August 15, 1990- The Portland Observer—Page 7
OPINION
The ’’Hers” side of the His/Hers Opinion Page has been
temporarily suspended while the Observer seeks a new writer
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The Portland Observer is seeking a female to write the “ Hers” viewpoint in the
popular column “His/Hers Opinion” published weekly in this paper. Individual
should be creative, intelligent, committed, black, and an excellent writer. This
person should also be able to meet publication deadlines. Please drop off samples at
4747 N.E. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. No telephone calls, please. A freelance fee
will be discussed should you be the one selected.
FOR THE CHILDREN
WHO WAIT RIBBON
CAMPAIGN
A WINNING PAIR
Guy L. Smith, IV, Vice President,
Corporate Affairs, Philip Morris
Companies Inc., center, congratu­
lates the two winners of the Philip
Morris Summer Internship Pro­
gram’s Opportunity Awards during
a recent reception for the 102
interns at the company's head­
quarters in New York City. The
winners are Sherry Ann Jackson
left, an intern with the Roundtable
Theater Company and Joel
Mentor, an intern with the Na­
tional Association for the Visually
O ne Church, O ne Child o f Oregon,
The Urban League of Portland, The Ameri­
can Red Cross and KBMS 1480are spon­
sors of the “ For The Children Who W ait”
Ribbon Campaign to kickoff during the
m onth o f August.
One Church, O ne Child is a program
designed to seek Black families to adopt
Black children. The program has placed
31 children with permanent families since
1988.
The ribbon cam paign is a way to
inform the com m unity of the need to find
perm anent homes for African A merican
children who arc currently in foster care
and to support the One Church, One
Child program. Everyone in the com m u­
nity is encouraged and urged to take part
in this campaign by tying on the ribbon
to car antennas and/or side view mirrors
to support the children who are waiting
for a “ forever fam ily.” It is hoped as
time goes by, that more people will real­
ize what it symbolizes. The ribbons should
be displayed until all o f the waiting Black
children have been adopted.
“ W e hope to kick off a national
ribbon campaign to include all o f the
One Church, One Child programs and to
recruit more sponsors” say Kathy Ken-
drix, Public Relations Specialist for One
Church, One Child of Oregon.
Ribbons can be picked up at the
Urban League of Portland, ION. Russell,
The A merican Red Cross, 3131 N. Van­
couver AVe., KBMS 1480,510 SW 3rd
and O ne Church, One Child of O regon,
5806 N. Albina.
Handicapped. Both winners will
receive a $1000 college tuition
grant. Philip Morris sponsored
102 student interns, recruited by
the New York City Partnerships 's
Summer Jobs Program, to work
in 102 non-profit agencies in
New York City. The master of
ceremonies for the reception,
Smith said the company’s efforts
make it possible for non-profit
agencies to afford summer
interns while preparing students
for “the world of work."
WANT TO BUY
YOUR OWN HOME?
M OVE SIX
SPACES FORWARD.
(It'll take just a few minutes
to see if you can afford a HUD home!)
H you've worked for two
years for the same employer
(or in the some occupation) and
you have a good credit record,
move ahead 1 space
START
Stop here and compute your Adjusted
Income. That's your total gross
monthly income, less federol withhold
ing taxes Write your answer here and
move on.
* ■
Write the smaller omount of
either space 3 or space 5 here. As a
generol rule, that's the maximum
omount you can afford for a
monthly house payment (including
property taxes).
YOU DID ITI nth.
number in space 6 is more than
$ 5 5 0 , then chances are good
that H UD has on affordoble
home for you. Your next move
is to coll your real estate
agent.
lo w monthly payment!
and 3%downl
Multiply your Ad|usted Income (from
space 2) by 0.3 8 , then subtract $150 and
wnte the answer here Then move on to
the next space
Add up oil your monthly debts (cor,
loon, credit purchase, credit cord,
child support and alimony payments
you owe every month) and then
odd $150. Fill in the total here
and go to space 5.
Most of our HUD homes
ore opproved for FHA
Mortgoge Insurance, which
makes them more afford­
able than ever. Plus, HUD's
bid process is easy.
For listings of HUD homes
available now, look for our
big real estate classified od
in every Sunday Oregonian.
0 HUD *
DEPARTMENT O f HOUSING
AND URBAN O f VEIOPME NT
« 1989 by HUD. Portlond Office
You're olmost home Multiply
your Adpsted Income (from
space 2) by 0.5 3 , subtract
the amount on space 4,
ond write the result here
N o w move along
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Should Mothers Giving Birth to Crack
Addicted Babies be Prosecuted as Criminals?
BY ULLYSSES TUCKER, JR.________
aul M alone is barely a year old.
According to his m edical foster
parent, Maryrose Sanders, he will never
know what a hug feels like or see the
world around him. Paul will never com ­
prehend basic realities because he is in a
coma. He has been in a coma since April
27th and shows no signs o f improve­
ment. Paul is in this condition because he
was beaten to pulp by his father’s girl­
friend. He suffered multiple skull frac­
tures. Anette L. Hunt, a 19-year old
Portland woman, was sentenced to up to
one year in jail and a residential treat­
ment program for the crime. She will
also be on probation for five years. Re­
cently, a southern Oregon man was sen­
tenced to 18 months in jail for animal
abuse. Are childrens’ lives less valu­
able? She will serve only 180 days.
Regardless o f whether Hunt would
not have hurt young Paul or not, he
would have had a difficult life. His bio­
logical m other abused crack cocaine and
he was bom an addict. Imagine being a
newborn,hours into the world and the
ow ner of a cocaine problem . The crying,
screaming, craving, restlessness,and need
for a substance you know nothing about
except through our mothers social hab­
its. Paul's m other had no regard for his
life o r future. Experts say that crack
cocaine erodes values, self-esteem,
motivation, am bition, and life perspec­
tive. W hat else could make a mother to
be forgot about the little soul that she is
carrying inside her? Can a drug be that
powerful or a person that w eak? Little
Paul had to pay the price. He paid the
price because no one cared about his
well being and because the D istrict At­
torney O ffice arranged a plea bargain
with Hunt. Even more sadly, Paul lives
in a Southeast hom e with his medical
foster mother because he had no medical
insurance. He stayed in the hospital one
week before CSD placed him in the
home. It’s tough when you are a ward of
the state.
Crack cocaine is a very popular and
potent drug. W hen P aul’s mother in­
haled the drug, it shot straight through
her bloodstream and ultimately to the
placenta, then, his blood vessels started
to constrict,provoking light strokes that
killed segments of his tiny brain and this
lead to neurological damage. Not to
mention the m ultiple blows he took up
side his little head. Before he, Paul,
entered the world, he had seizures and
shook uncontrollably. He even resw al­
lowed his own urine, that eventually
flowed into the am niotic fluid and caused
additional dam age from the same hit.
Crack cocaine can also bring on prem a­
ture labor. It can raise blood pressure and
trigger contractions, thus causing the
placenta to tear away from the lining of
the uterus. This forces early delivery .Some
o f P aul’s friends’ weighed as little as two
pounds. It’s a sad shame.
According to stats com plied by 46
hospitals nationally, 11 percent o f the
babies bom in 1989 were addicted to
crack cocaine and that translates to al-
Paul's mother had no regard
for his life or future. Experts
say that crack cocaine erodes
values, self-esteem, motiva­
tion, ambition, and life per­
spective. What else could
make a mother forget about
the little soul that she is
carrying inside her? Can a
drug be that powerful or a
person that weak? Little Paul
had to pay the price.
m ost a half million youngsters annually.
How many Andrew Young's, Magic
Johnson's, David Dinkin's,Spike Lee’s,
or Bill Cosby's will be denied the oppor­
tunity to reach their fullest potential be­
cause of som eones'desire to sm oke co­
caine? We have got to do som ething to
save our children, please. Losing a new
generation to gang violence and crim i­
nal related activities only com plicates
matters even worse. W here does the
madness end? Babies bom on crack
cocaine is only the beginning o f the
problem. It gets tougher on the child
when it is tim e to start school and begin
general assim ulation in society with
shortcomings.
Psychologist/medical experts con­
tend that children bom addicted to co­
caine are slow learners, have poor atten­
tion spans, are afraid to bond, exhibit
anti-social behavior patterns, and suffer
from speech difficulties/impaired speech
patterns and hyperactivity. These chil­
dren will need so much educational a t­
tention, support services, and understand­
ing. Is the educational system in A m er­
ica willing and ready to deal with a new
and growing “ at risk " group? Does
A merica really care as it progresses to a
predominatley minority work force by
the year 2000? There are some serious
doubts by many experts. O f the $4.5
billion dollars approved to com bat the
Bush administrations ‘ ‘W ar On D rugs” ,
70% o f the budget is going to law for
Paul and his half-m illion friends. There
needs to be less spent on police, prison
beds, law enforcem ent overtim e, heli­
copters and assault weapons. If nothing
else, there should at least be a 50-50 split
between law enforcem ent and interven-
tion/education for young people. Pre­
vention is the best method. Catch the
young ones before they have to be locked
up or recycled by the crim inal justice
system or looked down upon by some in-
sensitive educator, who m ight not be
aware o f the childs’ history.
The story even goes deeper than
Paul and his friends. Sadly, the great
m ajority of the cocaine abusing m others
were sexually abused,members o f grossly
dysfunctional families, com e from bro­
ken hom es, and accept the lifestyle as
normal. The cycle is repeated generation
after generation. W here does it end, or
how can the cycle be destroyed and moved
into a positive direction? If the cycle is
continued, again, there will be an e n ­
tirely new underclass grow ing in A m er­
ica at the expense of taxpayers. W hen
the issue o f services is addressed, in
Oregon for example, there are only a few
programs for mothers to go to for help.
Many are afraid to lose their children to
CSD because of their abuse and avoid
valuable pre-natal care. Women are afraid
to com e forth with their problem and
others recklessly disregard the life o f the
child. How many mothers are out there
w ho avoid detection because o f stable
incomes and solid insurance coverage?
The problem just goes deeper and deeper.
Drug abuse is a serious problem in this
country and children are the ones suffer­
ing the m o st
Still, the question rem ains, should
these women abusing cocaine be charged
as crim inals or for child abuse? Do they
know right from wrong or do they really
care about being pregnant and getting
high? It would be a total contradiction to
jai, the same women for abuse who were
turned away because they could not get
treatm ent. Locking these women up to
“ chill” their cocaine habit would be a
great idea, especially early in the preg­
nancy. To lock them up for abuse of
cocaine will not solve the problem. Do
you take the child away from the abuser,
only to see the same person a year later
with the same problem? There needs to
be more community based treatment
centers an educational program s to edu­
cate these women. On the other hand, in­
dividuals like Hunt need to receive full
punishm ent for their crim es. To use
cocaine is an entirely different issue than
beating some child until they are uncon­
scious. Ironically, Hunt recently had a
child by Pauls’ biological father. Is this
another accident waiting to happen?T he
court also told Hunt to take som e anger
management classes at New Beginnings
when her residential sentence starts.
W ho knows, had Paul's biological
Mom “ did the right thing," instead o f
ending up without custody or not abus­
ing drugs, maybe he would have had half
ach an ceto b eap ro d u ctiv e human being.
If someone you know is abusing cocaine
while pregnant, call the O regon Preven­
tion Resource Center at 1-800-822-6772
or HELPLINE at 1-800-621-1646. G ive
the Paul M alone's o f the world a chance
at life.
TOP-LEVEL TALK
US WEST PRESENTS
SENIOR DAY AT ZOO
Seniors and their escorts will be ad­
m itted free to M etro W ashington Park
Zoo on Senior Citizens Day, Tuesday,
Sept. 11. This is the 15th year for this
event. Senior Citizens Day is sponsored
by US W EST Com m unications, with
special support from Senior W orld.
Activities scheduled betw een 9:30
a.m. and 3 p.m. include free train rides,
music, dancing, animal talks and the
petting zoo. In addition, US W est Com ­
munity Relations teams will serve free
beverages and light refreshments.
Care M edical, Inc., is contributing
wheelchairs, which will be free on a
first-come, first-serve basis. Numbers
are limited, so seniors are urged to bring
their own wheelchairs whenever pos­
sible. Volunteers from Southwest Port­
land Rotary and W est Linn Lions Clubs
will be available to push wheelchairs.
T ri-M ctw illprovidcexpanded serv­
ice on Route #63, with accessible buses
operating on a 30-m inute schedule be­
tween downtown Portland and the zoo.
Call Tri-Met customer service, 233-3511,
for fares and routing.
Support Our Advertisers!
Say You Saw It In The
Portland Observer!
Craig Weatherup, President and
CEO of Pepsi-Cola Company,
responds to questions o f partici­
pants in the Pepsi-Cola Summer
Intern Program during a recent
four-day conference at Pepsi
headquarters in Somers, N. Y.
With Weatherup are, from left:
Steve Brown, Georgia Technical
University; Serrick McNeil,
Washington University; Juan
Salinas, Rutgers University (par­
tially hidden and Latonya Bennett,
Texas A&M University. Weath­
erup had earlier told an audience
of 80 college students that big
business should both help to
solve societal problems and to
promote ethnic diversity in the
work force.
PO PS’
he w is te ria , th e s trin g b e a n and th e lo c u s t tre e a re all m e m b e r s o f th e