■... * ’» v v
es*
Voluxnn XXÏI. N u m b er 3 5
‘The E yes and Ears o f th e C om m unity'
lu t is i 2 6 , 1 9 9 2
250
Portland Delegation Attends
National Urban League Conference
Roy Jay Wins Round One
Judge Denies POVA Motion For Injunction
M ultnom ah C ounty C irc u it C o u rt.
JudgeG arry Kahn denied the request by
Portland/O regon V isito rs Association
fo r a p re lim in a ry in ju n ctio n against,
th e ir ow n recent annual P resident’ s
A w a rd recipient, local A fric a n A m e ri
can business entrepreneur, Roy Jay.
P O V A , a n o n -p ro fit organization,
p rim a rily funded w (th tax revenues,
asked the co u rt to te m p o ra rily stop one
o f Jay’ s business operations fro m being
listed in telephone directories o r other
advertising m edium s, less than 4 weeks
after they awarded him fo r “ p ro vid in g
valuable n e tw o rkin g opportunities and
services fo r sm all business ow ners in
volved in the v is ito r industry and fo r
serving as a p o sitive exam ple fo r young
entrepreneurs” .
In F rid a y ’ s fiv e hour hearing, the
w e ll know n A fric a n A m erican business
Urban League of Portland, President Dr. Darryl Tukufu visits with fellow Portlanders Dr. Brenda Green (right)
and Urban League Guild President Faye Burch (left) at a reception hosted by NIKE during the National Urban
League conference in San Diego.
A delegation fro m the U rban
League o f P ortland attended the 1992
N ational U rban League C onference
in San D iego July 26-29. The fo u r-
The theme o f the conference was
“ M a k in g a D iffe re n c e in the '9 0 's :
B rin g in g the F u tu re In to F o c u s ," 1 ligh-
lights included a keynote address by
sponds to the U rb a n C ris is ,”
D r. T u k u fu also delivered a ke y
note address a t a fo ru m on “ Y o u th :
O u r C o n tin u in g L e g a cy," w h ile O r
tions. M o re than 18,000 people a t
tended.
T h e Portland delegation was led
by L e a g u e P re sid e nt D r. D a rry l
T u k u fu , and included members o f the
League’ s board, sta ff,a n d fo u r youth
John E. Jacob, president and C E O o f
the N ational Urban League, and a speech
by D em ocratic presidential candidate
B ill C lin to n .
egonian e d ito r W illia m H illia rd m o d
erated a session on “ E le ctio n '9 2 :
fo r tie s , P o litic s a n il P a r it y "
O ther conference attractions in
The Urban L c a g u e o f P ortland was
one o f nine a ffilia te s (o u t o f a possi ble
112) recognized fo r its response to the
unrest fo llo w in g the Rodney K in g ve r
cluded m ore than 400 e x h ib it booths
o f Fortune 100 com panies and m a jo r
from the League’ s N U L IT E S p ro
d ic t The re co g n itio n ca m e in a special
gram.
program on “ The U rb a n League Re
day conference is considered the
na tio n ’ s p re m ie r fo ru m on race re la
governm ent and social service agen
cies, a Job O p p o rtu n ity Showcase,
and the A fric a n A m erican V endors
Showcase.
Block Party Celebrates
Heros Of Drug Free Street
P olice o ffic e rs , hom eowners, p ro p
erty managers, residents, and local o f f i
cials are gathering together to celebrate
their success in keeping a troubled block
o f N .E. Sacramento Street drug free. A n
awards cerem ony and b lo c k party c o o r
dinated by neighbors celebrated th e ir
accom plishm ents F rid a y, A ug u st 21 at
11:15 a.m. at the co m e r o f N .E . Sacra
bers o f the c o m m u n ity w h o have as
sisted them in m aking th e ir b lo c k a safer
place to live .
“ W ith o u t the support o f these in d i
vid u a ls, we co u ld never have achieved
a drug-free block. It lo o k a tremendous
am ount o f team w ork to gel results, and
the p o lice and lo ca l o ffic ia ls were very
instrum ental in the process,” said G ary
m ento Street and N .E . M a rtin L u th e r
K in g , Jr. B lvd .
G erald M cFadden, President/C EO
o f V olunteers " j f A m e rica Oregon and
John Rogers o f the M ayors O ffic e pre
sented aw ards to p o lice o ffic e rs and
local o ffic ia ls . The neighbors liv in g in
the area gave the aw ards to honor m em -
In d ia o f G uardian M anagement. N e ig h
bors fro m N.E. Sacramento Street en
listed help from local o ffic ia ls to keep
th e ir neighborhood drug-free, and have
w e lco m e d V o lu n te e rs o f A m e ric a ’ s
M e n ’ s R esidential C enter, an alcohol
and drug treatment program to the neigh
borhood.
F o llo w in g the awards cerem ony a
message from M a y o ra l Candidate Vera
K atz, a perform ance by the Street C o r
n e r S in g e rs and a c o m p lim e n ta ry
barbeque lunch.
V olunteers o f A m e rica is a n a tio n
w id e social service organization w ith
branches in over 200 c o m m u n itie s.
V olunteers o f A m e rica O regon, Inc.
serves the c o m m u n ity through c h ild
care, fa m ily preservation program s, a
shelter fo r homeless women w ith c h il
dren, a senior center, senior health clin ic,
a d u lt day care program , residential a l
co h o l and drug treatm ent fa c ilitie s , a
shelter fo r homeless adolescent g irls,
and a C hristm as Assistance Program .
ow ner was flanked by his corporate
attorneys, C u rtis K in sle y o f Lake Os
wego and P atrick B u tle r o f Portland.
A fte r hearing P O V A ’ s arguments fo r a
p re lim in a ry in ju n c tio n , Judge Kahn
made his ru lin g w ith o u t Jay o ra n y o f his
m any business and in d iv id u a l witnesses
having to give one w ord o f testim ony
“ T h is is o n ly round one. N o w we
are getting ready fo r the tria l w hich may
probably contain an extensive counter
cla im against the P O V A organization
and selected board members, in d iv id u
a lly ” said Jay.
Jay’ s Oregon Business N etw ork
w o rkin g in association w ith Oregon
C onvention and V is ito r Services N et
w o rk has garnered m il 1 ions o f dol lars i n
potential co nvention, v is ito r and to u r
ism leads over the past several years...all
w ith o u t taxpayer funding and continues
to expand each month.
P O V A contcnded in theircom plaint
that Jay’ s operation blew a potential
convention o f the A m erican H ospital
A ssociation in 1994 w hich could have
m ent stro n g ly supporting the action and
expressing the hope that this lim e ju s
tice w ill be served.
The statement came fro m D r. B en
ja m in L . H ooks, the N A A C P ’ s E xecu
tive D ire cto r/C E O , fo llo w in g the an-
nounccm enton Wednesday, August 5th,
w ith v io la tin g his Fourth A m endm ent
protection against unreasonable arrest.
amateur cameraman and w id e ly shown
on television.
It accuses th e ir sergeant o f d e p riv
ing M r. K in g o f his 14th am endm ent
due process rig h ts by fa ilin g to restrain
the o ffic e rs . Each o f the o ffic e rs faces
a m axim um penalty o f ten years in
prison and a $250,000 fin e i f c o n
victed.
A fte r the state verdicts, 14 to 17
F B I agents were assigned fu ll tim e to
that a federal grand ju ry in Los Angeles
had in dicted the o ffic e rs on federal
In his statement, D r. H ooks said:
“ Justice was not served in S im i
VaHcy last A p ril. O u r hope fo r justice
now lies in the federal co u rt where the
charges o f vio la tin g M r. K in g ’ s c iv il
o ffic e rs in v o lv e d have been indicted
rights.
under c iv il rights statues.
“ In the past, we have experience
numerous occasions where, when lo
cal systems o f ju s tic e faltered, there
was recourse to the federal courts.
“ W e arc h opeful that in this fla
grant incident o f p olice abuse, that
those whose fa ith in the ju d ic ia l system
was shaken by the incom prehensible
verdicts rendered e a rlie r, w ill fin d rea
son to once again believe in that sys
tem .”
A t a state tria l in S im i V a lle y , Ca.,
the o ffic e rs were found not g u ilty on
A p ril 29th by a p re d o m in a n tly w h ite
ju ry o f a ll charges except one against a
single o ffic e r, Law rence P ow ell. Here,
the ju ry was deadlocked and P ow ell
faces re tria l on O ct. 19th fo r excessive
use o f force.
The acquittals touched o f f violence
in Los A ngeles that le ft m ore than 45
people dead and damage estim ated at
$8(X) m illio n .
S p e cifica lly, the federal indictm ent
charges the three o ffice rs w ho beat M r.
K in g du rin g an arrest in M arch, 1991,
The U.S. Justice D epartm ent be
gan a Federal c iv il rights in ve stig atio n
after the beating o f M r. K in g on M arch
3, 1991, that was videotaped by an
w o rk on the case.
The firs t count o f the in d ictm e n t
names O ffic e rs P o w e ll, Theodore J.
B riseno and T im o th y W in d - w ho are
seen s trik in g M r. K in g on the vid e o
tape.
I l charges that “ w h ile acting under
the c o lo r o f the law s” o f C a lifo rn ia they
“ d id w illf u lly strike w ith batons, k ic k
and stomp Rodney G lenn K in g ” thereby
v io la tin g a 1909 federal law m aking it
a crim e to deprive any person o f a
C o n stitu tio n a l rig h t “ under c o lo r o f
la w .”
Sgt. Stacey E. K oon was charged
in die second count w ith w illfu lly fa il
ing “ to prevent this u n la w fu l assault,”
thereby d e p riv in g M r. K in g o f “ the
rig h t to be kept free fro m harm w h ile in
o ffic ia l custody.”
Since 1988, die Justice D epart
m ent has file d at least 123 federal c iv il
W hat a ctu a lly happened is that the
M a rrio tt H otel fa ile d to respond to Jay’s
n o tific a tio n in m id June o f the potential
business because they were busy han
d lin g the guests during P ortland T ra il
blazer P layoffs, N B A D ra ft and T o u r
nament O f The A m e rica ’ s event and
d id n ’ t consider his contact as being a
p rio rity at the tim e. A black woman,
Precious James o f the A m erican H o sp i
tal A ssociation was scheduled to testify
at the F riday hearing via telephone
how ever at the last m inute she was
unable to do so. D uring the tria l Jay’ s
attorneys presented surprising docu
ments revealing that P O V A has lost
various conventions over the past tw o
years am ounting to over $10 m illio n
business fo r the city.
The bigger picture is the actual
business names being used. People both
inside and outside o f P O V A c la im that
R oy was ju s t a smarter business person
than the $3.8 m illio n per year organiza
tio n and u tilize d an 800 num ber to
make it easier fo r prospective cu sto m
ers to ca ll fro m a ll over the country.
P O V A cried fo u l after fin d in g o u tla y ’ s
operation was co n tin u a lly g ro w in g in
success and recognition. State o f O r
egon corporation d ivisio n records re
vealed that in 1988 the association
changed their name from Greater P o rt
land C onvention and V isito rs A ssocia
tion to Portland Oregon V isito rs A sso
cia tio n , thereby purposely o m ittin g the
w o rk “ convention” , leading people to
believe that they are no longer a con
vention organization, o nly a visito rs
group. Jay said “ it was ju s t another bad
business m ove by A hlers and his group
o f people” , consequently prospective
con venlion and meeting planners., from
outside o f O regon, that ca ll d ire cto ry
assistance are o n ly referred to one o f
Albina Head Start
N ational E a rly C h ild h o o d experts
spoke at a conference M onday, A ugust
24, to teachers and adm inistrators from
P ortla n d P u b lic S chools, N o rth w e st
R egional E ducational L a boratory and
local Head Start program s. These ex
perts w ill share practices that have proven
successful in transitioning Head Start
ch ild re n and fam ilies into public schools.
The presenters were: Barbara Bowm an
D ire c to r o f Graduate Studies at the
E rickso n Institu te , L o yo la U n ive rsity,
C hicago, Illin o is ; M a u rice Sykes D irec-
to r o f E arly C h ild h o o d Programs fo r the
D is tric t o f C o lu m b ia P ublic Schools;
L in d a L ik in s d ire cto r o f governm ent
A ffa irs fo r the N ational Head Start A s
sociation and A n ita M cC lanahan Early
C h ild h o o d E ducation C oordinator fo r
NAACP Applauds Filing Of Federal
Charges In Rodney King Case
W ith the in d ictm e n t on federal
charges o f the fo u r Lo s A ngeles p o lice
o ffic e rs in vo lve d in the Rodney K in g
beating, the N A A C P has issued a state
resulted in $150,000 o f business.. “ N o t
true” , says Jay.
the Oregon D epartm ent o f E ducation.
A lb in a Head Start hosted the “ T ra n
sition T o E xce lle n ce ” conference M o n
day, August 24, at the Red L io n Jantzen
Beach.
The tw o year federally funded Tran
sitio n Project is designed to dem on
strate and evaluate an in n o vative m odel
fo r p ro vid in g a com prehensive in te
grated program o f education and sup
p o rt services to children and fa m ilie s
beginning in Head Start and co n tin u in g
through grade 3 in the p u b lic schools.
The pro je ct is designed to prom ote
c h ild re n ’ s physical, social, em otional
and co g n itive developm ent by p ro v id
ing appropriate and consistent support
to them in th e ir fa m ily , school and
social environm ents.
Jay’ s operations e n title d “ P ortland O r
egon C onvention and V is ito r Services
Bureau” since they are the o n ly one
1 isted in Portland ’ s w h i te pages as con -
vention services. “ T h e way that I lo o k
at it, his listin g s, alone, has saved us a
lo t o f business that we n o rm a lly m ay
not have received” said one hotel o p
erator. Jay’ s accom plishm ents in the
industry are supported by w ritte n and
verbal testim onials fro m local hotels,
tour operators, m eeting planners and
actual conventions. M a jo r hotels such
as The H ilto n , S h ilo Inns, Benson and
others aggressively supported his nom i
nation fo r the annual award.
Jay says that his O regon Business
N e tw o rk and a ffilia te s have distributed
hundreds o f leads and referrals to b usi
nesses, both large and sm a ll, through
out the state over the past several years.
Some o f the recipients are o r were
members o f P O V A w ho had never re
ceived such opportunities and n o tific a
tions from P O V A before. Some fo rm e r
P O V A business members alleges that
P O V A ’ s a dm inistration competes w ith
th e ir o w n members in m any service
categories w h ile accepting thousands
o f d o lla rs in m em bership and other
fees, w h ich is a d ire ct c o n flic t o f in te r
est. O ther sm aller businesses cla im that
P O V A doesn’ t g ive their members any
real o p p ortunities and o n ly lets them
kn o w about w hat is considered “ le ft
overs” .
Jay cla im s that he was targeted by
A h le rs and other board members be
cause he refused to take a back seat on
m a jo r issues regarding the associations
b yla w s, election procedures, a ffirm a
tiv e action, m em bership business o p
portun ¡ties and other elemen ts o ver the
past several years. A s the o rig in a l ch a ir
man o f P O V A ’ s m em bership c o m m it
tee Jay helped brin g the organization to
continued on page 8
1992/93
School Year
Enrollment
for Pre K
(4 year olds)
is now
occurring at:
Beach 280-6236
Boise E liot 280-6171
Humboldt 281-8797
King 280-6456
Vernon 280-6415
Woodlawn 280-6282
Please contact your neighbor
hood School. N ow is also the time
to enroll Kindergarten through fifth
grade students.
U.S. Bank Unveils Low-Cost Finance
Program For Oregon School Districts
H u rt by budget cuts and fe w e r tra
d itio n a l fin a n cia l sources fo r sm all but
v ita l projects, Oregon school d istricts
now can obtain tailor-m ade, lo w rate
fin a n cin g through “ F lcxF u n d ,” an in
nova tive cooperative finance program
developed by U.S. Bank.
Endorsed by the Oregon School
Boards Association, FlcxF und enables
schools to bundle their fin a n cing needs
in to one large po o l, thereby reducing
costs, in clu d in g interest rates, to all
p a rticip a tin g borrowers.
U.S. B a n k’ s program grew o u t o f
the need to create affo rd a b le fin a n cing
fo r the maintenance o f school property
and the purchase o f real and personal
property. “ I t ’ s becom ing very d iffic u lt
fo r schools w ith needs less than SI
m illio n to secure cost-e ffe ctive fin a n c
in g ,” says Jim M a ro lich , vice president
and manager o f p u b lic finance fo r U.S.
Bank. “ F lcxF und provides o p p o rtu n i
ties fo r things lik e new ro o f, a school
bus, copy machines o r com puter e q u ip
m ent.”
rights charges, the m a jo rity against
police o ffic e s fo r b ru ta lity . The c o n v ic
U.S. Bank com bines the districts*
fin a n cin g needs in to one o ffe rin g , and
issues each d is tric t an in d ivid u a lize d
tio n rale has been about 75 percent,
authorities say.
repaym ent plan. Based on the volum e
o f a c tiv ity , U.S. B ank also negotiates
there is no minimum or m axim um f i
m ore com petitive legal and trustee fees,
and passes the savings on to the school
d istricts. The cooperative fin a n c in g
nance amount. Flex Fund requests aver
age less than $1 m illion.
FlexFund is financed through the
sale o f Certificates o f Participation
(C O P). COPs are sim ilar to municipal
program s im p lifie s com plicated fin a n
cia l transactions that often preclude
m any districts from the process.
“ FlcxF und is an attractive fin a n c
ing alternative fo r d istricts w h ich aren’ t
lo o kin g fo r m u lti-m illio n -d o lla r im
provem ents,” says M a ro lic h . “ Instead
o f each d is tric t paying fees separately,
F lcxF u n d a llo w s schools to com bine
th e ir requests and share financing costs.
Standardized documents and paym ent
dates also help keep costs d o w n .”
Savings arc shared by taxpayers as
w e ll. F or exam ple, a school d is tric t
b o rro w in g $500,000 at 10 percent in
terest fo r 10 years through a fin a n cial
in stitu tio n pays a total o f $81,372.700
per year. The same school d is tric t using
F lcxF u n d pays 7 percent (com parably),
w ith no a d d ition a l costs, fo r an annual
total o f $71,188.75, saving taxpayers
$ 101,839.50 over the life o f the fin a n c
notes or bonds, and are sold in $ 5 ,0 0 0
denominations to investors looking for
tax-free income.
In the last year, U .S. Bank also has
entered into multiple-yearcontracts with
the State o f Washington, C ity o f Se
attle, Washington School D irectors
A ssociation, Special Districts Associa
tion o f Oregon and C alifornia School
Boards Association Finance C orpora
tion.
“Wc are experiencing tremendous
success with this program,” says Debra
Brusic, program coordinator fo r U .S .
Bank. “W e look forward to supporting
additional educational needs through
out the state."
U.S. Bank o f Oregon is a subsid
U.S. B a n k’ s F lcxF u n d program
iary o f U.S. Bancorp, the largest f i n n -
cial services company headquartered in
the Northwest, with assets o f $ 1 9 3
billion as o f June 3 0 ,1 9 9 2 . O ther U .S
may also be used to refinance e xistin g
o b lig a tio n s at lo w e r rates. A lth o u g h
Bancorp subsidiaries include U .S. Bank
ofWashington U.S. Bank o f C alifornia.
ing.