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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 1983)
K.*s Fronces Schoen-’.e v sp sp sr Roca PORTLAND OBSERVER USPS 959-68O-85Î © £»w Volume XIII, Number 47 September 7, 1983 25C Per Copy C o . Mr. I9»J U.S., Soviet stories on airline tragedy differ Reagan charge* murder The United States played eleven minutes o f a tape it identified as a recording of communications between the Soviet pilot who shot down a South Korean passenger jet last week and ground control to the United Nations Security Council. U .S. Ambassador to the U .N . Jeane Kirkpatrick said the tape "establishes that the Soviets decided to shoot down a civilian airliner, shot it down, murdering about 269 persons aboard, and lied about it.” The U .S . government indicated that the pilot had the airliner in sight for 20 minutes prior to firing, and said their was no indication that the Soviet pilot had attempted to contact the airliner. However. Kirkpatrick late said the pilot had said to ground control, " T h e target isn't responding to I.F .F . (identify friend or foe.) Several members o f Congress who returned to the U .S. from a two-week visit to the Soviet Union the day before the incident RONALD REAGAN occurred, predicted that the arms talks w ill be adversely affected and that the military build-up will be given impetus. Senator Howard Metzenbaum o f O hio said it will have a "very, very negative impact on the disposition o f the Am rican people and our negotiations in the arms control talks.” Senator Dale Bumpers o f A rka n sas said it w ill affect the political dynamics in Washington and such issues as the M X and other military plans. Other Congressmen predicted that it w ill become more difficult ot oppose Reagan's military program. American citizens are responding by burning an effigy o f Andropov at the W hite House, throwing out Russian vodka, and cancelling trips to the U .S .S .R . The airline pilots o f Great Britian, Australia, Denmark and France have agreed to boycott flights to the U .S .S .R . and some NATO nations are considering restricting Soviet airlines flights. U.S.S.R. levies spy charge The Soviet government, Tuesday, announced that a Soviet fighter was ordered to "stop the flig h t" of a South Korean airliner over the island o f Sakhalin after it failed to obey demands to land at a Soviet airfield. The statement charged that the 747 had been emitting coded intelligence signals. It said the Air Defense Forces in the area had concluded that the plane was "a reconnaissance aircraft performing special tasks” while flying over strategic nuclear bases and other military installations. The U .S.S.R expressed "regret over the loss of life ” but added that the United States, in dispatching a civilian aircraft over Soviet strategic bases knew what the outcome would be and bore the ultimate reaponsibility. The U .S .S .R . said that at the time the "in tru d er” plane entered Soviet Air Space "another spy plane of the U.S. A ir Force, an RC-135 that is similar to it, was in the same area near the Soviet border on the same altitude. Several Soviet interceptor planes were sent aloft. One o f them controlled the actions o f the American RC-135. A second flew into the area where the intruder plane was and signalled to it that it had intruded into the airspace o f the U .S .S .R . The warnings were ignored.” The Soviet government also slated that there have been nine incursions into their airspace by U.S. military planes in the last six months. The U.S. has admitted that a reconnaissance plane was in the area and that spy flights along the coast are routine. It has also been revealed in the U .S . press that civilian planes are used by the U.S. A ir Force for spy missions and for cover for reconnaissance planes. The U .S .S .R has raised several questions: - W ho programmed the Korean plane to fly into Soviet airspace. (Please turn to page 9 col. II YURI ANDROPOV State cites construction accident *»y Robert Lothian The Tri-M et board recently award ed non-union R .A . Hatch Co. a C6.9 m illion contract to build a 2.7 nilc section o f the Banfteld light rail ne between 146th and 197th ave- u es. Local construction unions say ley will picket Hatch’s work on the ew contract, as they have on his urrent $29 million contract to con- ruct phase two o f the project be- seen N .E . 39th and 82nd Avenues. The unions, who say their mem- ers are experiencing up to 75% un- mployment, contend that awarding .intracts to non-union employers ikes their members' jobs away, tiey also charge that Hatch can nderbid the competition because . cuts corners, subjects his workers > unsafe working conditions, and •es shoddy work which could can cost overruns. I ri Met and slate officials, on the iher hand, say that Hatch's low Jding will save taxpayers millions a tight budget situation, that his ork is ahead o f schedule and that is safety record is no worse than ither contractors. Hut a string o f accidents and near .atastrophes on the Banfield project has bee» well documented. tending to corroborate union charges. On August 13th, the boom o f a Hatch Co. crane struck an overhead powerline, sending five workers to the hospital, two with serious burns. Two state inspectors were among the injured, and 1200 Pacific Power and Light Co. customers were tem porarily without power. State Dept. o f Transportation spokeswoman Vicky Rocker de scribed the accident as a "fre ak occurrence" and an "unavoidable industrial accident." Rocker said her department had no record o f o f ficial violations regarding Hatch's work on the project. The Accident Prevention Division o f the Oregon W orker's Compensa tion Dept., however, has issued a citation in connection with the acci dent. According to A P D Portland director Barbara W oodhull, details will not become public until Hatch receives the citation. She did say that her office is classifying the acci dent as a "catastrophe,” which is the normal accident classification when five or more workers are sent to the hospital. In another crane incident on April 16, no one was injured but the top and back o f a moving semi trailer were torn o ff when a Hatch Co. crane toppled, sending its boom out over the Banfield. O n June 28. a 100’ section o f the 42nd Ave. off-ram p gave way, sec onds after a car had passed over. There were no injuries. State o ffi cials said later that vibrations from Hatch equipment working nearby could have been responsible for the collapse. A crack had appeared earlier and had been painted white, but Rocker said that such cracks are not unusual and that Hatch officials had indicated that they did not be lieve the ramp to be dangerous. In mid-July, residents o f an apartment building adjacent to the freeway were asked to move on short notice when it appeared the building might slide down an exca vated embankment. Cracks from floor to ceiling had appeared in one apartment and in the wall of a ga rage. According to Accident Preven tion Division records. Hatch has been cited several times on the Ban field and other projects for serious and repeated trench shoring viola tions. Inadequate trench shoring and subsequent cave-ins are a major (Please turn to page II col. 3/ Nana Akom. 4. and Alexander Shielda. 4. find time to play while their parenta register them in Humboldt Early Childhood Education Center (Photo: Richard J Brown) Council supplements MHRC staff but political fallout continues Last week the Portland City Council teturned two staff positions to the M etropolitan Hum an Rela tions Commission, bringing a con troversy that has continued for sev eral months to a close. Many o f those closely involved believe the compromise was merely a way to a l low Commissioner Margaret Strachan to save face after a bruis ing public dispute. In exchange for the return of two staff positions, M H R C agreed to develop staff evaluation and appeal procedures. "There are no changes.” >ne M H R C commissioner said. 'W e have evaluation procedures and an appeal process; in fact. Commissioner Strachan was in volved in the evaluation of our Executive Director, and her input was very favorable A ll we did was compile all o f our policies into one statement and hand it to h er." The fact that there were no changes called for indicates that this issue was only a method to allow Strachan to rid herself o f a political em bar rassment. the Commissioner said. A ll M H R C employees are under Civil Service and have access to Civil Service procedures. Armando La G uardia, M H R C chairperson for three years ending June o f 1983, said the incident has demonstrated a real lack o f inde pendence of C ity/C o u n ty commis sions and their vulnerability to a dis interested or hostile commissioner. "T hey control through the bud get,” La Guardia said o f City and County government. "W h en they shape your budget, that tells you what you can do. The budget process is a sham. We had to attend 20 to 30 meetings and then start all over again. An inordinant amount o f time is spent hassling over the budget. Funding is too cumbersome; we spend too much time trying to keep afloat. They need to set a fund ing base and if the City has money they should increase M H R C 's bud get by a percentage, and if they don’ t, they should decrease it by a percentage.” The process leaves M H R C open to the whims o f the liaison commit sioner. La Guardia said. " I f you are assigned by the mayor to a commis sioner who is not interested, and you have no choice, you end up fighting them and getting screwed. I f your commissioner doesn't sup port you, the others don't care. When your budget is cut it just means there is more money for their agencies. I f your own commissioner doesn't support you. you are dead in the w ater." " It 's not just M argaret; Jordan and Lindberg were not going to help us get more. Ivancie doesn't support us and Schwab tried to get rid o f us several years ago. " T h e City and the County have got to be more responsible.” The controversy between Strachan and M H R C surfaced early in the budget process when Strachan de manded that the position o f coordi nator held by Greg Gudger be elimi nated from the budget. The M H R C refusal led to numerous charges of poor administration and lack o f focus, all unsubstantiated, whereas Strachan’s statements to and about M H R C had been positive until that time. “ Margaret wasn't involved,” La Guardia said. "She made off-the- cu ff judgements. She said she wouldn't support our budget." Strachan said cuts in the budget, staff and programs were M ayor Ivancie's work but Ivancie quickly disassociated himself from them, saying they were Strachan's recom mendations. “ This was a destructive process on Strachan’s part and that type of leadership carries a great deal of danger," Fred M ilto n , chairman of the Committee for Restoration of M H R C , said. " I t potentially pits members o f the community against each other.” The controversy also demonstrat ed confusion over the role of the "liaison commissioner.” "Indepen dence is in question; Margaret thinks she is the commissioner-in charge when she actually is the liaison," La Guardia said "She overstepped her bounds without dealing in good faith. She circum vented M H R C in dealing with our staff and in the budget negotia tions.” A t no time did the other City commissioners or the County commissioners, who also fund M H R C , step in to define Strachan's responsibilities toward M H R C "T h is was an unprecedented power p lay," M ilton said “ Il backfired because citizens came forward to support MHRC. Strachan might have come to understand that citizen input is a part of the process.” M ilton said Strachan's actions had several destructive results: She made an effort to divide the various minority groups and turn them against each other and the integrity o f government and its attitude toward civil and human rights is in question. "T his type o f leadership must be carefully scrutinized. Reli gious and ethnic minorities need to be aware that in city government (Please turn to page I ! col. Il l! * ; >•. •
