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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1984)
Wrs France» Sehoen-Î.'ewgpaper Roo« U n iv e rs ity o f Oregon L ib ra ry Oregon 97403 Sales tax election halted Jazmín Hypothermia marches on danger Page 3 Page 7 PORTWND OBSERVER Volume XIV, Number 15 February 1, 1984 25C Per Copy • InrFUàkbwC», Ms /•* State, feds continue controversial certification The continued certification of Hopping Construction Company as a minority business enterprise by the State o f Oregon Depat tment of Transportion (O D O T ) and the fed eral government’s on again off-agin approval o f that certification have raised more questions than Ihey have answered. Why has O IX ) T continued m i nority certification of Hopsing when the State o f Washington, the City o f Portland, and T ri-M e t, using the same evidence, have de nied or cancelled certification? W hy has the 01X 11 allow ed 44 percent o f the minority share of fed eral highway funds to go to one mi nority business, especially when the minority status o f that company is questionable? The purpose o f minority set- asides or goals is to aid disadvan taged minority businesses to become viable and competitive. Has the goal been observed when both Christo pher Scarratt, minority member o f the Hopsing corporation, and his sponsor, R .A . Hatch o f Hatch Con struction— admit Hopsing probably would not survive without Hatch’’-*' Hatch heavy equipment readies for Benfield project work. (Photo: Richard J. Brown) aid— bonding, line of credit, linan cial oversight, etc? How does R .A . Hatch Corpora* lion's use of Hopsing as its minority subcontractor enhance Hatch’s bid ding success as comparable to his competitors who use independent minority subcontractors? Why did the Federal Highway Administration reverse its decision on Hopsing, overriding the recom mendation of its own Regional Civil Rights Officer? Where do the political trails lead hi the state and federal administra tions and in the private sector? Has there been criminal misuse of federal funds or collusion or con spiracy among Slate officials and- or employees? These are a few o f the questions that should be answered by the Fed eral Highway Administration’s re sponse to- 1 abor-M inority Business I m erprisc Coalition, which has a s k e d the O ffice of Civil Rights of that agency to use its emergency powers to require State decertifica tion of Hopsing The Coalition has asked F H W A to: a) order O D O T to decertify Hopsing; b) determine if R .A . Hatch Construction should be placed on the federal ineligible list; c) recommend that the Oregon L a bor Commission determine if Hatch should be placed on Oregon’s ineli- gible list; d) recommend that the In spector General review any possible improprieties by State officials; e) recommend that the Governor o f Oregon appoint an independent commission to review O D O T and its certification procedures. I f the State docs not accept these recommenda tions, the Coalition said, federal highway money should be withheld from the State. The question about Hopsing Con struction’s minority status is not new. The company was established as a corporation in 1975. R .A . Hatch told a State "Blue Ribbon" com mittee established to investigate the company's status: “ Il was a require ment at that time that we promote minority businesses. And so we put Hopsing Construction Company into business and the name— the way (he name Hopsing came about was every body— that was Chris’ (Scarratt) nickname amongst our crews. Kind of, I guess, after the guy on Bonanza. "W e ll, I don't remember if he came to me, or we talked Probably the way the thing got started is we probably were sitting in a bar some place and figured it out on a cocktail napkin. At the time we were having a hard lime trying to meet our re quirements—our contractural re quirements— with the government on those contracts. It was a mess." Scarratt was employed by R .A . Hatch as a cement finisher and was distantly related to him by marriage. Scarratt continued to work for R .A . Hatch, usually as a foreman, until 1979. Hopsing was originally incorpor (Please turn to page 6 column !) Police complaints still cause concern _______ by Robert Lothian The Police Internal Investigations Auditing Committee considered I? complaints in 1983, its first year. Eight of those complaints were from Blacks. Eleven o f the complaints had to do with excessive force or rude con duct on the part o f the police, and o f those two appeared to lead to some action taken by the comm it tee. Others "fe ll outside the statu tory time lim it," no full hearing was recommended, or were scheduled for hearings later. The committee made nine recom mendations for changes in the police internal investigations process. The police bureau is now considering the committee's recommendation that all complaints alleging excessive force with verified medical evidence be classified as important cases for the Police Bureau's Internal Investi gations Division to consider. They also recommende that the officer’s complaint history be checked, and if a similar complaint has been filed previously against that officer, that fact be noted. Other recommenda tions dealt with prompt investiga tion o f complaints by the Police Bureau, and the right o f complain ants to appeal decisions o f the Inter nal Investigations Division. When someone has a problem with the way they’ve been treated by the police, they first seek recourse through the Police Bureau's Intern al Investigations Division. That di vision might rule that the officer in question was guilty o f using exces sive force or o f other misconduct, or if they could rule (hat the complaint was not a complaint at all. Before the formation o f the A u d iting Committee, complainants had no choice but to put up with I I I ) ru l ings. Now they can appeal to the Auditing Committee, which investi gates and can make recommenda tions for changes to the City C oun cil and the Police Bureau. Commissioner Charles Jordan, chairman of the City Council side of the committee, has charged that the police have not been as responsive as they should to the Auditing Com mittee. He has suggested that there may be a need for a Review Board which has wider authority than the Auditing Committee. Outgoing chairwoman o f the citizen’s side of the Auditing Committee, Annette I John, has also suggested that the Police are dragging their feet in re sponding to the committee’s recom mendations. The committee has not looked into allegations surrounding the so called ‘ ‘dirty 30” group o f police ol fleers, a small group within the de partment who allegedly receive an inordinate number of complaints "W e haven't checked that out. as tu ally ," said John. "W e haven’t gone through the officer complaint cards to see if some officers are get ting more complaints,” she said The committee has considered such action, she said, but hasn't decided because it may overstep the commit tee’s authority. The Internal Audit Committee's job is to monitor the police internal investigations pro cess and not to seek discipline for in dividual officers, she said. "W e can't ask for discipline. This com mittee does not have the power to discipline officers the assumption behind that is that it’s really a Bu reau management problem ." “ The police fear has been that we’re a kangaroo co u rt," she said. " I think to some degree, it's real im portant that we don't do th a t." Jolm, who was a Portland Police O fficer herself for three and a-half years until 1979, and who teaches criminology at PSU, PCC and the Oregon Police Academy while working toward a P h.D . in C rim in ology. was recently replaced by the Rev. John Garhngton as head of the citizens Audit Committee She said another concern of the committee has been that when a citi zen makes a complaint to the Police Bureau, the Bureau runs a computer check on that person. "W e thought (Please turn to page 4 column 4 ) Maurice Ramoa, 10. Nembi Booker. 6. and Tiwsnns Mooton. 0. learn Black Hlatory the fun way with the help of program designer Kamau Andaraon at the African American Cultural Festival apon •orad by the Black Educational Canter (Photo: Richard J Brown) Africa: Famine and politics prove an explosive combination by A M Babu Pacific News Service Many governments are likely to fall as Africa endures a catastrophic food crisis this year, because people are convinced that bad leadership and misguided economic policies are to blame. •* Adding fire to the criticism this time will be the Islamic revival sweeping large parts of the con tinent. There is no question about the gravity o f the situation. A persistent drought has engulfed most o f A f rica, especially the south and east, for more than three years. This year famine or acute malnutrition will a f fect an estaimated ISO million people unless there is an immediate, dramatic change in the food supply Dismal economic conditions will make the damage worse. For one thing, in most countries the trans port system has deteriorated bad ly— roads are impassable, vehicles don’t run for lack o f spare parts, parts are unobtainable for lack of foreign exchange— making food dis tribution nearly impossible. These difficulties, combined with corrupt and inefficient bureaucra cies, mean the situation could equal the horrors o f the early 1970s, which led to general political instability in the Sahel. As early as last summer, a W orld Food Council report said the situa tion “ threatens the survival o f some African nations. It undermines their economic, social and political sys tems and causes great human suffer ing." In the months since then there have been several coups and at tempted coups which can be linked to the worsening economic situation and food crisis. • In Nigeria, a military coup toppled the three-month civilian government. Nigeria, Africa's mosi populous country, is relatively pros perous, and its attempt to restore civilian rule and its multi-party de mocracy had been a source o f hope to those African countries currently dominated by the military or one party • In September, young army o ffi cers in Upper Volta took over from older pro-French jackboots in a bloodless coup— and immediately declared their objective was to pro duce food and repair the nearly ( a l tered economy. •T h e first week of 1984 brought vicious riots protesting food price hikes in Tunis, long a model of a stable and strongly pro-Western country. President Bourguiba was forced to cancel the price rise. A close look at these incidents re veals important elements in the cur rent situation. For example, Nigeria faced a fate which other countries have already suffered. The country was trying to honor conditions set by the Interna tional Monetary Fund, the IM F . In practice, this means enriching the rich at the exjsense of the poor. IM F-m andated price increases raise the cost o f living for the poor, which only creates conditions for social explosions. These, in turn, lead to ruthless military dictator ships o f the kind seen in the Philip pines, Thailand and Zaire. In Tunis, the charsmatic Bour guiba has dominated the political arena lor nearly 30 years— but he lost his mesmerizing power over the people as soon as he raised food prices, abiding by IM F conditions. These stories also hint at another, newer factor. For example, the coup leaders in Upper Volta were report edly supporters of Libyan leader Kadafy and his strong Islamic revi val tendency. In Tunis, a year ago, Bourguiba ordered several Muslim fundamen talists arrested for "anti-govern ment activities." These leaders were among those seeking to introduce new social codes in conformance with Islamic precepts— inspired by the Iranian revolution— and they now take credit for inspiring the food riots. This story can be repeated all over Afirca— a bad economic situation mixed with a return to some basic anti-Western beliefs. Another cause of discontent is that many people still remember the 1960s when Africa was self-suffi cient in food, and agriculture was growing. In the 1970s, however, production dropped significant ly The U .N . Food an Agriculture Organization (F A O ) and the W orld Bank bear a large portion o f the blame for this. For instance, it was the W orld Bnak, with F A O assistance, which emphasized growing cash crops— making it easier to get credits for planting tea or coffee rather than rice or wheat or maize. F A O "exp erts"— agronomists or specialists in some related f i e l d - have no overall view o f the role agri culture plays in a national economy. Their advice tends to be one-sided (Please turn topage 4 column I )
