P»ae 4, Portland Otaorvw, May 29,1986
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Stevenson inquest "contract”
by Jerry Garner
The recent decision by a M ultno
mah County Grand Jury not to prose
cute any o f the four policemen in
volved in the death o f Lloyd D. Stev
enson was the result o f contracting
between the District Attorney's office
and the police bureau. “ Contracting"
is the negotiation o f an agreement for
the exchange o f performance in the
future. Police departments often
contract with prosecutors to forego
prosecution o f police misconduct in
exchange for a supply o f police inves
tigative resources to be used at the dis
cretion o f the prosecutor.
In the past, Michael Schrunk,
Multnomah County District A tto r
ney. has proven his reluctance to in
dict police on criminal charges. When
he was forced to file charges against
officers involved in criminal behav
iors, he chose to proceed on less than
the highest charge supported by the
evidence For example, in 1981, a
criminal spree by officers of the Spe
cial Investigation Division (S ID ) re
sulted in 59 drug cases being pardoned
and the City o f Portland paying thou
sands o f dollars to individuals who
were damaged as a result o f those
criminal acts. Schrunk declined to
indict any o f the officers involved in
the scandal Instead o f indicting the
officers or presenting the evidence to
a Grand Jury, Schrunk gave the o ffi
cers immunity from the State prosecu
tion. According to Schrunk, this was
necessary in order to obtain inform a
tion from the officers to obtain the
pardon o f the 59 cases by Governor
Vic Atiyeh. Schrunk claimed that
without cooperation o f the suspected
officers, his office would be unable to
discover all cases infected by the S ID
officers' criminal acts. Not only did
Schrunk give the officers Slate im
munity his next move was to seek
federal immunity for the officers.
Schrunk asked U.S. Attorney Sid
ney Lerak to request federal immun
ity for the officers. Each officer re
ceived federal immunity. One o f the
officers involved in the scandal, Neil
Gearheari, was paid $37,466 on a
claim for disability from the City.
Gcarheart claimed that he suffered
psychological problems from the
death o f his lormer partner, David
Crowther. Crowther was killed when
he was involved in a raid on the O u t
sider Motorcycle Club which Gear-
heart had lied under oath to obtain a
search warrant for. The officers had
gong to the club house to plant drugs.
The lack o f action on Schrunk's
part to press for indictments o f the o f
ficers in the S ID episodes was the be
ginning
o f contracting
between
Schrunk's office and the police. The
case o f Lloyd D. Stevenson was a
classic example o f contracting. His
torically, when Blacks were killed by
the police, prosecution seldom oc
curred. This is due to racism and con
tracting. There was more than suf-
ficiant evidence in the Stevenson case
to warrant a Grand Jury indictment.
However, the reason why an indict
ment was not handed down by the
Grand Jury was due to Schrunk's
office lack o f pursuit for one. Michael
Schrunk preferred to keep his con
tract with the police rather than to
bring to justice the officers responsi
ble for the homicide of Lloyd D.
Stevenson.
Israel-CIA alliance probed
By Robert Lothian
Israel does some o f the dirty work
the U.S. is unwilling to do and does
it better, according to an expert on
Israeli foreign policy who spoke in
Portland recently.
Jane Hunter, founder and editor o f
the research journal, Israeli Foreign
Affairs, addressed a meeting spon
sored by the General Union o f Pales
tinian Students and the Palestine Soli
darity Committee.
Hunter was introduced as “ a pro
gressive Jewish woman from Berke
ley." Her research exposes Israel's
support o f repressive regimes in A fri
ca, Central America and the Middle
East.
Supporting counter-insurgency op
erations conducted by these regimes
with intelligence, advisers and military
hardware. "Israel runs things b aler
than the C IA ,” according to Hunter.
The direct and brutal military so
lutions o f the "Israeli model” are
more appealing to armies in South
Africa, El Salvador and Guatemala
than U.S. m ahods, which are p a -
caved as having failed in V ian am ,
she said
While pursuing its own ends, name
ly to make a lot o f money from selling
arms (Israel's main industry), Israel
also acts as a spearhead of U.S. pol
icy. In return, the U.S. props up
Israel’s problem-ridden economy,
H u n ta said.
Israeli military assistance to South
Africa adds up to about $1 billion
annually, according to Hunter. " A lot
o f it is for continuing ap arthad,” she
said.
A recent article in Israeli Foreign
Affairs states, "Israel has passed on
to South Africa all the relevant — i.e.,
everything bearing on the African N a
tional Congress and other indigenous
opponents of the apartheid regime as
well as South Africa's neighbors —
information gathered from its con
nections in African capitals and from
its infiltration of and actions against
the Palestine Liberation Organiza
tion.”
Another article states that the
South African Army named an exer
cise in Namibia “ Iron Fist" — the
name used by the Israelis for recent
military opaations in Southan Leba
non. Israel supported South A frica’s
1975 invasion of Angola, and its in
cursions into Rhodesia, Mozambique
and Namibia, according to H u n ta .
Israeli is also extending its influ-
atce to Zaire, Liberia, Togo, Sierra
leone and Nigeria. Zaire’s leader,
Mobutu, "the most corrupt man in
A frica," according to Hunter, has
long had close ties to Israel and the
C IA , she said.
In Central America, Israel and Nic
aragua's Somoza dictatorship had a
cozy relationship dating to the 30s.
When Anastasio Somoza couldn't get
help anywhere else in his last days, it
was Israel that pulled through with
vast amounts of armaments fix his
blixtdy last stand, said Hunter.
" I'ja d is now oo tfvc brink ol taking
over the contras,” she said. Israel’s
support o f the contras already in
cludes uniforms, weapons and ad
visers, she said, but the support could
mushroom with the recent U.S. aid
cutoff.
Israel has been the main supplia of
weapons to Guatemala since the U.S.
cut o ff military aid under C a rta , in
cluding the weapons used to massacre
Indians in the highlands "Com puter
ized death squads" have been sa up
with Israeli help and model villages
said to resemble kitbuttz’ are really
concentration camps, she said.
The Guatemalan and El Salva
doran armies are adopting techniques
perfected by the Israelis in their war
against Palestinians, and Israeli in
volvement in Central America holds
out the prospect of the kind of mas
sive violence there that characterized
the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, ac
cording to Hunter.
Hunter said her aim is to generate
international criticism of Israeli policy
and build pressure in Congress to cut
U.S. support for Israel.
"The U .S., ai least theoretically,
could make Israel stop doing these
things,” she said.
It's an uphill battle, she said, be
cause a strong Israeli lobby extends
into the executive branch and dictates
U.S. Mid-East policy. The Israeli
lobby also keeps critical information
out o f the media, she said.
Black infant death rate high
Along the C olor Line by D r. M anning M arable
Nothing is more painful than the
death o f a child. The loss of an infant
creates an unhealable wound for
the parents and their families. Black
America knows this pain all too well.
Four years ago, the Federal gov-
anm ent declared that it would enact
measures to reduce the death rales of
Black infants to 12 per I,(XX) live
births by 1990, close to the current
white infant mortality rale of 10.1.
This spring. Secretary of Health and
Human Services Margaret Heckler
admitted that it was highly "doubt-
ful” that this goal would be reached.
In 1982, the Black infant mortality
rate stixxl at 19.6 per I,(XX), and any
optimism about lowering this figure
to 13 to 14 for each I.(MIO by 1990
is at best slim.
In an international context, ihe
high infant mortality rate among
Afro-Americans seems difficult to ex
plain. According io "Health United
Slates, 1984," a publication of the
National (e n te r for Health Statis
tics, many nations "have considerably
lower infant mortality rates than the
United Stales.” Japan, Sweden, and
France all have "rates less than 10
deaths for each I,(XX) liv e births "
About 40,(XX) U. S in fa n ts die in the
first 12 months' of life ech year And
6 8 percent o f all U.S. babies, plus
12 4 percent of Black infants, are
born at "low weight," under 5
pounds, 6 ounces.
Research in this field has acceler
ated in recent years, l ast month, the
The Observer welcomes letters to
the editor. Letters should be typed
or neatly printed and signed with the
au th o r's nam e an d address fa d
dresses are not published) We re
serve the right to edit f o r length M ail
to: P o rtla n d O bserver. P. O . Box
3137, Portland. OR V72OH
To the Editor,
Another “ sister city?” IX) you real
ly believe it will not eventually cost
you anything? T h a i’s like ihe old
story about “ special" taxes that were
going to be dropped lata, and “ la ta ”
never came.
Darrell Briden was basically ig
nored because everyone was enjoying
themselves, bubbling with their own
good and expansive feelings. After
all. what could it hurt, helping these
poor
people?
The
communists
wouldn't think of using our school
supplies to leach their brand o f “ de
mocracy."
What about Oregon’s poor? What
about Oregon's prison education sys
Portland Observer
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MEMBER
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Subacnpnona I I S 00 par year mi the Tn County area Poat
m a tta r Sand addraaa changea to the Portland (H u m e r . P O
Boa 3137. Portland. Oregon 97208
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288 0033
N a tio n a l A d v e rtle in g R ap ra a a n ta tiv a
A m a lg a m a te d Publlahara Inc
N a w York
tem, where some outside help might
help cut your tax dollar — and save
some young adult from the prison/
welfare cycle What about Burnside
and N .E. Portland, where people beg
for help, and Find little or none from
"h elpfu l" organizations.
Mildred Schwab is right in using
the word "circus.” Before it fell,
Rome lived on circuses. No one seems
to read history, anymore.
Not a handout, but a hand-up!
W ALTER SU TTO N
Writer objects
to deleted word
To the Editor,
A "letter to the editor" written by
me appeared in the May 22 Observer,
concerning my opinions o f the Stev
enson case. In the First sentence of
the second paragraph, the word
"m urder" was deleted from my later
and “ death” substituted. I object
v a y much to this altering o f my letter.
J p ORTWND OBSEDER
• 15 for on« y««r
• 2 5 lor tw o y««rs
Bo« 3137 Portland OR 97Z11B
May»»»*
m t«M nb«d n 19/0
A lfre d L. Henderson. Editor/Publisher
AtaociaMort • fo un ded IM S
o«»‘ - ' » I .
<ea’ Twai
card to receive free care or hospitali-
zation. And in all but 14 stales, M ed
icaid doesn't pay for abortions.
European countries with lower teen
birthrates have extensive sex educa
non courses in their public schools
U.S. conservatives who shed crocodile
tears for Black infant deaths never
theless oppose sex and family instruc
tion in the classrooms as detrimental
to patriarchal values. Cold showas
and sexually repressive instruction will
neither halt the rise in out-of-wedlock
births — nor will they cut into the
infant mortality rates.
Pahaps the crudest dimension of
Reagamsm is its contempt for human
life. Conservatives will carry banners
and even bomb abortion clinics to
ensure the life o f a fetus, yet once a
child comes into the world, he/she is
left to survive by its wits. Cuts in
food
stamps,
Medicaid,
public-
housing, and the Women, Infants and
Children Program all have a destruc
tive effect upon the Black commun
ity. Permanently high unemployment
rales foster poor diets for many preg
nant women. We cannot begin to
make up for the thousands o f infants
who have died because o f the callous
disregard the political right has for
public health care. To reduce Black
infant mortality rates, political solu
tions are essential.
Dr. Manning M arable teaches po
litical sociology at Colgate University.
Hamilton, New York. "Along the
Color Line " appears in over let) news
papers internationally.
Letters to the Editor^
City "circus”
**• MBi ».
National Institute o f Child Health
and Human Development awarded
Howard University a grant of $2.5
million to hold a 5 year study on
Black infant mortality. In the District
o f Columbia, Black rates are higher
than the national Black average —
about 21.2 per 1,000 as o f 1982. Ac
cording to Howard University pro
fessor Allan Johnson, the new study's
principal investigator, "high infant
mortality rates among Blacks" are
directly tied to "inadequate health
care, pixn diet and a high incidence of
adolescent pregnancy.” P ixx pre
natal diets and health habits may also
have an impact on “ the intellectual
development” o f Black children.
Some conservatives suggest that
one effective method in lowering in
fant mortality rates would be in
checking the rise o f teenage births.
Infant mortality rates are especially
high among young women below age
19, and as of 1983 nearly 10 percent
ot all U.S teenage females had babies
born out of wedlock. The conserva
tives suggest that a renaissance of
orthixlox family values, patriarchy,
and sexual ignorance would cut teen
promiscuity, and hence reduce in
fants' deaths.
This thesis misses the point at many
levels Teenage birth rales are high, in
part, because o f repressive govern
ment legislation which discriminates
against Blacks and low income peo
ple If a teenager from a family on
Medicaid becomes pregnant, she
must present her fam ily’s Medicaid
I
I
The purpose o f a "letter to the
editor" section is for readers to sub
mit their opinions on current topics
that they would like the rest o f the
readership to consida, and I thank
you for printing my letter. The l a t a
I submitted, though, contained the
word "m urder” purposefully, be
cause that is M Y opinion regarding
Lloyd Stevenson’s death. By substi
tuting "death" in my letta without
my pamission, you dramatically alt
ered the tone of my le tta . I do not
like words I did not write (and would
not have written) inserted in a l a t a
over my name, as if I said it.
I ask ather that you reprint my
later exactly as I submitted it, or
that you place in the soonest available
Observer editorial page an “ apology”
or "correction” box, explaining your
error, and what I really said. I feel
strongly as if my opinions have been
altered after they left my mouth,
and that is not right.
I ask that you contact me regarding
your progress in this m a n a . I hope
I will be able to engage your prompt
coopaation in this m a tta , to set
things right.
R O BER T H A N S E N
SLLLILP
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