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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 13, 1985)
Mrs France» Schoan-Neaspaper Rooai U n iv e rs ity of Oregon Library t.ugene, Oregon 97403 »K G.0 . P. problems Minerals and you Page 4 Page9 ’< a K PORTLAND OBSERVER Volume XV, Number 20 March 13, 1985 25c Copy Two Sections U t H M ft OBO « 6 twr 7‘uAritAiag Co /ec i Arson-set fires plague Tubman School by l.anita Duke Sen Che. 7 years old, operates one of the classroom computers with Instructions from computer coordi- nator Allan Grinnell while Demeka william« R years old. looks on during Open House at Vernon School. (Photo- Richard J. Brown) arrested in Swan Island dispute by Robert Lothian Eighteen persons were arrested on Swan Island Feb. 28th and 29th as they protested the non-union practices o f two out-of-state contractors. As about 100 demonstrators looked on, some of those present parked cars across N. Lagoon Ave., blocking ealy morning access to the job site and tying up traffic back to Interstate 5. Their cars were towed. Unemployed members o f local unions who organized themselves into the Fair Jobs Committee sponsored the protests. They targeted Brown and Root. Inc., o f Houston. Texas, and Daniel International C orp., of Greenville, South Carolina. Both companies have contracted with A t lantic Richfield Company to build Alaska oil drilling site modules and other equipment. The contracts are worth between $30 and $40 million. Brown and Root has hired bet wen 3<X) and 400 workers and Daniel Interna tional plans to hire 700. The Fair Jobs Committee contends that the two companies are taking advantage o f Portland's poor eco nomic situation to pay wages that are about 40 percent below union scale, coupled with drastically reduced bene fits. Committee members allege that many o f the cars in the companies’ parking lots have out-of-state plates. Workers from other states are taking jobs and tax money away from Ore gon, they say. “ It ’s our livelihood, they’re taking our jobs," said Richard Crabtree, an unemployed steamfittcr and chair person o f the committee. Crabtree said the unionists’ work is seasonal. “ I f we work nine months, then we've got to make enough to last all year," he said. " I f they cut us 40 percent, then we can't live." The Fair Jobs Committee includes unemployed union ironworkers, steamfitters, electricians, welders, laborers, painters and others. Some have seen only about five months’ work in the last five years, according to Crabtree. Committee members have lost cars, houses, even wives and families to economic hard times," he said. The situation could end with Ore gon becoming a right to work stale, like southern states and now Idaho, said Crabtree. “ W hy else would they come in here and do all this work non union when they do it union elsewhere up and down the coast?," he added Both companies and the Oregon chapter of the Associated General Con tractors have defended the companies’ right to conduct their business as open shop contractors. The companies say also that they are hiring 90 percent of their employees from the local area. Crabtree said the Fair Jobs Com mittee has picketed A R C O stations around Portland. They wanted to have a parade with cars, he said, but their permit was turned down. He said individuals would continue to picket on Swan Island. "W e wanted to get their attention and we d id ." he said. “ W e'll follow it up with something or other, maybe not so spectacular." 42 lawsuits filed to reach top by Lam ia Duke G R A S S R O O T N EW S, N .W . — A commitment to one’s culture and the strength acquired when standing up for fairness is the foundation for suc cess, according to four women in a political forum at the sixth annual International W om en’s Day Festival. Penny Harrington, Chief o f Police; Patricia Ray, Federal Labor Con tract Specialist; Iris Bell, Forest Serv ice Program Manager, and Lina Sea bold, M B E Specialist for Tri-M et, shared with a 50-person audience their insight and experiences relating to their career climbs. Harrington, the first woman Police Chief in a major metropolitan area, said she chose police work as a ca reer because o f the challenge o f the profession. But she found it equally challenging breaking down promo tional barriers which discriminated against women. “ When I started at the police force, a woman had to have a college degree while a man had to have a G .E .D . Women were allowed to work in only one department and we could not lake the promotional exam,” she said. Her biggest barrier was the con straints incorporated in die dvil service system. At one time the weight and height requirement excluded all wo men. “ When I finally took a pro motional exam, the civil service board asked me very personal questions and inquired what my husband thought o f my job and promotion. That is when I became angry,” she added Harrington said she filed 42 com plaints o f sexual discrimination against the Portland Police. The stress from this challenge caused her to take a leave of absence. "But I never regretted any o f it. I have a hell o f a lot o f re spect and empathy for minorities now. I understand how they feel and I plan to bring this understanding to the departm ent," Harrington con cluded. V As an M B E specialist for T ri-M et, Seabold said her position afforded her the power and influence to increase the number o f women and people of color in non-traditional careers. Bell said her pace for success was set from her expeiences as a student in the dvil rights movement. " I learned to maintain my integrity. When I go out and fight I know what I ’m talking about, because I ’m prepared." Ray’s responsibility is to enforce federal Equal Opportunity and A f firmative Action statutes. "W hen I go out and visit companies, I understand all too clearly that we need these laws,” Ray added. All participants agreed that (he ex isting d vil rights laws were adequate to mount an offensive against any type o f (liscrimination — sex, race or sexual preference. “ I t ’s not easy, but it’s worth it. There will never be an other season o f silence,” Harrington noted. G RASSR O O T N EW S, N .W . — Disaster struck Harriet Tubman M id dle School in threes earlier this week as a two-alarm arson fire Sunday afternoon devastated a new wing of the renovated building still under con struction at 2231 N. Flint. At 12:50 the next day, a rumor started that a bomb was placed on campus at Tubm an’s current site and the school was promptly evacuated. At 2:50 an arsonist struck again and a curtain in ihe school’s auditorium was ablaze, and the school’s stereo sys tem was destroyed. Damage is esti mated at $1,400. Currently, a 14-year- old student has been arrested for set ting the curtain fire. Herman Washington, Tubm an’s principal, said things are now begin ning to settle. “ We will still open our new site in time for the new school year Instead o f construction being completed in the first week o f June, it will be completed in the first week of July." Ironically, a sprinkler system was scheduled for installation this week. “ A sprinkler system would have slopped Sunday's fire," said Donald Mayer, Fire Bureau’s Public Info r mation Officer. Mayer estimated the damage at $2(X),(XX) “ We can tell how it was started, but we cannot say who or whom. Sometimes investigations can drag on for years or a couple of weeks." Washington said the site had been vandalized before and prior to the fire on Sunday paint cans had been over turned and fiberboard broken. " I can’t see any reason for it,” added Washington. Matt Lockett, Chief o f Police for the Portland Public School, said a student rumor mill created the bomb scare on Monday. "Kids told then teacher that a ’guy’ outside had placed a bomb in the school and it was to go o ff at 1:00. But our officers investi gated and found it was a situation of he said/she said." Harriet Tubman Middle School is the inner city's only middle school due to the unbalance created by the schixil district's previous administration who systematically eliminated upper grades from grade schools located in the Black community. The new wing of Tubman Middle School suffered severe damage in Sunday's arson set fire. (Photo: Richard J. Brown) 2-parent welfare rule opposed "Oregon’s public assistance laws currently force unemployed families to split up in order to meet life’s ne cessities," says Rev. Gary Vaughan Rev. Vaughan is the director o f the Burnside area’s Operation Night- watch ministry and the Sunnyside United Methodist Church’s emergen cy family shelter in Portland. “ Every week 1 see husbands and wives who are living on the streets or in emergen cy shelters with their children rather than separate as a family to allow one parent to obtain aid for the children,” states Vaughan. On Tuesday, March 12, the Oregon Senate Human Resources Committee held a hearing on SB 350 which pro vides for reinstatement o f public as sistance for 2 parent unemployed families. Rev Vaughan and other representatives of the (oalition to Keep Oregon Families Together testified at the proceeding in support o f SB 350. Aid to Dependent Children (A D C ) is a joint federal-state welfare pro gram which provides living expenses and medical care for very poor fam ilies on the basis o f needs. States may provide public assistance for single- parent households only, or for 2- parent unemployed families ( A IX - U N ) and single parent households Be fore 1979 Oregon participated in both programs, but in that year Oregon discontinued funding for public as sistance for 2-parent unemployed families. Despite cuts in federal pro grams, the federal government has maintained matching funds for public- assistance for 2-parent unemployed families as part of the federal safety net Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia now receive federal matching funds to partiepate in the A IX .-U N program. After terminating its program in 1981 and experiencing the devastating results on families, the state of Washington reinstated its program in 1983. "W ith the federal government paying an increased 61.54 percent of the program costs (previously 58®/o), we estimate Oregon’s costs to be $18.75 million for the biennium in general funds with a federal match of $28.5 million,” reports Doug Rogers, Director of Snow -CAP emergency services in Portland and chairperson of the Coalition to Keep Oregon Fam ilies Together Rogers notes that ap plying a conservative economic m ul tiplier of 2, the federal infusion would represent an additional $57 million to the stale’s economy. “ Behond the positive economic impact, the restor ation of Oregon’s A D C -U N program will lighten the tremendous burden on families experiencing extreme finan cial difficulties," says Rogers League of W om en Voters sponsors school board forum The League of Women Voters will sponsor a candidates forum for the upcoming School Board election on Tuesday, March 19, 1985, 7 00 p.m ., at Cleveland High School. There are 17 candidates for the Nos. I, 2 and 3 positions All 17 candidates have been asked to take part in the forum. Each candidate will be given an opportunity for a brief opening state ment. Once all the statements are presented, a question and answer pe riod will follow. Further information may be had by calling the League office. 228-1675. Anti sales tax forcaa held a pancake breakfast fundraiser on Sunday. Addressing the crowd are (l-r) John Raher. Senator Ed Fedley. Ruaa Farrell. Senator Jan Wyers. Representative Dave McTeegue. Senator Dick Springer and Bart Dehner. (Photo Richard J Brown) . ‘ , '
