« F « ♦ Voíurnn XXII, Number 3 » F F ♦ ♦ F 0 • F < 4» ■* *> * + * ■< ♦ • • F 4*» “The Eyes andEars of the Community” M r s . F r a n c e s S c h o e n - N e w s p a p e r Re U n i v e r s i t y o f O re g o n L i b r E u g e n e , O re g o n 97403 ^ n rila n h (©bserirer Lewellen Named To Head Nike’s Urban And Minority Affairs Inc., the w orld’s lead- ng athletic shoe and apparel m anufac- has named Michael Lewellen as its Manager o f Urban and M in o rity A ffairs. Lewellen had been public relation manager at South western Bel Telephone’s St. Louis head quarters fo r the past six years. In his new position, Lewellen w ill be responsible for national philanthropic programs which target education for inner c ity youth. He w ill also oversee corporate contributions from N IK E ’ s “ Just D o I t ” fund to m in ority organiza tions, along w ith corporate visib ilty w ithin m inority markets. In 1990, Lewellen served as presi dent o f the St. Louis Chapter o f the International Association o f Business communicators (IA B C /S L Louis). He also served on the board o f directors for two St. Louis charities - Grace H ill Neighborhood Services and the Univer sity C ity C hildren’s Center. A form er sports reporter fo r the Pine B lu ff (Arkansas) commercial newspaper, Lewellen holds a bache lo r’s degree in journalism from Arkan sas State U niversity. In 1989, he earned the international distinction o f " A c credited Business communicator (ABC )’ ’ from the International Association o f Business Communicators. Two years ago Velma Maria Spears was investing long arduous hours at her jo b at Bonneville Power Adm inistra tion, where she has been employed fo r the past four years, and taking courses at Portland State U niversity and PCC Sylvania Campus. Her intent was to amass more hours to go towards her degree in Electrical Engineering. She graduated from IT T Technical Institute, in A p ril o f 1987, w ith an A s sociate o f Applied Science Degree in Electrical Engineering Technology. Velma carried a fu ll academic sched ule and worked tw o part-time jobs because she knew fu ll-w e ll that her M om , who was the sole support o f the fam ily, could not pay fo r her schooling. She worked hard and studied hard. Velma discovered, to her disappoint ment, that none o f her credits from IT T would transfer. But this did not hinder her drive to move forward. She had a goal and she was not about to let any one or anything get in her way. Her hard work and long hours o f study Governor’s Commission for Women, The Hanford Nuclear Waste Board, and The Youth Conservation Corps Advisory Committee. Representative G ordly is the former program director o f the H ouseof Umoja, a Portland gang intervention facility. She was also the associate director o f the Pacific Northwest Region American Friends Service Committee. Currently the Citizens Chair o f the C h ie fs Forum, G ordly is a former Pa role and Probation O ffice r for the State o f Oregon. “ I ’ ve been able to w ork in this dis trict w ith a great diversity o f people on the things we care about most - kids, public safety, human rights, and neigh borhood stability,” said G ordly. “ Help ing people who feel left out by the sys tem re-gain a personal sense o f empow- erment is one o f my prim ary sources o f fu lfillm e n t. Consequently, I feel very w ell prepared to tackle these issues in the Legislature.” Kay Toran To Head Children’s Services Division Metro Region N ationally, he is an active mem ber o f the Public Relations Society o f america; National Association o f black Journalists; Kappa Alpha Psi Frater nity; and the United States Profes- sional Tennis Association. Lewellen also serves on the advisory board for the National Association o f Part ners in Education in Washington, D.C. would fin a lly pay off. Ms. Spears’ drive fo r excellence began at an early age. Her mother, M attie Ann Callier-Spears, recalls a time when she was in elementary school; “ M aria ’ s teacher, at Irvington Elemen tary School’ s Follow-Through Program, Mrs. Bridges, said that she had never had a student like Velma. She had an uncanny a bility to solve math problems in an unorthodox fashion. She got all o f the answers right but she, Mrs. Bridges, couldn’ t find the method o f M aria’ s computation nowhere and in no one’ s textbook. She would work it out the same way each time. She w ould figure it out in her head; and these were very d iffic u lt mathematical equations. But how she arrived at the answers was a mystery to her instructors.” Mrs. Spears recalls a problem her daughter had at Binnsmead M iddle School. “ One day I received a call from the principal, M r. Tom Parr. He asked that I come into the o ffice because there was a problem between Velma and one o f her teach ers, Mrs. Roake. Mrs. Roake had given Velma a failing grade because she said that Velma had cheated on her test. Maria was very adamant that she had not cheated. Mrs. Roake said that she must have cheated because everyone in the class got the wrong answers except Velma. And furthermore, the prob lems were not worked out p ro p e rly - according to Mrs. Roake’ s textbook theory. Up until that tim e Maria had never received an *F ’ in anything....especially Math,” recalls her mother. It seems that this kin d -o f quandary follow ed Velma even into high school where she became one o f the pioneer Perspectives females to first walk the halls and at tend classes in the once all-m ale tech nological institution - Benson Polytech nical High School. During those years and earlier, Benson’s program was for the academic elite. It was the school that gave students an incentive to study. I f you couldn ’ t pass Benson ’ s entrance exam or your GPA was below a “ B ,” you could not enter. T w enty-five years old, standing a mere five feet two and a half, Velma is as cute as a button w ith a voice as sweet as honey dripping from the honey comb. But she is as tough as nails. She grew up w ith her three brothers, played w ith her brothers’ friends, ran track, played basketball, played tennis, par ticipated in gymnastics, was on the varsity basketball rally squad and could knock the tar out o f any boy. “ For a very long tim e,” recalls her mother, “ I don’ t think that Velm a realized that she was a g ir l.” Velma was also recognized as a petite model. She enjoyed runway modeling. She wanted to prove to everyone that petite models were just as effective as tall models on the runway...after being told that she couldn’t do runway modeling. “ You have a pretty face, beautiful e yes- B U T -y o u ’re too s h o rt” She appeared on national T V on the Golden Graham commercial. She was perfectly named. Her name Velma means, “ strong or strength” and her m iddle name Maria means, “ blessed.” Put them together and she is “ Blessed Strength.” She is the epitome o f any d efinition o f strong. In times like these, the young A f- continued on page2 B ill Carey, adm inistrator o f C h il dren’ s Services D ivision has named Kay Toran M etro Region administrator for CSD. The M etro Region includes five branch offices in Portland w ith about 350 employees. Toran, 48 years old, was the assis tant administrator for M etro Region for the past year. Her professional experi ence included Clackamas CSD branch manager, administrator o f Purchasing D ivision at the Department o f General Services, director o f affirm ative action for then-Governor V ic Atiyeh and Assistant Professor for the Graduate School o f Social W ork at Portland S tate University. * ‘ I am excited about the challenges o f this jo b ,” says Toran. “ Because o f measure five we need to have a child welfare system that is responsive and responsible. I want to insure an effec tive system that serves the needs o f clients as w ell as responds to the ideas and issues o f the com m unity.” Toran replaces Betty U chytil who was interim administrator for Metro Region. U chytil w ill be returning to her position as the head o f the child welfare program office in Salem. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR Special Edition starts on page 11 After AIDS, What? BY PROFESSOR MCKINLEY BURT As expected, there was quite a response to last week’ s feature article, “ The O rigin And Spread O f A ID S Is F inally Revealed.” One reader even paraphrased that old adage I ’ m always citing about liberty, “ Eternal vigilance is the price o f H E A L T H !” (I hesitated to get my flu shot.) Another noted that where we are dealing w ith certain ‘ ‘aborigines” who have invaded the medical profession it is interesting to note the etymology o f “ m alaria” ; m al is French fo r “ bad, ill, e v il” and aria, here, is for “ a ir.” This is derived from the idea o f the colonial ists and slave traders that this disease which could cure their syphilis was the result o f “ breathing bad air.” For this reader it was not much o f a jum p to recall the words M A Lefactor (c rim i nal) and M A Levolent (viciously evil), or MALlfeasance (wrong doing). And, o f course, there is MALpractice o f medi cine. Can there be an insidious reason that the Bush adm inistration is so gung ho on lim itin g the amount that can be recovered in a malpratice suit? What do they know that has not yet been “ revealed” to the rest o f us? W ell for one thing, we now know that, worldwide, hemophiliacs have been put at risk by injection o f blood pro teins contaminated by HTV viruses origi nated in the experiments o f injecting humans w ith monkey blood (no need to sleep w ith monkeys w ith European Universities and the US Department o f Health around). As early as 1983, Cutter Biologicals warned that A ID S had been reported among people w ith hemophilia. Hundreds o f devastated fam ilies are suing the makers o f c lo t ting factors. “ Head ‘em o ff at the pass” M r. Bush. N ow , the New York Times News Service informs us that yet another m ajor medical “ malfeasance” is upon us though we have not so far been told that this invasion o f our bodies could have H IV or A ID S consequences (so far). Scientists w ithin Dow Com ing Co. urged company officials for years to conduct critical safety studies o f the SILICONE GEL BRAEST IMPLANTS, but the tests were put o ff for years, a review o f hundreds o f company docu ments show. W hile many o f the medi cal and administrative employees o f the company quit in disgust early on, Everybody Has A Blazer Story Business Employment Line by James Posey by McKinley Burt the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is ju s t now getting around to issuing a moratorium on the breast implants. A ll in all it is rather an obscene comedy, this “ m alevolent” perform ance we have been compelled to attend. As early as 1975, the company set up a division called the “ Mammary Task Force” to oversee the developement and marketing o f the hot new product. And this early on an o fficia l o f Dow C om ing had noted the “ the gel had migrated through the bodies o f ani mals” and that “ rabbit tests showed persistent, disturbing inflam ation o f tissue.” The technical director told the F D A that the form ation o f lumps called granulomas m ight be benign - b u t they m ight also “ S IG N A L A SERIOUS R E A C TIO N IN T H E B O D Y ’ S IM M U N E S Y S TE M .” Can AIDS be far behind? Do you get the impression that none o f these people know what they are doing? And, further, that few o f them care? We do indeed need a health care revolution. But more that that, we need a SPECIAL PROSECUTOR to put a ll o f these crim inals away for a long, long time. Special Sports Editorial Peer Group Dynamics Martin Luther King, Jr. Special Edition Section by Bill Barber Page 11 Page 6 Page 2 Page 2 t Gordly To Announce Campaign With Food Drive State Representative A ve l G ordly w ill announce her candidacy for House D istrict 19 Thursday, January 16 at 12:15 p.m. at the Westminster Presby terian Church, 1624 NE Hancock Street. Representative Gordly - appointed to f ill the seat vacated when Ron Cease was appointed to the Oregon State Senate - has asked her supporters to bring a can o f food to the event which w ill be donated to the North East Emergency Food Program. “ Politics means more to me than campaigning fo r votes,” said Rep. G ordly. “ It means actively using the p olitical pulput to make a difference in the lives o f people. That’ s what I ’ m about and that’s what my campaign w ill be about.” Appointed to the Legislature in September, Rep. G ordly serves on the Inner-City Kid Makes Good: Spears Receives UNCF Scholarship BY TEAL N. THOMPSON 250 EDITORIAL NEWS ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS 2 2 4 6 RELIGION 7 CLASSIFIEDS 8