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Racist bill
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Page 5
Page 12
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PORTLAND OBSERVER
U^PS 959-680-855
I ’ s
Volum e XIII, Num ber 52
October 12, 1983
25C Per Copy
C a ./w ¿MJ
Kafoury heads bureau
Mr. ft Mrs. Robert Woods, members of the Rail
rosd Senior Citizens Associetlon, discuss "the old
deys" with Bill Hlllierd. elso e former reilroeder.
(Photo: Rlcherd J. Brown)
Railroad Senior Citizen group
celebrates historic pioneers
by Lam ta Duke
they were gone.
Grassrool News. N . W. — O n O c
tober I , the Railroad Senior Citizens
Association held its annual banquet,
and brought together the pioneers
o f P o rtla n d 's Black co m m u n ity
The Railroad Senior Citizens Asso
c ia tio n is com prised o f men and
their wives who were recruited by
Southern and U n io n P acific R a il
road C om panies to lay track and
m aintain the trains before, during
and after W W II.
W orking on (he railroad required
between 60 to 80 hours a week on
the ro ad . Y e t, th eir wives m a in
tained the family and stood in a sup
p o rtiv e role u n til th eir husbands
came hom e. A ll w ill tell you their
uppermost concern was (he educa
tion o f their children.
C u rre n tly , the gentlem en in the
Association are the subject o f a doc
umentary produced by W orld Arts
F o u n d a tio n 's M ich ae l G rice, who
showe the resiliency and patience of
these men enabling them to build
homes, support fam ilies and edu
cate their children.
Recruited fro m a ll across the
country, these men faced a jungle of
narrow-mindedness when they a r
rived in P o rtla n d . As late as the
1950s many theaters, stores and res
taurants were closed to Blacks. On
the railroad they were cooks, labor
ers, w aiters, P u llm a n porters and
redcaps. They were the very back
bone o f the rail industry, whose ser
vices were never appreciated until
M an y o f the pillars o f the co m
m unity who have lived in Portland
for more than thirty years had some
connection with the railroad: C.
Donn Vann, W illie Jenkins, E. Shel
ton H ill and D r. W alter Reynolds
are just a few.
D r. Reynolds has set up fa m ily
practice clinic in the Albina commu
n ity . It is named a fte r his fa th e r,
P h il Reynolds, who obtained em
p lo ym en t and fo u g h t fo r better
working conditions for the men. Dr.
Reynolds used the m oney earned
while portering, redcapping, and as
a w a ite r, to pay his way through
medical school.
O n the n ation al tra ck , ra ilro a d
workers organized the first Black
union, the Brotherhood o f Sleeping
Car Porters. Under the direction of
A . P h illip Randolph it was organ
ized to better w orking conditions
and increase wages fro m the ra il
road companies.
The guest speaker for the annual
banquet was Bill H illiard, Executive
E d ito r fo r The O reg o n ian , who
started out as a redcap. “ W hen I
was a child in S.E. Portland I wasn’t
even allowed to carry The Oregon
ian. I remember being a reporter by
day and putting on my Redcap uni
fo rm at night to help make ends
meet.”
H illia r d said w hat he learned
from the gentlemen in the Associa
tion provided him with the insight to
rise from copy boy to Executive Edi
tor at the state's largest newspaper.
“ I learned to be hum ble and take
punishment without fighting back. I
maintained a certain amount of dig
nity. I don't think you have to give
up your p rincip les, but you can
carry yourself in such a way (hat the
day will come for you to get back at
them ."
W orld Arts Foundation, Inc., ex
pects its documentary to be finished
by the end o f 1983.
Former Representative Gretchen
kafou ry, a close friend and political
supporter o f City Commissioner
Margaret Strachan, has been ap
pointed Human Services C oordin
ator for the City. The appointment,
which has been rumored since be
fore the demotion o f former Direc
tor o f the Human
Resources
Bureau, Erma Hepburn, and before
ihe elimination o f Ms Hepburn's
position, has caused another contro
versy over Commissioner Strachan’s
employee relationships.
After she received control o f the
Bureau o f Human Resources, C o m
missioner Strachan announced she
would require persons holding tem
porary appointments (including Ms.
Hepburn, who had been appointed
by Mayor Frank Ivancie) to com
pete for those positions under Civil
Service. This would give them job
security they lacked as temporary
appointees. Commissioner Strachan
told the Observer at the time. She
said that two o f those involved were
minorities, as a coincidence, and
that she hoped to offer them added
protection.
After a nation-wide search, no ac
ceptable candidate (Ms. Hepburn
applied) was found for the position,
and applications were reopened.
However, the poaition was not
filled. Ms. Hepburn was asked to
step down to a lower position and
Commissioner Strachan announced
her intention to elimiate the position
" to save m oney."
During the controversy over the
possible termination and the subse
quent demotion, the rumor spread
through City H all and the comm u
nity that the Commissioner was vacat
ing the position for her friend,
Gretchen Kafoury, who was defeat
ed in the May 1982 election. C o m
missioner Strachan vehemently de
nied the validity o f this rumor
The 1983-84 City Budget elim in
ated the Director's position but in
cluded a new Coordinator's posi
tion. This position will carry out
most of the remaining functions of
the Director (after program cuts)
and report directly to the Comm is
sioner.
The process that led to the ap
pointment o f Ms. Kafoury to the
$42,369 position renewed the con
troversy.
Unconfirmed rumors emanating
from the Personnel Bureau are that
Commissioner Strachan designed or
helped design the job criteria. She
suggested the members for the
three-member interview panel, an
action that is not ordinarily taken by
Commissioners She also indicated,
according to an Oregonian article by
Linda W illiams, that she would not
follow the usual procedure of inter
viewing the top three candidates.
Commissioner Strachan also indi
cated to Ms. Williams on Tuesday,
October 12th, that she had not made
the appointment yet but planned to
appoint the highest-scoring candi
date toward ihe end o f the week.
Bureau employees said Ms. Kafoury
had already been appointed In a
City staff meeting Tuesday, a list of
resource persons was circulated that
included: Human Resources— G ret
chen Kafoury— 106/400 (room )—
GRETCHEN KAFOURY
796-5208 (telephone)
Among the applicants for the po
sition was Barbara Patrick, who
came in second with a score of 93.25
compared to Ms Kafoury's 93.50.
Ms. Patrick, who is Black, was a
Human Resources Bureau employee
from 1971 until 1981, when she re
signed from the agency staff alter
Commissioner Strachan was as
signed (he Bureau
Ms. Kafoury represented inner
Northeast and inner Southeast Port
(Please turn to page 12 col. />
District 1 begins candidate search
*
by Kathryn H a ll Bogle
The autumn leaves are beginning
to fall and we are getting hints of
another season to come. This year is
the year before an election year and
the hints o f political things to come
are crisping as well.
According to Herb Cawthorne,
he, Ron Herndon, Edna Robertson,
M arian Scott and the Rev. John
Garlington comprise a committee
that has already held a meeting last
Friday morning to discuss politics at
the New Hope Baptist Church.
Their invited guests included other
persons representing other organiza
tions and churches from the com
munity interesting in obtaining poli
tical clout for Black people in Dis
trict 18.
In the last election, no Black can
didate was successful because so
many ran and split the vote.
This committee wants to change
all that. "W e want to establish a
process," said Cawthorne
"W e
want a steering committee made up
from 30 sororities, fraternities,
churches and clubs to invite every
candidate to participate. We want
every candidate to speak
"There will be a day in early N o
vember when the District 18 public
can come to listen and vote on the
candidate most appealing. Then we
will all have chosen the candidate we
can support and that candidate can
truly represent the wishes of District
18.” Cawthorne said.
On the other hand, from the O re
gon Assembly for Black Affairs
comes an agenda reaching from Oc
tober 22. 1983, through Noveinbei
6. 1984.
"Beginning October 22. 1982, the
Oregon Assembly for Black A ffairs
w ill be hosting m onthly forum s in
P o rtla n d ," announced Calvin O .L .
Henry, O A B A President, last week
1984 is an election year and these
Saturday M orn in g Forums w ill run
through toe 1984 general election,
he stated.
According to Henry, the purposes
o f these fo ru m s are to develop
greater p o litic a l awareness w ith in
the Oregon Black community and to
encourage Blacks to become more
involved in p o litic a l cam paigns.
They w ill be educational and in fo r
mative about the political process.
(Please turn to page I I col. I )
Police Chief Still explains Pier Park racial incident
by Bon Still
C h ief o f Police
Due to (he m any rum ors in the
community about what occurred at
Pier Park on the evening o f Sept.
25th, I feel that the police position
in such a situation should be made
clear to the public.
A t 7:15 p .m ., on Sept. 25th, Port
land Police were called to Pier Park
on a large disturbance. Subsequent
(and I emphasize subsequent) inves
tigation indicated that the incident
started w ith an argum ent between
teenage girls, white and Black, and
resulted in these girls going into the
park and fighting.
A pparently, during the fight be
tween the g irls , there were other
people in the park that were attract
ed to the fight and who interceded
on behalf o f the w hite girls. These
people had been drinking. The peo
ple were, for the most part, white.
Some o f the young black children
who were also in the park witnessing
th is , ran to ihe nearby P ier Park
apartm ent complex and requested
aid fro m th eir parents and other
people in the apartm ents. Several
Black adults responded and went
into the park to assist the children.
A t this point, many on both sides.
Black and white adults, were appar
ently armed w ith sticks and clubs.
T h e re were constant rum ors that
somebody had a gun and there were
several fights and assaults between
(he various factions involved.
Black adults, prior to going into
the park, caused a call to be made to
the police dispatch center c o n
cerning the incident and several cars
were sent. There have been many
conflicting stories and rumors about
what happened at the park fo llo w
ing the police arrival and w hat the
police did and did not do.
The police goals, due to the lim it
ed number o f officers, were to sep
arate individuals that were fighting,
take weapons away from those that
had them, separate groups, with the
ultimate goals being to prevent fu r
ther injury and then identify those
that might have committed criminal
acts. A ccording to police reports,
the incident lasted ap p ro xim ately
20-25 m inutes, during which tim e
the officers were successful in pre
venting further injury and keeping
the groups separate until they left
the area. There were some rumors
that only Black people were a r
rested. This is not true. The facts are
that at the time no one was arrested;
however, some people were placed
in police cars tem porarily for their
own protection.
A num ber o f reports were taken
at the time giving various accounts
from the various points o f view as to
what had happened and who was re
sponsible; some o f the people in
volved were identified. Some three
hours later on that same evening, a
second incident occurred at (he Pier
Park Apartment complex. Police re
ceived calls from area residents that
shots had been fire d and we re
sponded again with several officers
and searched the area with negative
results. D u rin g the search o f the
park, officers also heard the shoot
ing; how ever, a suspect was not
located, but in fo rm a tio n was ob
tained concerning his potential iden
tity. Following the first incident, pa
trols in the area were increased and
have been m a in tain ed at an in
creased level since that time. Subse
quent investigation into the entire
incident has been on-going and on
the evening o f Sept. 26th, a search
warrant was served at a residence in
N orth Portland in an attempt to lo
cate the weapon that was involved in
the shooting incident.
In the ea rly m o rn in g hours o f
Tuesday, Sept. 27th, uniformed o f
ficers from N orth Precinct arrested
Robert Henry Najera, a 17-year-old
male, who is not employed and does
not attend school. He was charged
with one count of attempted assault
in the first degree (a fe lo n y ), tw o
counts o f menacing, four counts o f
recklessly en d an gering , and one
count o f c rim in a l m isch ief in the
second degree (all misdemeanors).
The Police Bureau is continuing the
investigation into this entire incident
and w orking closely w ith the D is
tric t A tto rn e y 's O ffic e on the
follow -up investigation. Detectives
have been assigned to the case and
are working with North Precinct o f
ficers to further identify other indi
viduals involved and pro vide this
evidence to the District Attorney.
CHIEF RON STILL