "sleep in the pit
parking lo t.” The lot that he makes
reference to is located on N W 6th
and Clisan.
Furthermore, “ Buttons” said,
"Portland needs more low-income
housing and jobs
In addition to jobs and housing,
"Buttons" sees the need to attack
crime more strenuously.
According to him, since the in
ception o f the Ouardian Angels,
crime has become "controlled” in
some areas and the police are doing
a “ pretty good” job, but, " I f I was
elected m ayor,” he said, ” 1 would
declare war on the jack ro llen . . . and
other crime, to o.”
"B uttons,” 31, has resided in
Portland approximately 13 yean.
He is a native o f New York City and
has a degree in mathematics from
the University o f Tennessee at Nash
ville. Retired from the M arine
Corps, he is self-employed: nightly
he can be seen in North and North
east Portland picking up wine bot
tles. The bottles are sold to Baloney
Joes for a penny each. “ Buttons**
said he once earned $30 in one
night. O f which, he proudly pro
claimed, “ T hat's a fair night’s
wages.” Computation-wise, at a
penny each, $30 represents 3,000
bottles. Indeed, I would say, that's a
fair amount o f bottles to be handled
by one whose only vice it the enjoy
ment o f a good smoke. “ Buttons* **
preference is Rigoletto
Palma
Grande cigars.
"Buttons' strategy.” according to
Stoops, is to “ split the ticket and
force a ru n -o ff.”
"T his will be the first time in re
cent history that we (the Burnside
community) have run a Burnside
resident," Stoops said. “ In 1986 we
are going to run a full slate."
“ Buttons" said he is able to de
bate different issues and Stoops said
it will be a good, clean campaign.
He added with the twitch o f a smile,
“ We want Ivancie to vote for
Buttons in *84.”
The Hobo Parade, Sunday, A u
gust 21, will begin in the North Park
Blocks. N W 8th and Everett, at
noon, and wind its way to W ater
front Park. Featured at W aterfront
Park will be guest speakers, music,
food, soft drinks, and “ Buttons,"
Stoops said. Any “ Buttons" for
mayor campaign contributions can
be mailed to Baloney Joes. 313 E.
Burnside Street. 97214.
Nine-thirty a.m . Wednesday. A u
gust 10, 1983, Portland, Oregon.
Seven people peacefully occupy a
branch office o f the Defense Logis
tics Agency. By early afternoon the
protestors are physically removed
by officers o f the Federal Protective
Service, cited for a violation, and re
leased Later, on K O W 's 3 o ’clock
news, the general public is told
today’s peace movement is small
and resorting to staged media
events.
W hat really transpired Wednes
day morning in the old Federal
Building at 311 N .W . Broadway?
Were the protestors merely staging
an event to win coverage by the
major media? Is their action a sign
o f the desperation o f today’s peace
movement?
Or were the protestors motivated
by a higher, moral imperative? Did
they feel responsible as human
beings for interrupting the "busi-
ness-as-usual" implementation o f
America's "m orally-cnm inal p oli
cies” o f preparing for nuclear anni
hilation and supporting "d ictato r
ships” in El Salvador. Guatemala
and elsewhere?
A statement of purpose, delivered
early Wednesday along with a press
release, indicated the protest "is
aimed at interrupting the business-
as-usual o f the kind o f bureaucratic
mass-homicide that is typified by
the Defense Logistics Agency's acti
vities." KG W -Channd Eight, filmed
a shot o f a protest supporter deliver
ing a press release as if that act itself
was newsworthy.
Once inside, protestors quietly
spoke with office staff about their
work which insures "quality con
trol” and “ on-time ’ delivery of
both nuclear and conventional wea
ponry. Protestors read aloud their
statement o f purpose and excerpts
from several sources including: m ar
tyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar
Romero's letters, the Nuremberg
codes, and Hannah A rendt’s classic
book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A
Report on the Banality o f Evil.
One staff member cried and sev
eral became notably upset. The
K G W reporter napped through
much o f the occupation.
Seeking to avoid a legal confron
tation, the acting director o f the o f
fice, Alan Hadcly, met with the pro
testors. A fter a cordial exchange (in
which Hadely admitted to never
having had a previous discussion on
the possibility o f disarmament) six
officers o f the Federal Protective
Service arrived on the scene.
A t about 12:30 the occupiers were
told their continued presence "is not
II-
U *
M-
Union members tour Nicaragua
w
by Robert Lothian
Jamie Partridge, a member of the
United
Food
and Commercial
Workers Local 192 in Portland,
toured Nicaragua with other Am eri
can union members recently in
honor o f the fourth anniversary o f
the revolution which overthrew
Som oza'i dictatorship.
The tour was aimed at building
better relations between the U.S.
and Nicaragua, and in particular be
tween workers o f both countries
Included were visits to factories,
schools,
hospitals,
cooperative
farms, and meetings with the coun
try’s leaders, members o f the
women's organizations and youth
groups
“ I spent a lot o f time talking to
people on the street, in bars and
markets, trying to find out how the
revolution had changed their lives
and what they thought about it ," he
said. O f 30 people he talked to, said
Partridge, only three were against
the revolution — mainly older peo
ple and ex-members o f the National
Ouard who had "slipped through
the cracks" and who were not bene
fit ting from the positive achieve
ments o f the revolution.
Partridge said that his overall
impression o f poet-revolutionary
Nicaragua was that it is “ a really
open society, a society constantly in
m o tion ," with people involved in
literacy campaigns, health mobiliza
tions and military preparedness. “ I
met so many people whose lives
sanctioned" and they must leave.
“ W e're not used to this kind o f con
frontation where people arc drug
out of rooms and so o n ," said one
officer.
Following a warning period, the
protestors were "placed outside the
office” — the words o f Lt. Dudkie-
wicz. The protestors thanked the o f
ficers “ for being gentle with us”
and then sat down in the hallway.
The protestors were arrested and
given a court date (August 30) to
answer charges o f violating “ con
form ity to verbal directions o f a
Federal Police O ffic e r.”
The protest was over by 2 p.m .:
the delivery o f some weapons for
use in Central America and else
where around the globe had been
disrupted for several hours; Defense
Department employees were directly
confronted with the complicity o f
their actions; and perhaps the public
would become more sensitive to the
u
protestors’ concerns.
K O W -T V ,
however, reported a different story.
The T V. news coverage began
with the narrator stating that the
protestors tried to “ manipulate”
news media. Although the reporter
and film crew were present at the
protest for 2 H hours, not one pro
testor was interviewed. The narrator
commented that the statements read
were only for the media and then
submitted as evidence the fact that
one protestor nervously eyed the
camera while speaking aloud. Final
ly. the narrator stated K G W -T V
would not cover the protestors'
court appearance.
K G W has since refused to grant
equal time for the protestors to re
fute the charges o f staging the pro
test only to "m anipulate the media”
on the grounds that their coverage
was a news report and not an edi
torial statement.
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Must pick up in 30 days
were taken up by the revolution,”
he said.
Partridge now hopes to speak be
fore community groups and union
forums about his experience. One of
the messages he'd like to bring to
Portlanders is what Reagan admin
istration and C IA support o f rem
nants
of
Somoza's
right-wing
National Ouard represents
"Contras'* invading from neigh
boring Honduras are continuing the
terror, mutilations and murder
which characterized the Somoza re
gime, and are trying to destroy the
positive achievements o f the revolu
tion, he said.
He spoke o f rural residents who
scrimped and saved and worked co
operatively to build the first com
munity center for their village.
When it was completed, they threw
a large party, and the center became
a place for classes and community
meetings. Just weeks after comple
tion, however, he said, contras
burned the building to the ground.
The population endures in spite
o f such attacks, lie said, because
hundreds o f thousands have become
involved in running their com m u ni
ties for the first time
An emphasis
on "inform ed participation” and
"participatory democracy” is evi
dent in a massive 6-month-long
nationwide discussion o f the “ law
o f the relationship o f women, men
and c h ild re n ." for instance, he said
Also, he said, over 800,000 Nica
raguans participate in the CD S or
ganization — Sandinista Defense
Committees — community groups
which carry out revolutionary re
forms at the local level.
“ The main emphasis is on elimi
nating hunger,” he said. “ I t ’s still
an extremely poor country.” Land
which had been owned by the
Somoza family is being turned over
to agricultural cooperatives, he said,
and the stranglehold o f an export-
related economy which drained the
country’s resources is being broken.
Coffee and sugar production is de-
emphasized and production o f es
sential food crops — corn, rice and
beans — has increased 40% .
Partridge said that a massive liter
acy campaign is aimed at bringing
those who can't read out of the
dark ages, and at training people to
fill gaps in the technical and man
agerial work force. " H a lf the popu
lation in Nicaragua are involved in
some kind o f education program
right now ,” he said. “ There's a
saying, 'all Nicaragua is a school.* **
Neighborhood committees are
also conducting a nationwide cam
paign to eliminate diseases that have
plagued poor Nicaraguans — polio,
malaria and typhoid. Experts tram
neighborhood volunteers on how to
give shots, and they in turn teach
others, said Partridge.
The revolution is responsible for a
78% increase in union membership,
according to Partridge, from 8% to
83% o f the population. “ People are
very excited about their unions," he
said. “ Most o f these people have
not had the experience o f being in a
union under a government that was
anti-union. Now, in most conflicts
between workers and private prop
erty owners, when the government
intervenes, they usually come down
on the side o f workers, whereas it
used to be just the opposite.”
He spoke o f the experience o f
workers at the Eskimo Pie ice cream
factory in Managua. Management
continued to abuse the workers after
the revolution to the point where
workers demanded of the govern
ment that it step in, nationalize the
factory and negotiate the transfer to
worker's management. Managers
are now hired and fired by a produc
tion council which also makes day
to day decisions about running the
plant. A general workers assembly
meets three times a year to discuss
issues o f general concern. One o f
the first things they decided was to
pay workers for time spent in the
revolution, he said.
A problem connected with the
union drive, said Partridge, is that
through collective bargaining, union
workers are able to get things, some
" a ll new,” that non-organized
workers aren't able to get — better
wages, I hour days, health insur
ance and pension plans. Other prob-
•
w
s
s ws w w ai »
Graham crackers, graham bread, and graham flour
owe their name to Sylvester Graham, a nineteenth
century American pure-food enthusiast, who first an
nounced that this flour had excellent nutritive value.
•
Benjamin Franklin was the first head of the U.S.
postal system.
•
The Library of Congress contains about 300 miles
of shelf space and about 40 acres of floor space.
We d o o s td o business w ith South Africe.
American State
Bank
AN INOtPENDCNT BANK
Head Office
2 7 3 7 N . E. Union
Portland, Oregon 9 7 2 1 2
(Coutinued on P. J, Col. I. bottom)
I