Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, May 01, 1985, Page 3, Image 3

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    Portland Observai, May 1, 1906, Page 3
METROPOLITAN
Minit Market success
by Robert Lothian
Raphael “ R ay" Peterson and his
wife Barbara have operated Barb's
Stop-a-Minit Market Wor one year,
but in that short time their store has
caused a comeback fo r the corner o f
Killmgsworth and Williams.
The store was a tavern before they
moved in. Another tavern across the
street is also closed. But when the
taverns were open, the corner was a
prime hangout for drug pushers and
users, prostitutes and other nefarious
people.
"Y o u couldn't drive by here with­
out getting flagged d o w n ," said Peter­
son, who lives in the neighborhood.
“ I used to have a lot o f people
trying to come in here to buy weed,"
fo r a short time after the store
opened," he said.
But the drug-trade and related
problems have gone elsewhere, and
the only people hanging out on the
corner now are those waiting for the
b u s," said Peterson.
They couldn't get a liquor license
at first, though, because o f the cor­
ner's reputation.
"T h e y said no one would ever get
a liquor license on this corner again,
so we just got some pop and candy
and some chips and we proved to
them that we could run a store here
without any problem s."
Barb's oilers a unique food item —
“ chib f r it « " — unavailable at any other
store in Portland It's com chips smoth-
ered m homemade chib, a recipe Peter­
son brought with him from Los Ange­
les, where he grew up
A caned wcxxlen box on the counter
o lio s single cigarettes for It) cents each
“ I haven't seen that since 1 was a k id ,"
said a customer
1‘cterson sax! business has improved
ora,tils He has been gradually able to
expand the inventory from pop and
chips to beer and wine, canned goods
and household items.
He started out selling ice cream. Pet-
a v in 's five ice cream wagons were
known fo r their soul music. "T hey
used to come out dancing to the
tru c k ." he said.
One o f his brothers took over the
ice cream business when Peterson
Business took o ff once they got
the license, he said.
Things were really hopping at the
store on a recent Saturday morning.
“ Are you complaining about my
he asked one customer.
prices
“ T h a t'll be 57 cents Ainencan money."
“ Where’s your hubby at?," he asked
another. "A re you having coffee or
beer today?”
branched out to open his first store on
W illiams near Going.
W ith what he was able to save
with the ice cream business and his
first store, he opened Barb's. Il s a
much better location, he said. "There's
more foot tra ffic on Killmgsworth
than on almost any other street in
the area."
His first store sponsored a women's
softball team, and that’s how he met
his future wife, Barbara She played
left field on the team.
"T h e comm unity supports the
store," said Barbara. " I like it be­
cause it’ s something Ray and I pul
together w ith almost nothing and now
it’ s doing pretty good.”
Their plans include an expansion
into the vacant storefront next door,
where they’ ll have meat and fresh
fruit and vegetables. " I still see us
climbing u p ." said Barbara Peterson.
Announcing
wide area paging coverage
without
the wide area price.
Raphael Ray" Peterson dispenses food at his Stop A-Minit Markst
on the corner of Killlngsworth and Williams
(Photo: Richard J. B ro w n )
Witnesses' accounts delivered to authorities
by Lanita Duke
GRASSROOT NEWS, N .W . —
The attorney for Tony Stevenson's
fam ily hand-delivered findings from
their prclim inaryh investigation in ­
volving at least six witnesses to Police
Chief Penny Harrington and Mayor
Bud Clark.
On the night o f Tony’ s death (A p ril
20, 1985) he walked lo th e 7-11. While
he was there an alleged shoplifter
was apprehended. When the shop­
lifter ittempted to escape and was en­
gaged in a struggle with one of the
store clerks outside the store, Tony
began to maintain crowd control. He
kept members o f the crowd, both
Black and white, from intervening in
a potentially dangerous situation,
according to Tom Stevenson, the
hold was administered to him which,
according to the coroner's report,
resulted in his death."
Among the discrepancies between
the o fficial police version and eye­
witness accounts arc the telephone
calls to the police and the racial con­
frontation which drew in the gas sta­
tion attendants. Sources close to
Grassrool News said the 7-11 clerks
detained the shoplifter for .15-45 m in ­
utes inside the store. " I l was a long
time before police came. They (police)
said they were undergoing a shill
change."
Apparently, there were tw o calls
made to the police: one from inside
the store and the other from the gas
station attendant. Gur sources said
the attendant called the police and
said an armed robbery was in progress
fam ily’ s attorney. "W h ile Tony was
calming the crowd an attendant from
a nearby gas station became upset
with Tony for some reason. Eventual
ly, the police arrived and took the
alleged shoplifter into custody
“ By the time the police officers
arrived, a verbal exchange between
Tony and the service station attendant
was taking place. When Tony was
approached by the police officers,
both Tony and the witnesses at the
scene made every attempt to explain
Tony’s role in the incident and to
identify Tony. These efforts were
ignored by the officers.
"T o n y was then assaulted by sever­
al police officers and taken to the
ground. The eyewitnesses indicated
that at no time did Tony resist or
strike an officer. During this time a
and he was going to get his ’45.'
Sgt Jay Decker, the police bureau’s
Public Inform ation O fficer, the
Stevenson’s attorney, and the shop-
lit ter — Joe Nelson — have refused
to discuss the case until the public-
inquest But before we went to press,
we learned the stolen item sparking
the resulting tragedy was a bottle
o f wine.
ing;
(3) You may also want to talk per­
sonally w ith Bob Goldstein about
the incident with M r Henry.
Following are excerpts from the
letter from Calvin Henry io Katz:
" I am writing you about the action
o f M r. Bob Goldstein. It is my under
standing that M r. Goldstein is an em­
ployee o f the Oregon l egislative As­
sembly who works for State Repre­
sentative Ron M cCarty. This indi­
vidual publicly insulted me with his
loud racist remarks on A p ril 18, 1985
in the C apitol Coffee Shop during
my lunch hour.
“ On A p ril 18, 1985, while I was
having lunch with Ms. Pat Welter,
M r. Goldstein came to our table and
interrupted us with his loud remarks.
I did not see him coming to the ta­
ble. He slated. “ Calvin, what are
you doing in the white section. This is
not the Black section. I guess that we
can let you eat in the white sec­
tio n .” His comments were unwar­
ranted and the Capitol Coffee Shop
was not the proper place for me to re­
spond to M r Goldstein’s remarks.
“ It was not enough for M r. G old­
stein to insult me in the Capitol C o f­
fee Shop; he told M r. James Hoy,
who shines shoes in the Capitol, about
his insulting and racist remarks that
he made to me in the Coffee Shop.
Also he tried to insult me again as I
was going back to work in the O ffice
o f the Secretary o f State. M r. Hoy
and one o f the Governor’ s security
guards heard his comments and ob­
served his behavior.
" I feel that no person. Black or
white, should be subjected to such
racist remarks and actions as com m it­
ted by M r. Goldstein in the State
Capitol Building His actions were, in
my opinion, clear violations o f ORS
166.065, ORS 166.155 and ORS
166.165. No Legislative or State Em­
ployee has a right to publicly insult or
Lloyd Stevenson Fund
FR E E D O M News lournals continuing
investigation of the IRS has uncovered what
appears to be a nationwide pattern of uncon­
stitutional activities on the part of this agency,
as reported to FR E E D O M by current and
form er employees of the IRS across the coun­
try In recent months, hundreds of responses
to FREEDOM'S request for information have
been received, not only from IRS employees
but also from American taxpayers who have
been harassed and had their constitutional
rights violated by this agency
Information which has been reported by
1R E E D O M has included
• IRS employees are often compelled to
make a certain number of seizures of taxpayer
property within a specified period of time 01
face adverse consequences fro m IR S
management:
• A day care center in Detroit was raided by
seven IRS agents, and JOchildren were held as
hostages in guarded rooms while the agents
pressured parents to pay money to the IRS
which should have gone to the day care
center,
• Millions of law-abiding American taxpay
ers are on discriminatory and harassive IRS
hit lists, " according to former agents Exam
pies given to F R E E D O M have included lists of
members of certain religions and lists of peo­
ple employed by direct sales companies such as
Avon, Shaklee and Amway,
• In 19t>9, the IRS created a "national office
task force to act as an intelligence gathering
operation for the purpose of investigating
and establishing files on "Ideological O rg a n i­
zations " The chairman of this task force was
to work in liaison with the Assistant Attorney
General, Internal Security Division, D epart­
ment of lustice, to coordinate matters with
regard to the targeted organizations Docu­
ments received by FR E E D O M indicate that
NE Neighborhood
Coalition to meet
The Northeast C oalition o f Neigh
borhoods, Inc., and the 10 Inner
Northeast Neighborhood Associa­
tions _ Boise, Concordia, Eliot,
Hum boldt, King. Irvington, Pied
mont, Vernon, Sabin and W ood­
lawn — w ill hold a Neighborhood
Potluck on Sunday, May 5, 1985, at
Peninsula Park, beginning at 1:30
citizens o f Inner Northeast arc
to attend the potluck and get to
their neighbors and meet people
other neighborhood associa­
tions.
For further inform ation please
contact the Northeast Neighborhood
O ffice at 248-4575 or Mrs. Opal
Strong, chairperson, Neighborhcxxl
Potluck Committee, at 283-3250.
We would like to announce the creation o f a trust fu n d to aid the fa m ily o f
and fith e r, but o f a hard-working bread winner as well. Those who wish to
help with any amount, big or small, should make checks payable to: Lloyd
1413 N Borendo Street, Los Angeles, C A 90027
Stevenson Trust Fund, c /o Urban League. 10 N . Russell. Portland. Oregon
________ •••..
97227.
'1
,
similar task forces may be in operation today,
• Some IRS management personnel are
generally more concerned with their bonuses,
received by forcing their employees to meet
unrealistic ally high quotas, than they are with
honest treatment of taxpayers,
• I he IRS direc ted its agents to go on what
one former agent desc ribed as fishing expedi
lions," auditing the books of such businesses
as furriers, |ewelers, antique shops, travel
agencies and interior decorators to locate
names of customers to be targeted for
investigation
FRf I.IX 1 M , the independent |ournal pub
lished by the Church of Sc lentology*, is inter
ested in in te r v ie w in g a n y o n e w ith
information on illegal and discriminatory IRS
polic les and prac tices, or evidence of harassive
and threatening measures taken by the- IRS
against taxpayers F R E E D O M is particularly
interested in interviewing current or former
IRS employees whohave worked in theC rimi
nal Investigation Division or who have knowl
edge of so called
Special Task Forces
concerning specifically targeted groups
The constitutional rights and basic free
doms of the citizens of the United States are
being threatened and, in some cases, de­
stroyed by this government agenc y Reform is
clearly needed, and F R E E D O M can plav a
ma|or part in bringing this about by reporting
specific abuses to the public By making this
information broadly known, action can be­
taken to make the IRS an agency that truly
services the people of this country
If you have knowledge of unconstitutional
acts or violations of the law committed by the
IRS against taxpayers, groups or even IRS
employees, and you feel it is time for these
acts to be exposed, and our tax system o ver­
hauled and turned into an equitable one,
contac t
FI^ED O I
enson ‘s death leaves h a fa m ily with not only the terrible loss o f a husband
..
A n sim isi m in i
CURRENT A N D FORMER EMPLOYEES
AN D AMERICAN CITIZENS
W HO KNOW OF ILLEGAL ACTIONS
ON THE PART OF THE IRS
Lloyd Stevenson. who died fro m a police choke hold. A p ril 20. 1985. M r. Stev­
-A v
RAM Broadcasting of Oregon, Inc . 713 S W 12th Avenue
I R S
harass a Black citizen o f Oregon in a
public building because o f the citizen's
race Such actions should be immedi­
ate grounds for dismissal from stale
employment. Because o f this, I re­
quest that you and Senate President
John Kitzhaber take appropriate ac­
tions to prevent such racial incidents
from occurring in the State Capitol
B u ilding."
Calvin O. L. Henrv
p.m.
A ll
urged
know
from
9 9 R -1 5 0 7
TO
Katz advised of racist remarks to Calvin Henry
Margaret L. Carter. State Repre­
sentative, District 18; Jim H ill, State
Representative, District 31, and Bill
McCoy, State Senator, District 8.
have requested the Honorable Vera
Katz, Speaker o f the Oregon House
o f Representatives, to consider the
following recommendation:
(1) Legislative staff be notified that
racial harassment shall not be toler­
ated:
(2) Capitol Security be instructed to
remove any person that may be abu­
sive to sta ff or visitors in the b u ild ­
The paging people who have always brought von
selection and service now bring you one of the
widest coverage areas in Portland
Plus one big advantage Our compelItors charge
you for "extended coverage " RAM Includes It as
standard bill of fare.
Premium coverage without a premium price
Because at RAM. we believe your pager Is only as
good as the area It reaches
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(213) 663-2058
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