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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1984)
Portlanderwins gold medal N a ’ im H asan, a P ortlan d resi d ent, competed in the 4th Pan American Taekwon Do Champion ships this past weekend in S u ri name, South America. Eighteen countries were sched uled to attend the c o m p etitio n , hut for unknown reasons several did not appear. T ue U .S . m en’ s and women's teams were well represent ed in their respective divisions. The m en’s team secured six G o ld , one Silver and two Bronze medals, while the six-member USA women’s team Ura Francea Schoen-Newspaper Roca U n iv e r sity o f Oregwi Library tubane, Oregon 97403 captured six Gold medals. N a ’ im Hasan represented the USA National Taekwon Do team in the heavyweight division. He com bined his technical skills and mental prowess to defeat the Surinamese and Jamaican heavyweights to cap ture the Gold medal, becoming the 4th Pan A m erican T aekw on Do champion. N a ’ im was sponsored by busi nesses in the com m unity and the Portland Observer Congratulations for a job well done, N a’im! Ethics of Baby Fae Campaign * Vandals , Page 7 Page 2 Volume XV, Number 4 November 21, 1984 25c Copy Two Sections I tM P u H i'h in g C a . /« M Black students face frequent suspension by Lonita Duke Thia year's recipients of the Jefferson High School Howard Cherry A w ard for outstanding young athletes are (l-r) Freeman Tong, men's soc- cer, Melissa Hendricks, women's soccer. Tanna Goff, women's volleyball and Donald Newcomb, football. (Photo: Richard J. Brown) Emotions ruled 1984 voters bv Lanita Duke G R A S S R O O T N E W S , N .W . — Ronnie Herndon, a man with a rep utation for telling it like it is, told it like it was — Election '84 — to an attentive audience o f students, sup porters and the curious at Portland State University, November 15. Unshaken by another four years o f the Reagan A d m in is tra tio n , H erndon said a look at the total election picture dispelled the notion of a conservative landslide engulfing the nation. “ Reagan received only 31 percent o f the vote. That is not a mandate!” RON HERNDON (Photo: Richard J. Brown) He pointed to the passage o f the C itizen U tility Board and the nu clear waste limitation as examples of progressive issues surviving in 1984. “ The defeat o f M o n dale was inevitable given the rules in the Democratic P a rty ," Herndon said, explaining that the 20 percent threshold — where candidates have to reach it or no delegates — sets a foundation where only party leaders can pick the candidate. “ G ary H a rt and Jesse Jackson won 70 percent o f the votes in the primary states.” Herndon also asked rhetorically. “ In his own party Mondale did not win the popular vo le, so how did they expect him to win the popular vote during the general election?” He questioned M o n d a le ’ s S ou thern strategy as being “ historical ly incorrect, since white voters in the South always went Republican since 1952. The theory, with Bert Lance, blew up in their faces.” Herndon said Mondale failed to take Reagan on with tough issues such as equality, re-distribution of incomes, unbalanced tax policies and full employment. "T h e white youth vote went with Reagan because M ondale failed to offer a vision. Talking about ’Star W ars' is not going to get i t , ” he added. Herndon said the press acted as if they “ discovered w a te r” when they reported that Blacks were vot ing Democratic and whites were at tracted to the Republican Party. “ W hat shakes them up is that Blacks are behind a progressive movement led by Jesse Jackson, no first use o f nuclear weapons, jobs and defense cuts. People are now waking up and voting with issues.” On the local level, Herndon called a sales lax "regressive — the poor pay more.” He added, "Something is wrong with an income tax struc ture when those m aking over $13,000 a year pay the same as those making two m illion.” Herndon said in Election 84 peo ple voted w ith em otion and mis inform ation. “ The passage of the death penalty is a way people feel they can strike back. How ever, states where it's already on the books experience an increase in the homicide rate.” Herndon challenged the students to create a new value system that, "insures no child or adult goes to bed hungry. Create a society with decent health care, education and jobs. You should learn from your mistakes and gather strength from your victories.” He pointed to victories in the local election o f grassroot candi dates such as H erb C aw thorne, M argaret C arter and Bud C la rk . H erndon added that he believed Gladys McCoy lost because she lost touch with the community, failed to establish a base and did not address problems. He also called the exclusion o f A fric a in P ortlan d State's In te r national Studies program “ short sighted and colonial in thinking.” “ The world is shrinking. We need to teach students to respect and value other people’s cultures." G R A S S R O O T N E W S , N .W . — Black children in the Portland Pub lic Schools are more than twice as likely to be suspended than their white counterparts. This statement is based on the Management Inform ation Services’ suspension report fo r 1983-84. White student enrollment is 36,199 and their suspension rate is 3.04 percent. Black student enrollment is 7,283 and their suspension rate is 7.22 percent. Black students' suspension rate is down slightly from the 1982-83 year (7 .8 2 ) and the P ortlan d Public Schools' suspension rate is lower than the national average (9.8 per cent). However, in Portland, a dis proportion exists and Carolyn Shel don. coordinator o f student serv ices, called this disproportion “ distressing.” __She added that the circulation of a students' handbook on rights, re sponsibilities and discipline. " W ill ensure we have inform ation out as to what our expectations are. By providing a clear guideline, stu dents w ill know what is lik e ly to happen if they com m it an in fra c tion.” The handbook reviews various levels o f disciplinary action from taking a student out o f the class room to expulsion fo r the entire semester. However, Dr. Junious Williams, the district's discipline consultant, made this observation in A p r il, 1984: “ The new student handbook will not take care of the suspension and expulsion. . . We can expect an increase as adm inistrators and teachers figure out how to use it.” Karen Powell, Educational P ro gram Director for American Friends Service Committee, represents par ents and students in discipline hear ings. She said Black children are judged more harshly by teachers and administrators. “ Some teachers cannot handle language differences. The kids will say something forcibly and teachers become afraid,” she added. Ronnie Herndon, co-chair o f the Black United Front, led the fight to alleviate the disproportion facing Black students in special education, lower achievement levels and disci pline. He complemented P ow ell’s reasoning. “ Black students are judged with a d iffe re n t yardstick. You have individuals making deci sions about discipline who are un aware or not trained in how to work with Black children.” Herndon said the chief desegre gation consultant, Asa H illiard, be lieves that the majority of discipline problems are the result of poor in struction. “ When teacher expecta tion rises, discipline problems de crease.” According to the district's analy sis o f students suspended by cause and ethnic group, the greatest cause of suspension among white students was “ unacceptable individual be h a v io r,” follow ed by "b e h a v io r with other students.” Among Black students, the greatest cause o f sus pensions was “ behavior with other students" followed by “ behavior with staff." The Early Childhood Educational Centers leading Black student sus pension are Vernon with 33, Irving ton with 11 and Boise with 7. D r. Betsy Geddes, principal at Vernon, called herself a “ discipli narian.” “ Each child has a right to learn. Those who choose to break the rules must suffer the conse quences. The emphasis is on a posi tive approach — removal, re-entry with a contract signed by the stu dent." The suspension rate for M idd le School Whitaker with 47, Tubman with 39 and Ocklcy Green with 27. Herman Washington, principal of Tubman, said the suspension rates recorded were not reflective o f the situation because o f in-house sus pensions — where students are de tained in "time-out rooms" — data was not collected. W ashington said he has never agreed with in-house suspension. "Staying at school and not working does not make sense to me.” Black students' suspension rate for high schools are 81 for Jeffer son. 43 for M adison arid 28 for Grant. The Desegregation M o n ito rin g Advisory Committee recommended (hat the district's discipline policy be consistent in terminology, proced ure and action. “ The development o f a building's discipline plan should continue. The plan should be m andatory and require a specific plan to address a high priority disci pline problem.” Pow ell said there is a two-step process to lower the discipline dis proportion. "Teachers and admin istrators should apply rules fairly and parents, along w ith the com m unity, need to be more visible in school." H erndon agrees. “ I f you get a notice saying your child has been suspended, it’s too late." Army holds Central America style exercises in Oregon by Robert Lothian Three hundred and fifty troops from the U .S . A rm y ’ s 2nd b a tta l ion, 9th in fa n try , stationed at Fort O rd , C a lifo rn ia , practiced mountaineering at Oregon's Saddle M ountain Stale Park near Seaside from November 10- 18. A t least one P ortland television station, K O IN , in its news broadcast o f Novem ber 14. said the troops were there because steep volcanic terrain at Saddle M ountain resem bles sim ilar terrain in C entral America. The maneuvers came at a time of stepped-up U.S. military ac tiv ity after the scare over the So viet M IG s allegedly being unloaded at a Nicaraguan port, said the K O IN reporter. Lt. Fred Burmester, acting logis tics o ffic e r for the b attalio n , said the training included mountain clim bing and rapelling. “ It has nothing to do with C entral A m er ica,” he said. Training also included "m ilita ry operations in urban te rra in " at Camp Rilea on the Oregon coast, said Burmester. This involved prac ticing entry techniques, setting up defenses and knocking down walls in a simulated village at the camp; live blanks and smoke bombs were used, he said. The park remained open to the public during the maneuvers. FOCUS O N EN ER G Y: Free energy audits for homeowners The Oil Heat Institute of Oregon, in conjunction with the Oregon De partm ent o f Energy, offers free energy audits to homeowners and renters who heat with oil, propane, butane and kerosene. Homeowners who heat with wood are also eligible for the program, but must contact their electric u tility to schedule an energy a u d it. The audit qualifies homeowners to apply for a 6 H % loan or 50% cash rebate for wea therization items recommended in the energy audit. To arrange for a free home energy audit the homeowner must contact the O il Heat In stitu te by calling 231-7071 (P o rtla n d ) or 1-800- 452-8660 (Statewide) and request an energy audit. A t the time o f the audit the cus tomer will receive a lenders list des ignating the banks that are offering the low interest loans. The customer must then take a copy o f the audit, along with contractor bids, to the bank and arrange for the 6 !6 % fi nancing. There are no income guide lines fo r the low cost financing. Customers are responsible for hiring their own weatherization contrac tors, or may do the w ork them- selveds. For low income households, homeowners may apply for a 50/50 cash rebate wherein the gov ernment will pay for half of the cost of weatherization, up to $1,218 for a single family dwelling. At the time o f the audit the customer w ill be given a State Home Oil Weatheriza tion (S H O W ) a p p lic a tio n , to be completed and returned to the Ore gon Departm ent o f Energy. Once the D OE approves the application the homeowner may have the wea therization work completed and re ceive the 50% cash rebate. Please note: A ll customers must have the free energy audit complet ed before any of the weatherization .- »• a • ’ • ■ Ip work is done. O nly those items showing cost effective on the energy audit will be considered for financ ing a n d /o r the 50% cash rebate. The financing and rebate are not retroactive. A lax credit o f 15% o f the first $2,000 spent on weatherization is available to customers who do not use the low interest financing an d / or the 50% rebate. For more infor mation on tax credits, contact the Internal Revenue Service. For fu rth e r in fo rm a tio n please contact the O il Heat In stitu te o f Oregon by calling 231-7071 or I 800-452-8660 (toll-free).
