Page 2, Portland Observer, January 8, 1986 Healthwatch EDITORIAL/OPINION by Steven Bailey N. D. Crime money should go to King & Eliot The City ol Portland recently received $104,000 in federal grant money from the U.S. Department o f Justice, Crim e Prevention Division. The p ur­ pose o f this grant is to provide aesthetic improve­ ments and crim e prevention measures in co m ­ munities with a high crime rate. This federal grant should be allocated to the King and E liot neighborhoods. A lthough many neighborhoods throughout the city have felt the impact o f the crime wave, none have been hit as hard as these com m unities. Both com m unities have experienced a high degree o f crime for years. Residential burglaries, prostitution, drug tra f­ ficking, and assaults occur regularly in the King and E lio t neighborhoods. M any ru n -d ow n b u ild in g s and houses in these neighborhoods p ro vid e a haven fo r p rostitutes and their customers, along w ith drug dealers and users. C h u rch p a rkin g lots arc even being used by prostitutes and drug dealers. I f this federal grant is allocated to the King and E lio t com m unities, it could be used to purchase lights for areas where crime is likely to occur and to secure vacated dwellings which w ill help deter acts o f assault and robbery. Other ways the grant could be applied is to install locks in homes that are easy targets for burglars; trash and tall weeds in vacant lots could be cleaned up; signs could be placed along Union Ave. warning “ Johns” (who usually reside outside the c o m m u n ity) that soliciting the services o f a prostitute is illegal and they run the risk o f being arrested. Decent citizens liv in g in the K ing and E lio t neighborhoods have repeatedly demonstrated they arc sincere in their efforts to eradicate crime fro m th e ir co m m u n ities. The K ing and E lio t Neighborhood Association, C rim e Prevention Committee along with other com m unity groups such as the Christian Women Against Crime have organized to light crime. On Oct. K last year, more than 130 residents marched in the rain along Alberta St. and Union Ave. protesting the problem o f drug dealing and p ro stitu tio n. The march was sponsored by the King and Eliot Neighborhood Association, Crime Prevention Committee. The Committee has also held num erous pickets on (he corner o f N .E . Alberta and Grand Ave., in an effort to stop drug dealing on that corner. Although the Committee’s e fforts haven’ t ceased the sale o f drugs on this comer, their work has resulted in a decrease in the number o f young Black males who openly sell drugs. Recently, more than 150 residents living in the King and Eliot areas voiced their frustrations at city and county officials during a panel discussion at the King Neighborhood Facility. The panel in­ cluded Portland’s Mayor Bud Clark; Multnomah C ounty C om m issioner Gretchen K a fo u ry ; Program C o o rdina tor Council fo r P rostitution Alternatives Susan Hunter; C om m unity Service M ultnom ah County Corrections Harley I.ieber; and M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty D is tric t A tto rn e y Michael Schrunk. The Crime Prevention Committee o f the Eliot and King Neighborhood Association should be congratulated fo r the ir e ffo rts . H ow ever, the Committee is aware o f the fact that their efforts to clean the streets o f crim inal activities is far from complete. For in order to eradicate crim e, the residents livin g in these com m unities need the resources and cooperation o f city officials. Toni W illia m s, an Executive Board member on the King Neighborhood Improvement Association, stated, “ For years city officials have been ignoring the problem o f crime in the King and Eliot com- muniites.” The new a d m in istra tio n can dem onstrate to residents living in the crime-prone neighborhoods that the city and the Police Bureau are concerned about crim e in their com m unities. This can be done by using the $104,(11) federal crime preven­ tion grant in the King and Eliot neighborhoods. Escalation in Nicaragua by John I am/>erti groups, and at least two of them have Recent new» dial U.S.-backed Con Iras shut down a Nicaraguan A rm y helicopter with a Soviet-made suriacc- to-air missile was coupled with adini nisi rat ion charges o f increased Cuban participation in Nicaragua's defense e ffo rts . T h e events and the charges indicate a new escalation o f the ugly war in Nicaragua— and a new round o f scare tactics to pressure Congress into stepping up the United Slates' role. A c co rd in g to U .S . governm ent sources Nicaragua's Army has about 700 o f those missiles, known as SA 7’s. In July 1984 a State Department official predicted ominously that SA- 7's would soon appeal in the hands of rebel forces in El S alvad o r, presum ably transferred fro m N icaragu a. I hat has not occurred, despite ad m in is tra tio n claim s o f a continuing llow of arms in that direc­ tion Ironically, the missiles have in ­ stead been obtained and used by Con­ tra forces. A spokesman told the /.os Angeles Zone that private co n tribu ­ tors in the United States piosidcd the money to buy them, and that retired U .S . A rm y G eneral John Singlaub arranged for the Contras to receive essential tra in in g in their use and maintenance. The State Department says that two o f the 14 people killed in the downed helicopter were Cubans, and calls this evidence o f a S o viet. C u b an and N icaraguan "can er in the re g io n .” W hether or not there actually were Cubans present, condemning foreign involvem ent in C e n tra l A m erican co n flicts is a strange line fo r our government to lake. U.S. pilots and ground personnel, w orking for the C IA or as mercenaries, have made num erous trips over and in to Nicaragua to supply and assist Contra died there. T h e C IA has mined Nicaragua's harbors and attacked its port facilities. In El Salvador's civil war, U.S. A ir fo rc e pilots regularly fly train ing and reconnaissance missions for the governm ent forces and sometimes fin d themselves in combat. I f "o u ts id e " (C u b an ) p ar­ ticipation hi Nicaragua's Contra war is so w ro ng , how can the U n ited States ju s tify its own deep and growing involvement? In ra tio n a lizin g its m ilita ry and econom ic cam paign against Nicaragua, the Reagan administration stands reason and justice on their (leads An impoverished little country o f barely three m illion people is pic­ tured as a threatening military giant. Nicaragua, many times in this century the victim o f U .S aggression, is ac­ cused of unprovoked hostility toward us. Nicaragua is constantly denoun­ ced for human rights shortcomings, although its record is far superior to that o f U.S. allies in the region such as Guatemala and El Salvador. Not least strange, terrorists and m urderers become, in President Reagan's words, "freedom fighters” and "th e moral equivalent of our founding fathers." It is consistent with this record that the current escalation o f the war by the Contras is presented by U .S . o f­ ficials as i f it w eie somehow a provocation on the part o f the government they seek to overthrow! This logic doesn’t w ork. The cam paign against Nicaragua, which the administration wants to expand, is a mistaken policy that hurts U .S . in ­ terests in many ways, f o r example, the U n ited States is increasingly at odds with its most im portant allies, none of whom support the U .S . em ­ bargo on trade w ith N icarag u a. Earlier this month a United Nations resolution calling for an end to the embargo passed by a vote of 84 to 4, only Israel, G a m b ia and G ren ada voted with the United States. The credibility o f the United States as a peaceful and law-abiding nation is eroding badly. O u r government's refusal to answer Nicaragua's charges in the W orld Court looks very much like an adm ission o f g u ilt. The damage these policies do to the role of law in international affairs may in the long run become one o f the greatest costs o f the a d m in is tra tio n 's an ti- Nicaraguan vendetta. Secretary o f State George Shultz was quoted as being "all fo r” Contra use o f the SA-7's against Nicaraguan government forces. " I hope that the United States might itself take " fu r ther steps" against Nicaragua This is shocking and sad. Escalating the war in C entral Am erica is not in the in ­ terest o f (he United States or any of the peoples in the region. Elsewhere in the world M r. Shultz sees things w ith d iffe re n t eyes. O n Dec. 11 he said that “ A country can­ not be expected to make a concession to those who resort to terrorism and who treat negotiations as only a way station on the road to its u ltim a te destruction." He was speaking at that tim e o f Is ra e l’ s policy to w a rd the Palestine Liberation Organization. It is unfixtunate that the Secretary does not see that these words accurately describe the position o f Nicaragua in relation to what, elsewhere, he would not hesitate to call external aggression. John la m p e rti is a professor at Dar- mouth Collette in Hanover. N H He is cu rren tly serving as a consultant w ith N A R M 1C. a research an d publication project o f the A merican Friends Service C o m m itte e in Philadelphia. PA. Portland Observer =~ ■ ■ ’ O ir ijin d w Publishers Asso, '.itiön ■ ™ The tS fila n d o t n r r w r lU S t S 988 8801 • putwstwri Ihursrtav by Law PulW«h«>g Company. Inc . 1483 N t KZbnga north Pontand Oregon >7211. Poa» Offtca Bor 3137. Portland. Oregon 97208 Second d a ta poetage paad al Portland. Oragon / 81 tba N v iltm d (M tsrrwr was aatahaabed n 1970 Subacraxona MEMBER 118 00 par year