Page 2 Portland Observer, August 31,1983
Oregonians join peace ‘ Fast for Life'
by Jim D—to
Thirteen people from tin coun-
•rie» have been eating nothing and
drinking only water (ince August
6th, the 38ih anniversary o f the
bombing o f Hiroshima. They call it
the “ Fast for L ife ” and they
intend to continue not eating until
there is a significant step taken to
wards ending the nuclear arms race.
They will consider any concrete
action taken by any o f the nuclear
powers, but in particular they arc
calling for an immediate halt to all
nuclear weapons testing or a can
cellation o f U.S. and N A T O plans
to deploy Pershing I I and cruise
missiles in Europe. These missiles
are seen by some m ilitary strategists
and many other experts as destabiliz
ing to the present nuclear stand-off.
They are a new generation o f highly
accurate weapons, are considered to
be useful primarily in a first-strike
situation, and are too small for the
Soviet Union to keep track o f and
would therefore make a mutual
U .S ./U .S .S .R . nuclear freeze non-
verifiable. The U .S .S .R . has said
that they consider these missiles to
be a serious threat to their security
and will respond to the deployment,
scheduled fo r this December, by
putting their own missiles on a hair
trigger
“ launch
on
warning
system,” that will significantly in-
i the likelihood o f an accidental
nuclear war.
The fasten are from France,
Spain, Germany, Japan, Canada,
and the United States. Tw o o f them
are from Oregon, Dorothy Granada,
a 32-year-old public health nurse
and mother o f one, and Charles
Oray, 3>-year-old father o f two and
grandfather o f four. In a recent
press release from the Fasting Cen
ter in Oakland, C a lif., O ray wrote,
“ I love life, I am not a suicidal type.
We don’t feel we're special people in
any way. W e would do what any
body would do if their child fell in
the river. W e ’re willing to take this
risk.” Granada wrote " W e feel our
first obligation is to sec this planet
survive. The fast is helping to re
leases great spiritual power.”
The decision to risk their lives in
this open-ended fast comes from
their deep personal commitment to
peace and to ending world hunger
The festers are taking their place
alongside the millions o f people
starving around the world whom
they call "the silent victims o f the
arms race.” T o Gray, Granada, and
the other festers the connection is
clear; every day 40,000 children
under the age o f five die from mal
nutrition and every day the govern
ments around the world spend more
than I billion dollars on weapons.
The U .N . Center on Disarmament
has estimated that wilh an addition
al 11.3 billion dollars, adequate
food, water, housing, health care,
and education could be provided for
every person on earth. 18.3 billion
dollars is about as much as the
world spends on weapons every two
weeks.
The fasten don't believe that
their actions alone will be enough to
achieve the results they desire and
they know that some people may
not understand their willingness to
die i f their goal is not met within the
relatively short time that a person
can live without food (approximate-
Atlanta life good for Robinson
ly 2 to 3 months). Earlier this
summer O ray wrote, "A s I sec it,
the purpose o f the fast is to awaken
people to deeper levels o f non-violent
action with the political aim o f stop
ping the nuclear arms race.”
Granada suggests, “ Whatever you
usually do, do more and do it now.“
A letter-writing campaign has
been organized to send 3 million
letters to world leaders and decision
makers urging them to stop the arms
race. People are pledging to write 10
letters between Sept. 6 and 9, one
month after the start o f the fast.
In Portland, a major rally is being
planned for October 22 at W ater
front Park to oppose the deploy
ment o f cruise and Pershing I I mis
siles in Europe. The rally is spon
sored by Ecumenical Ministries of
Oregon, an inter-denominational
coalition representing 198 Oregon
churches.
A local support group for the
“ Fast (or L ife " holds a vigil every
M o n .-F ri. from 3-6 p.m . in front o f
the Pioneer Court House on the bus
mall, and on Sal. and Sun. at Satur
day M arket near the literature
tables.
For more inform ation call 233-
1887 or 239-4183.
M odel Search
5'9“ and over for woman. 6*2“ and ovar for man. Bring composite and
8x10 head shot to;
Cora 8 m lth . 727 8 .W . 12th Ava. For “ Cobi Collection Traveling
Fashion S h o w .”
GRASSROOTS NEWS, N. W. —
August is the time o f the year when
many Oregonians leave the Rose
City in search o f other temporary
horizons. As Oregonians leave the
city for vacations, we find many
others who come back and visit the
city they left behind.
Jimmy Robinson is one such
Portlander. He left with the exodus
created by the move o f Oeorgia Pa
cific Corporation. "F o r the last year
my fam ily and 1 have been living in
J tlanta. Oeorgia. I ’m working as a
photographer for Oeorgia Pacific in
the video and still photographic
group. It has been a very enjoyable
and profitable move for us.”
Robinson is a native Oregonian
who worked as a teacher for ten
years and later became a self-taught
photographer. ” 1 got involved with
as many projects as I could to devel
op my photographic skills. When it
came time to make the move, I was
qualified for the jo b .”
The former teacher was asked
what type o f education the students
in Portland receive. " Y o u receive a
well-rounded liberal arts education.
In an integrated society you are like
ly to see both sides o f the coin more
than you would in other parts o f the
country. I say to those students who
are striving to get an education that
they have an advantage in this area
of the country because they have the
opportunity.
" T h e educational process calls
for a lot o f different ingredients
from the student, parent and the
community. It is the combination of
all those ingredients which makes
for a healthy educational atmos
phere.”
Robinson's interest in photo
graphy developed while he was the
business manager for the RAB
group. Pleasure. “ I wanted to cap
ture the events and the sparkle o f
our tours. One thing lead to another
and it became leu o f a hobby and
more o f a busineu.”
Jimmy Robinson says he loves
living in the heartbeat o f the South,
Atlanta, G A . " O u r airport is the
link-up o f the South. The weather is
warm, the food is good and the peo
ple are nice. It is a vibrant city full
of youth, profeuion and politics.
One comparison you could make to
Portland is that it is very green.
PNB requests
metered rates
Public
U tility
Com m iuioner
John Lobdell has scheduled a
prehearing
conference
for
September 7th on a proposal by
Pacific Northwest Bell to convert its
business customers from flat rate to
measured service.
In July. PNB filed a proposal to
convert busineu service 'o
a
measured system under which each
customer would pay for the actual
amount o f local phone service used
each month.
The conference w ill begin at 10
a.m . in Hearing Room D o f the
Labor and Industries Building in
Salem. The purpose o f the confer
ence is to identify parties to the case,
clarify issues, and discuu legal
procedures. Persons or organiza
tions wishing to participate in the
case as formal intervenors may file
petitions
to
intervene at
the
conference or submit petitions in
writing to the PU C on or before the
meeting date.
THE FUTURE
BELONGS TO PEOPLE WITH
TECHNICAL SKILLS.
You hear it everywhere.
The Electronic Age. The Age of
the Computer. The Era of
High Tech. And that the future
belongs to the people with the
technical skills.
But where do you go to
learn technical skills?
Consider the Army.
We have over 300 skills
to offer, many of them technical,
and most of them have their
civilian counterparts.
You could learn a skill in the
Army that you could carry right into the future. It’s a good chance for
you to be what you want to be. So see your Army Recruiter
J IM M Y R O B IN S O N
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
When I first landed there I felt right
at home.
" I'm just getting to know the city
and make the types o f contacts I
need to branch out. I f I do not con
tinue working for Georgia Pacific I
would hope to operate an indepen
dent photography studio.“
His advice to the ambitious Ore
gonian — “ You need to try and
make contacts outside the city of
Portland. And try to foster those
types o f contacts. There is a lot of
stimuli out there and you can't get it
all within the city limits. Portland is
a wonderful place to grow up in but
you really need to see points o f view
from other parts o f the nation.”
321 S W Salm on St.
221-2267
3637 NE Sandy Blvd.
232 9559
ARMY.
BCALLYOUCANBE.
Money to go.
The economy is up. Our interest rates
are down. And now is the best time in years
to go ahead and borrow the money for the
major purchase you may have postponed.
i\jt pleasure back in your driving with
a new car. Sail away aboard the boat of your
dreams. Or set off on family adventures in
your own recreational vehicle.
Then again, maybe you’ve got some
thing else in mind. That’s fine. too. Because
we’re lending money for a lot of gtxxi reasons.
All you have to do is decide what kind
of loan you want. With the right credit infor
mation. we’ll give you an answer in only one
day. If you qualify, you’ll have cash in hand to
shop for your best possible deal.
Come into any branch of First
Interstate Bank soon. We have the financ
ing to give your
dreams some
« « u p and go.
w W First
C X Interstate
Bank
I
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