Sorry night
at Starry Night
Oregonian teaches
in Nicaragua
Larry Holmes
should retire
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PORTWND OBSERVER
J*PS 959-68O-855
€
Volume XIV, Number 6
November 30, 1983
25C Per Copy
Co . I"r l9>i
Portland rally kicks off
Jesse Jackson's race
A kic k-o ff rally for the local Jesse
Jackson campaign for President of
the United States will be held on
Saturday, December 3rd, from 2:00
to 4:00 p.m. The rally will be held at
Vancouver Avenue First Baptist
Church. 3138 N Vancouver Ave
Co-chairpersons o f the recently
organized Jesse Jackson for Presi
dent Committee are Ronnie H ern
don and Alm a H ill. Treasurer is Kay
Sohl; John Blank is Secretary.
Staff of North Portland Family Practica & Indue-
trley Clinic take a moment to chat: Unde Bingold.
nurse practitioner; Lynette Beyer, office manager;
Dabble Jorgensen, receptionist; Donna Krieger,
receptloniet; end Dr. Michael Freiatet.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
Doctor fights to save clinic
by Lanita Duke
Grassroot News,
AZ. IF .— The
concept o f primary health care
opened up in the inner city in 1980
as the North Portland Medical Cen
ter. Located on Northeast Killings-
worth and Vancouver Streets, the
Center incorporates straight medical
care, fam ily practice, emergency
w alk-in, free screening for high
blood pressure and diabetes, with a
full laboratory and x-ray facilities.
The question facing D r. Michael
Freistat, physician and proprietor of
the clinic, is: Can a practice survive
financially in an area most in need
o f the service?
Freistat, 36, transplanted his me
dical practice from Southeast Port
land. H e said, "T h e federal govern
ment determined this area as a
health manpower shortage area. A l
though the competition between
physicians in Portland is high— one
doctor per 600 patients— in inner
North and Northeast it is one doctor
per 6 ,0 0 0 ."
Freistat finds the area offering
“ interesting health care possibili
ties." The blue-collar industry com
bined with family care gives him a
complex patient.
“ W hat makes health care inter
esting is what makes a person's
health care a problem. They don't
get health care often enough nor do
they follow through with their
health care. Because o f finances
people just try to get by. In the
meantime disease becomes more
complex. We see a lot o f multiple
problem s."
Freistat also perceived the need
for an urgency center to take the
load o ff hospital emergency rooms
by offering more affordable care for
the patient.
“ You could go to an emergency
room but it w ill cost you thirty per
cent more. The concept o f urgency
centers has been opening up across
the country to handle industry, acci
dents and home emergencies. None
opened up in this area because the
common denominator is cash up
front.
"T h a t financial premise in this
area is difficult becuase you have
people with different economic
backgrounds who require different
economic approaches to get health
care."
Freistat said he believed medical
facilities that open up in inner
Northeast and lim it their welfare
and medicare patients are doing the
community a disservice. "T h e y are.
in fact, discriminating against the
com m unity.”
Financial survivability is the issue
Freistat is currently wrestling with.
" T h e medical center took a dive in
1982 as the recession hit the area
hard. I dropped ten to fifteen pa
tients a day. People didn't know if
they are still covered by their medi
cal insurance and are going on and
o ff the welfare ro ll."
As a result his loan from the
Small Business Administration has
not been serviced. " I had to get my
mother to co-sign and she took a
tremendous liability by putting her
name on the line to keep the clinic
open. M y home is up for sale and
I ’ m just finishing up with a di-
vorce.”
Freistat is also facing competitive
pressure from the State’s M ulti-Ser
vice Center and corporate groups
owning and operating urgency
centers.
“ Medicine at my level is under
going a mini-revolution. It is hard to
compete
with
these
corporate
groups who spend thousands on ad
vertising. You can’ t market yourself
and say you are better but you can
market yourself and say you are
available. Medicine has become a
business."
Freistat also said he believed the
Multi-Service Center is duplicating
services he could provide for those
with medical cards. "T h a t way they
could concentrate on indigent care.
I can't compete with their sliding
scale."
It seems as if the Hippocratic oath
has been replaced with the economic
theory o f maximizing profits. "Be-
cuase o f price, access to medical
care is difficult ot those who are
self-paying. We tried to cushion the
high price of medical care by keep
ing our prices lo w ."
The North Portland Medical Cen
ter offers complete medical services
in attractive surroundings. "O u r
problem is the community— six
blocks away— does not know who I
am or what I do. I want people to
know we have a medical walk-in
center and if you have a medical
problem that needs attention it can
be taken care o f in the com m unity."
I f the community does not use the
North Portland Medical Clinic they
may lose it.
Jackson’s campaign is said to
have the effect o f "liftin g the ceiling
o ff Black aspirations.” One im port
ant aspect o f Jackson's “ Rainbow
C o a litio n "— the joining of Blacks,
women, youth, farmers, seniors, the
poor and other minorities— is its re
lationship to the rapidly expanding
anti-Reagan front. The Jackson
candidacy challenges not only Rea
gan but Reaganism. militarism and
racism.
In addition to his effort to affect
the Democratic Party Platform and
to push the other Democratic Party
candidates to discuss the serious is
sues facing the nation and the
world, Jackson hopes to lead
millions o f minority and poor citi
zens to the polls for the first time.
His rallies and appearances are
marked by his urging the dispos
sessed to register and to vote.
In 1982, for the first time, Black
people voted at a higher percentage
than whites, expressing a deep op
position to President Reagan and
his policies. Registration campaigns
will add millions o f Black voters,
helping to defeat Reagan's allies in
Congress.
In the House, there are at least 86
districts iri which Black people make
up 20 percent or more of the elector
ate, and Black voters will play a ma
jor role in at least six Senate races
where Republican defeats could
shift the balance o f power in the
Senate. Also to be affected by a
large Black voter turnout are num
erous state and local positions.
Jackson's voter registration drive
has spurred other drives among the
poor and among minorities— most
significantly among Chicanos The
National Coalition on Black Voter
Participation plans to add two to
ten million new Black voters.
The Human Service Employment
Registration, Voting and Education
Campaign is unique in that it targets
the millions o f poor who receive
government benefits such as food
stamps, unemployment compensa
tion and welfare.
Government
workers will volunteer to register up
to five million people as they visit
government offices.
Herb Cawthorne will be master of
ceremonies for the rally and mem
bers of the committee will speak.
Ken Berry and friends will provide
gospel music.
Volunteers and funds for the O re
gon campaign will be solicited.
Portland rally will aaak support, volunteers and funds for Jesse
Jackson's campaign for tha Democratic nomination for president
(Photo: Richard J Brown)
Surinam foils new coup attempt
The government o f Surinam, a
small nation on the northeast coast
o f South America, reported that it
had to put down an attempted coup.
Ten people were charged with stir
ring unrest and setting a government
radio station, office buildings and a
warehouse on fire.
The arrests came as Surinam— a
nation o f 300,000 people o f A fri
can, Meztizo, East Indian, Indo
nesian, and Dutch heritage— cele
brated the eighth anniversary o f its
independence from the Netherlands.
This is the third reported attempt
to overthrow the leftist government
since the 1980 coup by young army
officers overthrew the post-colonial
government.
Lt. Colonel Desi Bouterse said the
First attempt to overthrow his gov
ernment came on December 8, 1982.
The fifteen persons who were arrest
ed for participation in this attempt
were subsequently killed, reportedly
in an escape attempt. Bouterse later
said they had been plotting with the
C IA . At that time the U.S. and the
Netherlands cut o ff all aid to Suri
nam.
In M ay o f 1983, U .S. officials ad
mitted there had been a plan to
overthrow the Surinam government
but since it had been dropped fol
lowing Congressional objectives.
The purpose reportedly was, as in
the case o f Grenada, to eliminate
the possibility o f the U .S .S .R . or
Cuba using Surinam as a “ base.”
The second coup attempt took
place on January 30, 1983.
Following the invasion o f G ren
ada by the U.S. Bourlerse requested
that Cuban advisers and embassy
personnel leave the country to re
move the excuse for a similar inva
sion of Surinam.
The most recent coup attempt, on
November 29th, was reported to be
led by the Council for the I.ibcra
lion o f Surinam, a group of exiles in
the Netherlands, led by former pre
sident Henk Chin A. Sen. Sen served
as Prime Minister after the 1980 m il
itary coup but was ousted in 1982.
He moved first to the U.S. and then
to the Netherlands.
Greensboro civil rights suit maintains federal, state collusion-----------
The Greensboro C ivil Rights
Fund has received the endorsement
o f the Congressional Black Caucus
for the massive federal civil rights
suit brought by widows and survi
vors o f the November 3, 1979
Greensboro Massacre. Hearings on
the suit w ill begin in December.
The endorsement by the group of
21 Black Congressmen is added to a
list of more than 100 other support
ing groups and prominent indivi
duals. The American C ivil Liberties
Union, the National Council of
Churches. Operation P U S H , the
Presbyterian Church, the National
Lawyers G uild, entertainers Ed As
ner, H arry Belafonte and Pete Seeg-
er, are among the endorsers of the
Greensboro Civil Rights Suit.
That suit demands $48 million
real and punitive damages from
Klansmen, Nazis, officials o f the
Greensboro police. Bureau o f Alco
hol Tobacco and Firearms, F B I,
Justice Department and North C a
rolina Bureau o f Investigation. The
88 defendants are charged with vio
lating and conspiring to violate the
civil rights o f Communist Workers
Party labor organizers and commu
nity activists who were killed and in
jured at an anti-Kian demonstration
in Greensboro, North Carolina on
November 3, 1979. The suit claims
that local and federal officials used
their offices to violate the civil rights
of the demonstrators. They conspired
with Klansmen and Nazis in that at
tack, they unlaw fully arrested dem
onstrators, and they concealed and
manipulated evidence after the fact.
The claims are based on media re
ports, trial testimony and official
admissions that two agents partici
pated in planning and organization
by the Kian and Nazi groups. Kians-
m an/inform ant Edward Dawson re
cruited, organized, and led Klans
men while in the pay o f Greensboro
police and while reporting to the
F B I. Federal B A T F agent Bernard
Butkovich participated in key Nazi
planning meetings prior to Novem
ber 3 while working undercover with
them. Police, who had guaranteed
protection to the anti-Kian demon
strators, surveilled and followed the
attackers that morning but did noth
ing to stop the shootings. Not coin
cidentally, according to the suit,
C W P labor organizers who were
murdered had been under FBI inves
tigation the week before they were
killed.
On December 3 lawyers for the
Civil Rights Fund will enter federal
district court in Durham. North C a
rolina, to argue against motions to
dismiss the suit filed by the federal
Justice Department, the State of
North Carolina, and the City of
Greensboro.
The government previously suc
cessfully stopped the discovery
(court supervised investigation) pro
cess in the suit, which C ivil Rights
Fund lawyers project will ultimately
reveal the full extent and character
o f the multi-agency involvement in
■
the murders.
Among its arguments for dismiss
ing the suit, the Justice Department
claims that federal officials with
knowledge of an impending crime
have not duty to stop the crime or
warn the victims. M oreover, accord
ing to the Justice Department, fed
eral officials are not subject to suit
under the civil rights laws.
Lawyers for the Greensboro Civil
Rights Fund believe that the Decern
ber 3 hearing will result in the denial
of the government's motions to dis
miss the case. According to Wash
ington-based attorney Dan Shee
han, "H avin g reviewed the grounds
set forth by the Justice Department
in support of the demand that the
Civil Rights Suit be dismissed, and
being aware o f the solid reputation
o f Judge Frank Mchridgc as a com
petent and well-informed jurist, we
are confident that the motions to
dismiss will be readily denied by the
court. Therefore, we will stand
ready to accept the guidance of the
court in proceeding with the civil
discovery in this case in the manner
which is most compatible with die
effective prosecution o f the federal
criminal indictment and with any
additional criminal investigation of
government activities which may be
undertaken by.a special prosecutor
being considered by the Court of
Appeals in W ashington."
In January the criminal trial of
nine Klansmen and Nazis will begin
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