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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 8, 1989)
t r a F ran cas Schosn-N ew rpaper Peon U n iv e rs ity o f Oregon L ib ra ry c V '.T. , Or on 97403 Portland, Oregon ERYER PO RTL JUNE 8,1989 VOLUME XIX NUMBER 22 CHAMPION STUDENT ATHLETE By Jimi Johnson Bobby Janisse Bobby Janisse, a junior at Jeffer son High School, is a gentleman in every sense of the word, a two-time state wrestling champion, Janisse also is an Academic all-American with a 3.7 cumulative G.P.A. Janisse credits his parents, Jer ome and Brenda Polk, as w'ell as his wrestling coaches, Roy Pittman and Donnie McPherson, for being posi tive influences in his life. “ My mom and dad are very supportive of my activities and have always given me encouragement to succeed in every thing that I do. Coach Pittman and Coach McPherson have been good friends, positive role models, and are people I can always talk to,” says Janisse. As a 45-lb. six-year old, Bobby Janisse got his first taste of wrestling at peninsula Park and has been in love with the sport and a member of the Peninsula Park Wrestling Team ever since. He says, “ wrestling has taught me dedication that has carried over into my personal life. It has taught me how to be a gentleman and has given me a lot of self-confi dence. In order to succeed in life, I need to apply the same dedication 1 have in wrestling to my academic en deavors,” adds Janisse. Janisse is currently assistant-coach ing young future wrestlers at Penin sula Park under the tutelage of Coach Pittman, along with fellow student wrestlers from Jefferson High School. In addition, he’s a mentor for middle school students at Portsmouth. Jan isse says "being a positive role model is very important in the African American community, and your ac tions speak for themselves. lt;sm ore than just talking to young people, it’s showing them through your own actions,” he adds. Loaded with school pride, Janisse says Jefferson High is a diverse and unique school I wouldn’t want to go to any other school.” Janisse’s 1988 and 1989 achieve ment include: 1988 Awards and Accomplishments « P .I.L . District Champion at 106 lbs. «•State Champion at 106 lbs. «•Multnomah Athletic Club Scholar athlete. «G reat Kids Award for TL.C-T.N.T. involvem ent «■Travelled to Austria and placed 8th in jr. World Championships. « P la ced 2nd in High School W res tling Howard Cherry Award. « T rip le Crown Winner (Collegiate, Freestyle, and Greco Roman Wres tling). «S portland Magazine Athlete of the Month. 189 Awards and Accomplish ments « P .I.L . District Champion at 119 lbs. « S ta te Champion at 119 lbs. «K A T U Athlete of the Month of January. «K B M S Radio Athlete of the Week. «Jefferson High School Image Award Recipient. «Inducted into National Honor So ciety. «S ch o lar Athlete Award Winner. «Jefferson High School Wrestling Howard Cherry Award. «O utstanding Wrestler in the Gold Coast Classic Tournament. «R ecipient of the Mayor’s Spirit of Portland Award for T.L.C.-T.N.T. involvement. «Qualified for High School National Championships in Iowa (July) «M em ber o f the Oregon Cultural Exchange Wrestling Team which will tour and compete in Japan in June. « 2 n d Runner-Up, KARU Athlete of the Year Award. PAYNE ELECTED CHAIR of COUNTY CITIZEN IN VOLVEMENT COMMITTEE Dennis Payne Dennis G. Payne was elected Chair of the 23 member Multnomah County Citizen Involvement Committee at the committee’s annual meeting May 18th. The Citizen Involvement Com mittee’s role is to insure that Multnomah County residents are in volved in the decision making proc esses of county government. Payne is Community Security Liaison for Tri-Met, coordinating all security related efforts and commu nity outreach programs. He was pre viously employed as Street Crime Prevention Organizer for the City of Portland and Crime Prevention S p t-; cialist for the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods. He is founder and president o f the Black Professional Network; a member of the City o f Portland’s Youth Gangs Task Force, the Cable Access Board of Directors, Ameri can Red Cross Human Resources Advisory Board, and Holladay (Lloyd Center) Business District Associa tion. He was nominated to the Citi zen Involvement Committee by the The Portland Observer Salutes Northeast Coalition of Neighborhood this positive role model as our Association. A resident of Northeast Portland, Champion Student Athlete of the Payne coaches a Peninsula Little Week. League team and is a Deacon of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church. Salem witch hunt moves ahead unabated Mrs. Freddye Webb-Pettet demonstrates professionalism and resilience by Stephen E. McPherson, stems from the fact that she has been against Mr. Waters. This is her first such a vocal advocate for the clients year in the legislature where she en Special correspondent tered long on zeal and short on expe she serves. For the past several months the rience. At the same time she repre sents an electorate long known for department of Adult Family Serv their conservative ways and inde ices has come under serious criticism pendent spirit. In some circles they from an Eastern block of Republican have been described as a cross be state legislators. They were concerned tween a hard nosed westerner and an about travel expenses and executive percs attributed to the managerial unreconstructed classical red neck staff. Beverly Clamo, the state repre southerner. It is little wonder that sentative from Bend recently wrotea she would fail to embrace any pro a letter to Governor Neil Goldschmidt gram which catered to indigents on in which she demanded that the the dole. In their zeal to extract reasonable management team be replaced. She reform out of an impossible system, was joined in this request by the detractors have made a very representatives Robert Pickard from unconstitutional blunder and as a re Bend, Raymond Baum from LaGrande sult their very legitimate questions and W illiam M arkham from end up looking like a specious ven Riddlc.They based their contentions Mrs. Freddye Wcbb-Pelict, the em battled state director of Adult Family Services, moved into her new offices and position in a demonstration of professional excellence for which she has been identified during her brief tenure in Salem. In her temporary position she will be interfacing with other educational and social agen cies with a view to formulating those new policies which will be consis tent with the recent federal reform legislation.During the interim cir cumstances surrounding her removal continue to foment serious concerns within the African American com munity. There is the feeling that signals coming out of the state capi on numerous letters from disgruntled tal suggest that a complete purge of current and ex-cmployccs.who launch Black executives from state govern a series of nebulous attacks on cer ment is in the offing Those persons tain person in particular and other in familiar with the situation point to general. Presumably the letter attack the fact not only have a number of emanated from a union dispute. managers been reshuffled in recent It is interesting to note that some months but some have actually been of the most vituperative comments removed from office. were launched against Thomas W a Colleagues who have worked with ters director of the Eastern Regional Mrs. Pcttct over the years contend office which covers the territory from that it is not her style to cave in under Idaho to California. Representative fire or to avoid a difficult tasks. They Clamo expressed displeasure with point to the fact that her stepping Mr. Thomas’ "expensive tastes and aside is a gesture of a supreme sacri peculiar management style.” In the fice so as to avoid jeopardizing cur mean time she has not focused on rent budget discussions now being any other governmental agency within considered for her department. As the state. proof of that contention they point It is easy to understand why Mrs. out that a good part of her problem Clarno would take such a hard stand detta. It is quite obvious that the intended target is the governor, him self. One cannot deny the fact that he has earned much of the criticism focused on the executive dcpartmcnt.In leveling such attacks which address serious flaws in gov ernment. the critics have compro mised due process by setting them selves up as judge, jury and execu tioner. There really is no need to re-in vent the wheel,.There arc systems already in place which address prob lems of oversight. They are the crimi nal justice system the state depart ment and the power of the governor to impanel special commissions. There are few observers of the po litical scene who would disagree with i 1 * »• 25C COMMISSION ON BLACK AFFAIRS by Samuel Pierce, Executive Di rector Oregon Commission on Black Affairs Last session the Oregon Commis sion on Black affairs introduced Senate Bill 798, otherwise known as the Martin Luther King, Jr. School Holi day Bill. The bill would make Dr. King’s birthday a legal school holi day for the State. Senate Bill 798 passed the Senate but had problems in the House due to funding issues. This session the bill was introduced in the House as House Bill 2705. Again, the Commission took leadership in gaining passage of the bill; however, this time we met with the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, Oregon Edu cation Association, and Oregon School Employees Association and worked out a bill that would be amenable to all parties involved, as a result, House Bill 2705 passed out o f the Educa tion Committee last Thursday with a “ Do Pass” recommendation to the full House of Representatives. The bill should be voted on by the House some time this week. Sponsors of the bill are Rep. Sam Dominy, Rep.Margaret Carter, Rep. Judith Bauman, Rep. Beverly Stein, and Sen. Bill McCoy. The Commis sion encourages individuals to call their representatives and voice sup port of the bill. We are confident that the bill will pass the House and be referred to the Senate for public hearings and subsequent passage. For more information, please call the Com mission on Black Affairs office at of fice at 378-2969. SENIORS OF THE WEEK Pictured (above) are Mrs. Mattye I. lies and her husband Mr. Amos K. lies. On Wednesday, May 31,1989 at Harriett Tubman Middle School, there was a grand celebration held to honor Mrs. Mattye I. lies’ retirement after 40 years of continued service in the public school systems.Many city, state. PPS officials and friends joined in the celebration. Co-Founders of House of Umoja to Return to Portland NE YWCA TO BE FREE LUNCH SITE During their visit here they will make presentations to youth at vari ous locations, meet with representa tives from funding institutions, and work with local youth program staff on aproposal to establish an “ Umoja type” program in Portland. The House of Umoja was founded in 1969, with one house and fifteen gang members as residents. The program now includes 23 houses on Fraser street in Philadelphia and is referred to as the first “ Urban Boystown in America” . The Fattah’s first visited Portland last January to make presentations at the Hope for Youth Conference, sponsored by the Northeast Coali tion of Neighborhoods and South east Uplift. On May 11th, a group of elected officials and community lead ers including Mayor Bud Clark, County Chair Gladys McCoy, Com missioners Dick Bogle and Mike Lind berg, and Ron Herndon held a press conference to endorse the establish ment of an “ Umoja type” program in Portland. New kind of battle rages in the northeast sector here The Northeast Center of the YWCA will participate in the Summer Food Service Program for Children by providing lunch for area youth during the summer months. Portland Public Schools sponsors the Program which will begin June David and Sister Falaka Fattah, 19th and run through August 17th. All youth 18 years of age and younger or Co-founders of the House of Umoja, will return to Portland during the handicapped people attending a special school for the handicapped are first week of June (please see at eligible for a free lunch. Any youth enrolled in a Northeast YWCA program tached schedule). The House of Umoja is also eligible. The serving time is from 12 Noon to 1:00 PM. Children must has received national acclaim for its remain at the site while eating. Parents are encourage to bring their children for lunch and inquire about successful efforts in reducing the youth the youth programming available throughout the year. gang problem in Philadelphia. the fact the reform is long overdue here in the state of Oregon. To focus on just one department is self- serving device which can only dis rupt the demanding functions of gov ernment. While Jon Yunker is evalu ating the performance of manage ment in Adult Familyily Services, it will be the function of this column not only to explore the scries of events that led to this dilemma, but also to compare its expenditures and re- organizational schemes with all other departments within the state govern ment. by Etienne de la Plume Battle lines have been drawn and a new kind of fight has engaged the Northeast sector of Portland. Under ordinary circumstances most prop erty owners would object to having an industrial incinerator built in their backyard. Add to that problem the emission of the carcinogenic poly chlorinated be-phenyls commonly known as PCB’s which the manufac turer of the proposed equipment docs not approve for that purpose and you have a real fight on your hands. Without any forewarning the De partment of Environmental Quality announced some months ago its in tention to license a Korean-Ameri can Company to build an industrial type incinerator near the new prison. Its purpose was to reclaim copper from burnt out transformers from utility companies. The problem is that they arc all laced with deadly PCB’s. Previously they had been buried in landfills but when it was found that these toxic substance contaminated the group water, that practice was banned as was the manufacture of PCB’s, itself. The fact the impacted neighbor hood was not involved in the decision making process led some staunch en vironmentalist to cry foul. They forced the convening o f a public hearing last night at the Whitaker School in Northeast Portland so that their concerns could be aired. The specific concerns of these residents arc not trivial. No known amount of direct contact with PCB’s has been established aseitheraccept- able or non-carcinogenic. One needs only to review the data generated by the Love Canal debacle or other hazardous waste sites to appreciate the concerns of this small enclave. Given the fact that the federal gov ernment has found the air quality in the Portland-Vancouver area to fall below acceptable standards over long periods of time, it seems reason able for Portlanders in the larger community to object to the addition of yet another air pollutant and po tential health hazard. Last night more than 200 persons gathered in the cafeteria of the Whitaker Middles School located at Northeast Killingsworth and 39th to express their concerns. And so they did for more than three hours. At times the experts and governmental officials were hard pressed to supply plausible answers or explanations for some of the technically laced obfus cations that had been submitted in support of the application for a per mit. As expected, by the close of the meeting nohard and fast decision had been concluded as to the status of the request fora DEQ perm it. One can be assured that if this evening input is not taken into serious consideration when the decision about the permit is made, then the credibility of the DEQ, itself is going to be at stake. Presumably this problem will not be resolved for another several months.