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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 1983)
I Johnson gets new eyes Page 3 f — I ' p ^ 9 vs. Ducks Blacks win Burlington suit Page 5 P O R TM N D OBSERVER Volume XIV, Number 4 November 16, 1983 25C Per Copy Impeach Reagan Movement grows The U.S. House of Represenia lives was asked to start impeach ment prixeedings against President Ronald Reagan Thursday, Novem- ber 10th. Seven Congressmen charged the President with violating the U.S. Constitution with the inva sion of Grenada and imposition ol censorship on the media Some of the Congressmen added that Reagan is guilty of international war crimes The resolution was submitted by Representatives le d Weiss (D N Y ), John Conyers (D -M ic h .), Julian Dixon (D -C a lif ), Mervyn Dymally (D -C a lif.), Henry Gonzalez (D - lex as), Mickey l.eland (D Texas) and Parren M itchell (D -M d ). Rep Undaunted by Saturday's torrential rains, over 1,000 people filled Terry Schrunk Plaza to protest U S. policy in Central America and the Caribbean. The demonstration was part of a national day of protest. (Photo: Richard J Brown) Rally protests U.S. aggression by Robert Lothian "F o rw a rd together, backward never!” the rallying cry o f the G ren adian revolution, echoed from und er a sea o f umbrellas and reverber ated o ff the First Interstate Bank Tower as a crowd o f over 1,000 Tilled Terry Schrunk Plaza Saturday to protest the U .S. invasion of Grenada and threatened invasion of Nicaragua. The Portland Central America Solidarity Comm ittee organized the demonstration as Portland’s contri bution to a national day of protest which included a W ashington, D .C . rally attended by 20.000 people and addressed by presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. Speakers in Portland urged vigilance as comments from the Keagan administration and U.S. military maneuvers in Honduras point toward an escalation o f U.S. involvement in Central America "T h e repression is increasing,” said Salvador M artinez, a 22-year- old former medical student from El Salvador speaking on behalf o f the Democratic Revolutionary Front (F D R ), the coalition o f popular or- gamzations and guerilla groups leading the Salvadoran revolution. " W e are not stupid. We know the U.S. is getting ready to invade Cen tral A m erica." said M artinez, who cited as evidence the invasion of Grenada, the recent coup in Guate mala which installed a dictator more in agreement with U .S. policy, the U .S. troop build-up and wargames in Honduras, the stationing o f U.S. battleships o ff both coasts of Cen tral Am erica, and the meeting in O c tober (reported in the New York Timex) o f the military leaders of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama to talk about a coor dinated attack on Nicaragua with U.S. help U.S. troops could be in Guate mala. El Salvador, or Nicaragua within two hours notice, and bom bardments and missile attacks from U.S. ships could kill many thou sands within minutes, he said. A U .S.-led invasion would smash the new society growing in Central America which is seeking to reverse centuries o f exploitation and pov erty, according to Martinez. " T h e people o f El Salvador al ready took the decision to be free," he said. " W e are building a bridge o f communication it is your acts o f solidarity that will help us. You will be the people speaking for us." He then led the crowd in a chant— " N o draft, no war, Grenada to El Salvador!" Brigette Dennis-Sarabi, a radio journalist with the Caribbean Edu cation Project who lived in Grena da, said the U .S. invasion crushed the vision o f a better future which the Grenadian revolution held out to Blacks and Third W orld people throughout Central America and the Caribbean That vision, she said, included a land reform program where "thou sands o f acres were given to small farm ers," illiteracy reduced to 2 percent, equal pay for equal work for women, a tripling o f social ser vice expenditures, and free medical care. She said the decrees o f Governor- General Sir Paul Scoon, including a ban on public meetings, arrests without warrants, and press censor ship, are evidence that Grenada's t Please turn to pane 9 column I ) Ron Dellums (D-Calif.), who was in the 14-member delega lion to Grenada last weekend, said that Reagan should be impeached Conyers said. " T h e genius of the Constitution is that it provides lor the remedy of impeachment in the event that the Executive violates the duties and the oath of office An ar rogation of powers by the Executive that belong to the Congress subverts the integrity of the O ffice. " A fte r careful thought and study, it is my position that the President's military actions in Grenada consti tute an abrogation of the duties which he is sworn to uphold "F irst, Article I, Sec. 8 of the Constitution requires that (he C o n gress. not the President or the C IA , determine if and when the nation goes to war "Second, Article 6 provides that all treaties and charters to which the U.S. is a signatory shall be the 'su preme law of the land ' The Grena dian invasion violates Article 1$ of the Organization of American States Charter, Article 2, para graphs 1 and 4 of the United N a tions Charter, as well as U N . reso lutions Even the legal instrument under which the President waged war in Grenada, the Treaty o f the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, requires that decisions invol ving collective security can only be undertaken when the signatory States ate 'unanimous ' Three o f the signatory States refused to call for or support the U.S. invasion of G re nada. " T h ird , the unprecedented re strictions on. and censorship of, the news media prior to, during, and a f ter the Grenadan invasion are in vio lation of the First Amendment pro viding for 'the freedom of speech, or o f the press.' "F in ally, the President's manipu lation of I he War Powers Act, in tailing to notify, and consult with. Congress in introducing American military forces into a situation of 'imminent hostilities,' is in flagrant disregard of Congressional preroga lives. " W h ist still is a continuing pat tern ot conduct in Nicaragua, the (. aribbean and in Central America in which the Administration will stop at nothing, including tar-reach mg C IA covert operations, to over turn governments whose only of tense is to have a different ideology from our own. These actions are ¡I- Low achievement ecores of Black public school students brought parents together In Bieck United Front-sponsored workshop to learn how to help HEP JOHN CONYERS lustrative of a pattern ot Adm inis tration Iawlexsnc4\ across a broad spectrum of policy. " The President's compliance with the laws of the land is fundamental to the integrity o f the Executive O ffice. Public approval o f the Presi dent's military actions does not d i minish the basic constitutional and legal issues at stake T o the con trary, current public silence in and outside of Congress makes it doubly important to scrutinize the Presi dent's conduct Impeachment is a final congressional remedy for judg mg this pattern o f action and for generating broad public debate on t Please turn to page It) column II their children in school This session is led by Ben Priestley (right). (Photo Richard J Brown) Portland neighborhoods susceptible to water-carried lead poisoning M any Portland residents could be suffering from a well-known but sel dom diagnosed disease resulting from lead poisoning. Portlanders are in a unique position o f risking exposure through their water, in ad dition to the usual modes o f paint, gasoline exhaust and industrial waste. Portland's Bull Run water, publi cized for its purity, softness and ab sence o f minerals, absorbs minerals from the pipes through which it passes. The U.S. National Research Council said in 1977 that, "L ead may be dissolved from water pipes most readily by water that is low in hardness, bicarbonate, and pH and high in dissolved oxygen and ni trates." Portland rates "extremely corrosive" on the three standard formulas used to measure water cor rosivity and contains four o f the five factors causing solubility of lead. The W orld Health Organization found that "lead in water ingested independently o f food may be more readily absorbed and may provide a relatively greater contribution to the blood level than lead in fo o d ." For the past three years Roger Burt, a Southeast Portland resident, has attempted to make Portland’s city government recognize its prob lems and take corrective measures. Following visits to various doctors seeking relief from symptoms in cluding depression, weight loss, and fatigue, Burt found a doctor who tested him for lead poisoning. Find ing positive results, he was treated at Providence Hospital and spent the next two years convalescing. He also spent his time researching the causes and effects o f lead poisoning. Burt's main source o f poisoning was easily found. About six months before his illness was diagnosed, he had put new plumbing into his older home— copper pipes with lead sol dered connections. Portland's min eral-free water, standing in the pipes, had picked up lead from the pipes so that the clear, fresh water was daily poisoning his body. Lead can cause serious physical impairment and even death. The toxic effects o f lead might not be known until after years o f exposure, while lead is being stored in body tissue. The damage is First to indivi dual cells and then to organs and en tire body systems. Damage to the central nervous system is frequently not reversible. Symptoms vary and often are overlooked by examining physi cians. Routine blood tests do not re veal lead levels in the blood and most doctors do not look for lead poisoning and therefore do not use the special tests available. Children are particularly at risk In addition to irritability and hyper activity, lead poisoning can affect mental development A 1979 study published in The New England Journal o f Medicine showed that children with lead poisoning had de creased IQ , decreased auditory pro cessing, decreased attention spans, and increased hyperactivity corres ponding to increased lead in the body. The children in the sample were taken from public schools and had none of the usual symptoms ol lead poisoning A 1972 study dem onstrated that lead poisoned chil dren's IQs increased after they were treated to reduce the lead concentra tion in (heir bodies Children o f low-income families are more likely to be affected by wa ter-borne led because the homes having lead bearing pipes are more apt to be in older, low-income areas of the city. Also, poor nutrition in creases the affects of lead poison ing Sourcas of lead poisoning Lead enters Portland water from three main sources: The city esti mates that there are from 10,000 to 12,000 lead service connection pipes still in use. These are connections between the water main and (he me ter box o f the residence, school or business building and were installed before 19 JO. There is lead soldering in copper pipes within buildings, in stalled in the last 10 years. There ate also galvanized iron pipes imported from abroad, that contain minerals including lead. Although about 1200 lead con nectors are replaced each year as they are discovered, the C ity has no plan for finding and replacing the connectors. M ayor Ivancie esti mated that replacement would cost from JJ to $4 million The 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act (Public Law 93-523) makes the water supplier responsible for the quality o f the water at the custom er's tap. What the cuatomar can do Water standing in copper pipes with lead solder can absorb lead ex ceeding the maximum allowed w ith in four hours; in lead pipe the limit could be exceeded in 10 minutes. Exposure to lead can be reduced by clearing standing water from the pipes before water is taken from the tap. Flushing the toilet and letting the tap run for about five minutes is usually sufficient. Persons who suspect that their water could be contaminated can have their outside and inside plum b ing checked by the C ity Water Bureau at no charge. f Please turn to page 4 column 41
