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Portland, Oregon
ERVER
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Dr. Dale Rubin appointed to
Willamette College of Law
New professor, a former star athlete is only fulltime
African American educator in Oregon's three law schools
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by Stephen E.McPherson,
Special Correspondent
Mississippi.
Dean Robert Misner, head of the
Willamette College of Law has ex­
pressed his commitment to increas­
ing the African American presence
at the University. Dr. Rubin is the
only fulltime African American fac­
ulty member teaching law among the
three law colleges in the state. Per­
haps his venture in this direction will
encourage other state schools to seek
African American faculty of his cali­
ber. We certainly lag behind other
states in this regard.
O f particular interest to African
Americans is the fact that Dr. Rubin
was a star athlete both in high school
and in college. Althougn he stands
only about five feet eight inches and
weighs only about 158 pounds, Pro­
fessor Rubin excelled in football and
track in high school. An athletic
scholarship took him to the Univer­
sity of California from which he trans­
ferred to Stanford University. There
he attained the world record for the
440-yard relay in 1965.
But professional athletics never
was one of his goals. Stanford stu­
dents focus more on developing the
brain rather than their brawn. He at­
tributes his own decision to pursue
another profession to Bill Walsh of
the 49ers who counselled him to use
his Stanford education to pursue a
profession with a promise of longev­
ity and more tangible rewards. His
success as a lawyer should dispel the
notion that the African American
athlete is imbued with only a prow­
ess that is limited to some sort of ball
game or track event.
Dr. Rubin intends to get out into
the community to encourage African
American young people not only to
excel in an athletic endeavor but also
to parlay the benefits of a college
scholarship into a solid academic
profession. He is committed to find­
ing such persons and influencing them
to consider the practice of law as a
worthwhile profession.
Beech Street Wins
in Northwest
Region
The Housing Authority of Port­
land’s Beech Street Development won
high honors in a regional competi­
tion for Project Design. The award
was received from the regional chap­
ter of the National Association of
Housing and Redevelopment Offi­
cers (NAHRO), a professional hous­
ing organization. NAHRO recognizes
outstanding achievement in housing
and community development pro­
grams throughout the nation and meas­
ured Beech Street against other en­
tries from areas such as Seattle and
Spokane.
The Beech S treet Development of
five, new, three bedroom homes for
low income families grew from the
rubble left by a suicide gas explosion
in 1986 that destroyed the block. The
Award of Merit is based on the suc­
cess of the public/private partnership
that work to coordinate resources to
replace the lost housing in the Sabin
neighborhood. The Portland Devel­
opment Commission gave HAP an
interest deferred loan to purchase the
lots, the City of Portland waived build­
ing and site fees and provided land­
scaping materials, and Pacific Power
and Light helped attain donations of
heaters and thermostats from Cadet
Manufacturing and the Eaton Corpo­
ration. The homes were also desig­
nated as Super Good Cents homes
for energy efficiency. HAP also in
volved the community members in
the house design, landscaping, and
color schemes.
This basis of team work helped
the project move to the next step of
homeownership for low income fami­
lies. The houses cost about $60,000
each to construct, but the HAP is
selling the homes at $35,000, due to
its strong commitment to revitaliz­
ing the inner Northeast Portlanc
community. The local Department
of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) helped HAP meet that com
mitment by providing qualified fami
lies with a special HUD 235 interest
rale subsidy loan and supporting
HAP in its fledgling attempt to de
velop a homeownership program. The
homes were completed in late Au
gust, 1988 and the first new family
moved into their new home in Octo­
ber.
Since then, one other Beech Street
Development has been sold to a low
income family and a third home has
kicked off HAP’s homeownership
program called Homeownership Op­
portunities for Everyone (HOPE;
HAP sold the third house to Innova
five Housing Inc., a non-profit hous
ing agency, that is working w ith HAP
on HOPE.HAP provided the family
with a Section 8 housing subsidy,
which is paid to innovative housing.
That agency reserves a portion of
each month’s rent payment in a spe­
cial fund to build the $2,000 downpay­
ment needed to purchase the Beech
Street home. While the fund is being
developed, the resident family will
be learning how to be a homeowner
through training sessions presented
by P.D.C. about home maintenance
and how to survive the mortgage
process.
The Beech Street Development is
truly the product of a full partnership
with community players. The NAHRO
Agency Award of Merit recognizes
that partnership and the positive ef­
fect such projects have on our com­
munity’s struggling low income
families and neighborhoods.
Please call Public Affairs Coordi­
nator Carol Jelinek for more infor­
mation on the Beech Street Develop­
ment at 249-5514.
-
Submits a specific manifesto for recapturing neighborhoods through target efforts.
Requests that governor declare an emergency and activate the National Guard
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tty
by Etienne de la Plume
i.»r
A number of irate individuals
representing at least five African
American organizations from the
lower Northeast section of the com­
munity have expressed their inten­
tion to intervene directly into some
of the nagging problems caused by
illegal drugs. In their words they
have put together a manifesto for
recapturing their neighborhoods
through targeted efforts.
This week Ron Herndon said,
“ Crime fueled by illegal drugs has
seriously eroded the quality of life in
certain neighborhoods of the lower
Northeast sector of our community.
Elderly citizens and young people
have become virtual prisoners be­
cause they are afraid to go out of their
homes at night. Because of the seri­
ousness of these problems, all out
war is hereby declared on all the
perpetrators of these dastardly acts. ”
So stated, Mr. Herndon then out­
lined the full battle plan that was
composed of two elements. The first
part focused on law enforcement and
community organizing. The main
thrust of that section was a request to
the Governor to declare an emer­
gency and to call the National Guard
to active duty. No matter how oner­
ous such a suggestion might sound,
Mr. Herndon and Charles Taylor insist
that such a position represents a
majority view of the affected com­
munity. The Guard would be used
for special surveillance, perimeter
security, transporting prisoners, foot
patrols, drug house raids and curfew
enforcement
In this regard, Mr. Herndon and
his supporters are going to have a
difficult time convincing Governor
Neil Goldschmidt, of the need to
utilize the National guard in such a
manner. According to Robert Jackson,
military advisor to the Governor, the
National Guard will be provided only
in an advisory and administrative
support capacity. There is no prece­
dent in American history for em­
ploying the local militia in such a
manner. Critics of such an approach
point out that the guard does not have
adequate training to deal effectively
in such matters. At the same time,
experience the African American com-
munity has had with the National
Guard during the civil right distur­
bances of the 1960’s would suggest
that their interaction in Black com ­
munities has had an egregious effect.
The death of a single National Guards­
men in such an endeavor could pos­
sibly foment real problems of civil
disturbance.
According to Mr. Hemdon atten­
tion would be directed to sectors of
the community bordering along 1-5
to 15th running east to west. In a
North south direction the area would
include N. E. Ainsworth down to N.
E. Killingsworth.
Comparing this action to a forest
fire, Mr. Hemdon stated that it would
be the intention of the attack force
first to dislodge crime from the less
active “ brush fire” area in order to
establish an effective fire wall before
diverting the main thrust to the in­
ferno, itself. These efforts would be
coupled with the remedial input of
the Gang Task Force.
Landlords would be given sup­
port in the screening of tenants, de­
velopment o f effective rental con­
tracts and eviction procedures with a
greater emphasis on property man­
agement and responsive neighbor­
hood concerns.
The daily media would be en­
couraged to list target areas where
drugs were sold. They also would
list establishments where residents
had been successful in the closing of
known drug houses.
The second part of the program
would be devoted to youth diversion
and treatm ent. A county residential
program was proposed in which a
mandatory 30-day minimum de-pro-
gramming protocol would be estab­
lished for youths who exhibit assaul­
tive, disruptive behavior or have been
identified as active members of a
gang.
It also calls for the development
of a professional foster care provider
network. Currently, no such program
exists. A specific gang-oriented serv­
ice package would be created in which
evidence would be accumulated and
after three years an analysis would
be made of the root causes of gang
activity in the targeted area. Service
providers would then use this spe­
cific information to develop policies
and tailored programs for dealing
with the problem.
A final recommendation is made
that adequate funds be made avail­
able to support a House of Umoja
concept which would then serve as a
diversionary and rehabilitation pro­
gram for youths susceptible to or di­
rectly active in deleterious gang ac­
tivity.
A mass community march and
rally against drugs is scheduled for
Saturday, September 16, 1989. It
will ordinate at the King Neighbor­
hood Facility and terminate at Un­
thank Park.
warm afternoon. But the new princi­
pal of James Monroe High School
had a presence and a message that
made those interruptions insignifi­
cant. Like all profound messages,
this was deceptively simple: “ I ’m
interested in convincing youngsters
that education makes a difference,
that if they’re living in an environ­
ment full of unfulfilled dreams, they
have the potential and the ability to
make some changes, to dig down
inside themselves to pull themselves
up. I ’m not telling them it’s fair.
These kids have to work harder than
other kids. I’m just trying to con­
vince them that if they work hard,
they can make it.”
You might mistake the 44-year-
old Jimmie Warren for a starry-eyed
idealist. When we talked, he was just
a month into his assignment at James
Monroe, a troubled school where test
scores and graduation rates have been
falling for decades. Any new princi­
pal might be overflowing with opti­
mism before he realized just how
tough a job he had taken on. But
Jimmie Warren is different. Monroe
is the fourth troubled high school he
has run in this decade. New York
City’s Board of Education has recog­
nized him as one o f its best princi­
pals. Six years ago, he took over
William H. Taft High, another Bronx
school that had been called the city ’s
worst. The day we spoke, Warren
had on his desk a letter from the D e­
partment of Education in W ashing­
ton D.C., announcing that Taft had
been chosen as a finalist in a national
program to recognize superior schools.
Almost any expert would have
tonc. “ There’s no need to rehash told you that the problems at Taft de­
them. You sit back and say the prob­ fied solution: 84 percent o f the kids
lems arc insurmountable, the prob­ were on public assistance, and 16
lems are so burdensome there's noth­ percent couldn ’ t speak English profi­
ing you can do. That’s a cop-out. ciently. Only two of the 2500 scored
You just have to roll up your sleeves well enough on standardized tests to
and work that much harder.”
cam a Regents diploma-a rccogni-
Later, when I listened to a tape of
Con't on Page 3
our conversation, I realized that po­
lice and ambulance sirens had pierced ★ ★ ★
the Bronx air again and again on that
I
y
Principal
Jimmie
Warren
believes
by Michael Ryan
(Reprinted by permission from
Parade Magazine)
speak, you find yourself believing
that there may be a future for kids in
this country’s worst crack-ridden
slums. “ The problems arc evident,”
he told me in his warm strong bari-
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TheManWho
Shapes Up
Troubled Schools
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Lower northeast sector declares all
out war on illegal drugs in community
WHEN YOU SIT WITH JIM­
MIE WARREN and listen to him
*
Oregon Lottery’s Sports Action Game Kickoff
* 12:00 noon-l:00pm Wednesday September 6,1989.
*
Pioneer Courthouse Square
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AUGUST 31,1989
VOLUME XIX NUMBER 34
The Willamette College of Law
in Salem has appointed Dr. Dale
Rubin, the noted African American
Corporate lawyer from California as
a fulltime faculty member. In his
new position Dr. Rubin will teach
four courses: Business Organization
and Corporate Law, Government
Contracts, Torts and a seminar on
Negotiations. He has had broad ex­
perience in all of these endeavors,
having practiced law for over 19 years.
Dr. Rubin received the baccalau­
reate degree from Stanford Univer­
sity and the Doctor of Jurisprudence
from the University of California at
Berkeley.
For the last 16 years he has been
associated with a private law firm in
Oakland where he pursued a general
practice with emphasis on real es­
tate, especially construction and
industrial injury.
Of particular note is his represen­
tation of World Airways in customer
suits after their 1979 strike. He also
has been counsel for the only bond­
ing company in the nation whose
purpose was to aid minority contrac­
tors in the bonding process.
As an International Legal Center
Fellow, he drafted some of the pre­
liminary anti-trust articles for the is­
land nation of Barbados. He also has
written many scholarly papers on ju­
risprudence and edited the Charles
Houston Bar Association Newslet­
ter.
Dr. Rubin’s long experience in
the practice of law has covered many
of the nuances of that profession. He
has been a corporate lawyer in one of
the large San Francisco firms, he has
served with the National Housing
Law Project, the Alameda Legal Aid
Society and the Council on Legal
Education. He will use his experi­
ence from this latter position in an at­
tempt to increase the enrollment of
African American students at Wil­
lamette University which is the sec­
ond oldest law school west of the
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