Page 2, Portland Observer, October 1, 1987
Letters to the Editor
flA O Ä
COALITION ON
SOUTHERN AFRICA
f
C o a litio n
on
S o u th
A fric a
Form ed
Formation of the Coalition on Southern Africa (COSA) was announced
today by a group of prominent Black and other religious and educational
leaders. The Coalition's purpose is to provide an independent base of pri
vate support for South Africa's majority population and to help foster a
democratic, non racial post apartheid society.
Bishop Richard L. Fisher, President of the Coalition and presiding
Bishop of the 11th Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Zion
Church, said, "The plight of the Black South African worker has been dis
regarded in public debate about what to do to end apartheid. While that
fight to end apartheid must continue, we must not lose sight of our concern
for the victims. The struggle against apartheid will continue and it will suc
ceed but we must not be complacent about lives damaged in the pro
cess."
"The Coalition is not a replacement for the Sullivan Principles,”
Fisher emphasized, " but rather an anti-apartheid mechanism which recog
nizes the inevitability of change."
"W hen this Coalition was in the formative stage, we envisioned sup
porting Reverend Sullivan’s efforts in South Africa. There can be no denial
that he personally fostered tremendous improvements in the opportunities
for Black South Africans and for dramatic changes in health, housing, and
education for the majority population," Fisher said.
Fisher said the members of the Coalition represent religious consti
tuencies numbering more than seven million.
The Reverend Dr. W. Clyde Williams, former president of Miles
College in Birmingham, Alabama and executive secretary of the Christian
Methodist Episcopal Church, is on loan to the Coalition where he will serve
as General Secretary. Williams said he envisaged COSA as a pivotal point
around which groups having immediate concern for the majority population
in South Africa could coalesce. He sees the Coalition as a vehicle whereby
genuinely concerned Americans can direct their efforts not simply at
demonstrations but also by preparing Black South Africans for the time
when they will have to exercise the tasks of political and economic leader
ship.
Williams said that as a participant in a recent fact-finding team of Black
college presidents who visited South Africa und the auspices of the State
Department, "we believe, as a group, that more must be done, that greater
opportunities for management experience and training must be provided for
Black South Africans if they are to be prepared for their responsibility in
the post-apartheid era."
Williams said, "after extensive meetings and discussions with Black
South Africans, we committed ourselves to seeing that we would not be
just one more fact-finding group which went to South Africa and returned
to the U.S. to deliver rhetoric. We committed ourselves to take action,
and this Coalition is a result of that commitment ."
In a recent meeting with the Coalition, Bishop Harold Senatle, pre
siding Bishop of the 18th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Church
in South Africa and a member of the Coalition's initial Board of Directors,
said, "This is the first time someone asked us, the people who suffer under
apartheid, what it is w e would like institutions, such as churches, founda
tions, corporations or universities, to do in South Africa. It is easy to say
that Black South Africans would rather suffer when you are 12,000 miles
away than when you are on the spot."
According to Bishop Fisher, funds for the Coalition will be raised from
educational institutions, corporations, foundations and private individuals
who share the Coalition's objectives.
"A s part of its work," Fisher added, "the Coalition will try to influence
the policies of the South African government to end apartheid and to en
courage companies, churches and foundations working in South Africa to
do the same."
The Coalition has been chartered as a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization
in the District of Columbia and is empowered to accept funds from virtually
any source to pursue its aims.
Letters to th e Editor
M a ke Up Y o u r M in d
To the Editor:
I am compelled to write this letter . . . Senator Packwood, you have
recently announced that you will vote against the placement of Judge Bork
on the Supreme Court . . . that you will participate in a filibuster to block
his placement on the Supreme Court. All because of protection of privacy
rights which center on the murder of unborn babies . . . yes . . . murder.
In a recent letter read to the Columbia County Republican Central
Committee you write . . . "There is no question as to the qualifications of
Judge Bork . . ." Then, what decides?
You an many other people have become so complacent in this world
today and have lost your sense of moral foundation. Where does it all stop?
For someone's convenience, no matter what the situation is, an unborn
baby is murdered. No one likes to think about it that way, but that is
exactly what abortion is.
I am not a person that has always thought this way. I know all the
arguements in favor. There seems to prevail, in society today, a schizo
phrenic mood. We fly deformed newborn babies many miles to perform
remarkable operations to save their lives knowing that the results will pro
bably be far less than perfect. How unpredictable we are . . . we debate the
pros and cons of abortion and euthanasia.
In 1776, Thomas Jefferson said, "W e hold these truths to be self-
evident. That all men are created equal, they are endowed with certain
unalienable rights; among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happi
ness." Now, Senator Packwood, think about the baby's right to life. Think
about the baby's right to all these things.
Our souls are immortal and like it or not, you and I will be conscious
beings throughout all eternity.
I ask you and all others . . . would you murder a newborn baby? If not,
would you do it a minute before it was born, or a minute before that, or a
minute before that, or a minute before that? At what minute can you or any
one else consider life to be worthless and the next minute so precious?
The life principle in the Hippocratic Oath has been abandoned by
many. Not all, but many in the medical profession have seen fit to the inter
ruption of unborn life in the womb and to the painless extermination of a
waning life much as the veterinarian would put an ailing dog or cat to sleep.
Unless we get our ethics and moral values straightened out imme
diately
we will have a death selection committee that decides whether
you will live or die. Who knows? . . . among their criteria for elimination
may be senators from Oregon.
Sympathetically,
Anita A. Clawson
St. Helens, Oregon
MONEY M A N A G EM EN T
A weekly column on personal finance distributed by
the Oregon Society of Certified Public Accountants
R e c o rd k e e p in g 101
Suppose, for some reason, you needed to know how much you paid
to have your kitchen remodeled. Are you the type of person who could
walk to the right closet, open the box marked "1984" and pull the contract
out of the envelope marked "Home Improvements"? Or, would you find
yourself first rummaging through the unmarked files in your desk, then
checking in the box where you stuff paid bills, before finally remembering
that you were using the contract as a bookmark in the murder mystery you
never finished?
Keeping good records doesn't have to be time consuming and you
don't have to save every check you ever wrote "just in case." The Oregon
Society for CPAs says the key to efficient recordkeeping is knowing what to
keep, where to keep it and for how long. The following is a summary of
some of the important areas of recordkeeping.
FAMILY PERSONAL RECORDS: Including birth certificates, mar
riage certificates, divorce papers and separation agreements, citizenship or
naturalization papers, passports, social security cards and military service
records. These items should be kept indefinitely
INSURANCE POLICIES: Including life disability, mortgage, auto
mobile, homeowners or tenant insurance policies. It's a good idea to hold
on to policies for a few years after thay are cancelled in case you have to
prove your coverage in the event a delayed claim is filed against you.
TAX RECORDS: Not only the tax returns themselves, but supporting
documents must also be retained. Under normal circumstances, the Inter
nal Revenue Service can go back three yeras for auditing purposes. But the
IRS has six years to challenge a return if they have reason to believe that a
taxpayer has failed to report more than 25 percent of the income stated on
the return. CPAs advise you to keep records for six years, including all
documents that support tax deductions or are related to your tax return,
including cancelled checkb
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PORTLAND OBSERVER
Th« Portland ()b \e r\e r was established in 19 A)
u sF S « a » « ft
« trtr PvNu»'*« Co /or
Over the last days of August, a massive dry lightning storm caused
about 600 fires in the critically dry forests of the southern Cascade range.
By September 5, there were 14 fires of 3,000 acres or larger.
As of this writing, most of the devastating forest fires in southern Ore
gon are under control. The fires blackened over 63,000 acres of forests in
Douglas, Jackson and Josephine Counties, and cost the State of Oregon
an estimated 12 million dollars for costs on lands under its protection. At
one point, about 1,300 homes in those counties were threatened by spread
ing flames, and over $317 million in standing timber was destroyed.
These were the worst serial fires in Oregon history, and required un
precedented numbers of firefighters. Large fires in California had drawn off
air tankers and other needed reinforcements. It soom became clear that
the initial Oregon state and federal firefighting crews needed help. When
Oregon and regional crews were all committed, crews from Alaska and
many other states were flown to Oregon.
With virtually no advanced notice, over 1200 members of the Oregon
Army and Air National Guard were called upon to perform emergency
duties on behalf of the citizens of this state. This represented the largest
callup in Oregon in many years. Guard members transported firefighters
to and from the fire and worked on fire lines.
In my two trips to the fire camps I had the opportunity to personally
thank many of the firefighters. I discovered that the National Guard troops
were the "home team". The fire mobilization efforts at its peak also in
cluded civilian fire crews from nearly a dozen states, and international con
tingent of fire crews from two Canadian provinces, and 650 regular army
troops from Fort Ord, California.
These men and women worked under extremely adverse conditions in
isolated and rugged terrain. They not only had to keep (at least!) one step
ahead of rapidly spreading flames, they had to contend with heat, fatigue
and even poison oak.
Through the State Fire Marshal invoking the Conflagration Act, 44
structural fire engines from city and rural fire departments outside of south
west Oregon were sent to the fires. The Department of Forestry arranged
for three air tankers from Canada to be used on Oregon fires, plus 54 trained
supervisors from British Columbia Forest Service and Alberta Forest
Service.
The Oregon State Department of Forestry and the USDA Forest Ser
vice organized a highly coordinated, multi-agency fire control organization
at Roseburg to direct operations.
At Salem, the Oregon Unified Coordination Group was established for
the second time in two years. This group includes five federal agencies
and four state agencies to help get resources to the fires.
And the Federal Emergency Management Agency took prompt action
in providing an estimated five million dollars in federal funds to help fight
the fires.
We will be holding meetings in the affected areas to further assess fire
damage and to critique our performance.
Oregonians can be proud of the hard work and dedication of every
one involved in this massive effort to preserve human life, homes, and
much of our valuable timberland.
INVESTMENT AND BANK RECORDS: Including stock and bond
certificates, buy and sell orders, statements, cancelled checks and the like.
Again, any of these items that support income, expenses or deductions on
your income tax return should be retained for six years to be on the safe
side. Other bank statements and cancelled checks should be kept for a year
or until you are sure you won't need them to prove that you've paid a bill.
RECORDS OF DEBTS: Including first and second mortgages, equity,
personal and auto loan agreements. Keep a record of paid-off loans for a
number of years as proof of payment.
PROPERTY RECORDS: Including deeds, title papers and surveys.
Property records should be kept indefinitely. You should keep the title of
ownership for your car, boat or other property for six years after you sell it.
HOME IMPROVEMENTS: Keep records, receipts or contracts for
the cost of all home improvements. These costs increase your home's cost
basis and can reduce the capital gains tax when you sell.
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS AND RETIREMENT PLANS: Booklets ex
plaining medical coverage and other benefits, and records on pension and
profit-sharing plans should be kept as long as you have benefits due.
FAMILY HEALTH RECORDS: Includes immunization information,
dates and details of operations and hospitalizations. This information
should be kept indefinitely and your children's records should be given to
them when they are grown.
WILL: You should have your lawyer keep the original of your will,
while you keep a copy at home. Clearly indicate on the copy where the
original may be found. If you should make a new will, be sure the old one
and all copies are destroyed.
By now you're probably wondering just where you're going to put all
these papers. Papers that are very valuable or difficult to replace, such as
birth and marriage certificates, property deeds and titles, and stock and
bond certificates belong in a safe deposit box.
A safe deposit box is, without question, the most secure place to keep
important papers and small valuables. Most banks rent safe deposit boxes
ftn an annual basis and if used to store income producing property, such as
bonds or stock certificates, the rental fees may pro' te you with a tax deduc
tion. It's a good idea to make a list of the content, of your box and keep it
at home along with copies of the documents in you box.
Portland Observer
•• M M *
In many states, a safe deposit box is sealed upon the death of the
owner. If this is the case, don't put your will or life insurance policy in your
safe deposit box. To check on the law in your state, ask your banker
or attorney.
If, for some reason, you cannot rent a safe deposit box, a fireproof
strongbox is probably the next best thing. Be sure to purchase a box that
is fire resistant.
The papers you keep at home can be divided between current records
and inactive records. A filing cabinet, inexpensive cardboard file box or
accordion file would work fine as a storage vehicle for current documents.
This is the place you keep recently paid bills, bank statements, insurance
policies, credit card information and the like.
An inactive file can hold older papers, such as old insurance policies,
back tax returns and cancelled bank books that are seldom referred to.
You can label this box with its contents and store it away on a shelf some
where.
CPAs advise that if you would like more information on recordkeeping,
the Consumer Information Center stocks a free pamphlet,
Keeping
Family/Household Records." For your copy, send to Consumer Informa
tion Center, Dept. 199K, Pueblo, CO 81009.
Looking for a CPA in your community? Call the Oregon Society of
Certified Public Accountants at 1-800-255-1470 (Oregon toll-free) or 641-
7200 (Portland Metro).
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