P age A3
T he P ortland O bserver • J une 15, 1994
Obtain Free Legal Advice
iy Calling Tel-Law
O mari K enyatta , J.D .
PERMISSION OF O .S.B .
by
with
Tel-law is easy and conve
nient to use. Just follow these
sim ple directions:
1. Check the Tel-Law topics
listed below , and note the num ber of
the specific message you wish to
hear.
p
2. H ave pencil and p ap er
handy in case you wish to take notes
while listening to the message.
3. Call 620-3000 from the
Portland area or 1-800-452-4778
from outside o f Portland. You can
call TEL-LA W 24 hours a day. 7
days a week. A touch tone phone
will allow you direct access to the
TEL-LAW system. If you are using
arotary (pulse) phone, you m ustcall
between 8am - 5pm, weekdays and
a TEL-LAW operator will assist
you.
4. The recorded introduc tion
will give you additional instruc
tions. You simply press the four-
num ber code for the topic you want
and the message will begin within a
few seconds. You do not have to
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end to enter the topic number.
5. At the end o f the message,
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ply press another four-number code.
FA M IL Y L A W
7001
M arriage in O regon
7005
Dissolution o f marriage
7019
W ho will get child custody
in dissolution o f marriage
7020
How financial support for
a child or spouse is established in
a marriage dissolution
7021
W hat to do if child support
or spousal support (alimony) is
not being paid
7028
General information about
adoptions
7032
Change o f name
7048
Legal information for teen
agers - Problem Solvers program
7056
Financial and legal respon
sibilities o f parents for their chil
dren
7070
Restraining orders and do
mestic violence
7075
Foster care and term ination
o f parental rights
R EA L E ST A T E
7008
Buying and selling real es
tate, Part 1 - listing agreem ent,
earnest m oney agreem ent and clos
ing the sale
7009
Buying and selling real es
tate, Part 11 - title insurance, deeds,
mortgages and contracts
7016
Rights and duties o f tenants
7017
Rights and duties o f land
lords
7059
Foreclosure on real estate
C R IM IN A L
7012
Are you a victim o f mail
order fraud?
7023
Your rights if you are ar
rested, Part I
7024
Your rights if you are ar
rested, Part II - after the arrest
7040
Your rights to a free attor
ney if charged with a crime
7043
Oregon m arijuana law
7061
Victim s com pensation for
Oregon residents
7062
C rim e v ictim s assistance
program for residents o f M ult
nomah, W ashington and Clacka-
mas counties
M ISC E L L A N E O U S
Libel and slander
7022
Liens
7045
W hat is TEL-LAW ?
7051
Access to public records
7058
7064
W hat to do when a close
relative dies
7068
Gay rights
7091
Im m igration law
7093
W hat you should know
about the American Legal System
TAXES
7011
W hat taxes have to be paid
if someone dies
7013
Federal tax benefits for per
sons age 65 or older
7055
IRS audit
7077
Property tax assessm ent
BANKRUPTCY AND CREDIT
7015
Y our rights and responsi
bilities when applying for credit
or loans
7029
How do I take bankruptcy
7030
Can bankruptcy help me?
7044
Is there an alternative to
bankruptcy?
7067
Equal credit opportunity
7069
D ebtors’ rights
7076
Chapter 13 - another type
o f bankruptcy
TRAFFIC
7002
M ust I take a chem ical
breath test?
7003
Should I fight my traffic
ticket?
7035
W hat to do in case o f an
automobile accident
7073 Driving under the influence of
intoxicants (DUI1)
7074
Driving with a suspended
license
YOU AND Y OUR ESTATE
7006
You will
7010
Why probate?
7011
W hat taxes have to be paid
if som eone dies?
7014
W hat is a trust?
7066
W hat is a living will?
7088 Estate planning for parents of
the handicapped
Thank You To The Black
Fireman’s Association
The Rotary Club o f Albina cel
ebrated its 10th A nniversary for their
Peninsula Park Rose Festival Family
Fun Day. This Family Fun Day was
the vision of M adeline Nasbush who
organized a group o f other women to
help with the planning. This event
w hich features the N orth and N orth
east area schools was attended by
more than 1,200 students this year.
Nine schools provided entertainm ent
for their fam ilies and friends. D i
rectly following The Royal Rosanan’s
Portland Rose Festival Junior Court
K nighting and Rose Planting C er
emony. Tw o outstanding 8th grade
students, Tunde Sobomehim from
H arrietTubm an and Kinnikka Drayer
from Ockley G reen were knighted.
Also in attendance at the Family
Fun Day were Mr. Perry, Mr. Harper
and Mr. W illiam Kendrix of the Black
Firefighter Association who made
available a First Aid stand in case any
type of emergency presented itself.
O ver 1,200 students had an opportu-
p e r s p e c tiv e s
The Tobacco Scare:
Real Or Phony?
Some o f the best reading this side
of Shakespeare or Playboy magazine
are the histories o f the social meaning
of various substances ingested or in
haled for pleasurable effects. I have
finished such a book, “Tastes of Para
dise” by a fellow named W olfgang
Schivelbusch (the real name o f the
author of this translation from the
German.)
The delight
ful (or obnoxious)
spices, stimulants
and in to x ic a n ts
discussed range
from the various
forms o f alcohol,
spices, chocolate
and coffee to tobacco and hard drugs.
As a student, I was alw ays intrigued
by those long, hard-to-pronounce
German w ords like this fellow uses -
- “G enussm ittel” is the term for these
histories o f pleasure. The author asks
and answers those basic questions not
posed by anyone involved in the cur
rent media frenzy over tobacco. “ In
what way did these substances affect
the history of man?”
How is it that in the eighteenth
century tobacco was primarily snuffed,
whereas be fore that it had been smoked
in a pipe and, subsequently, in cigars
and cigarettes? W hy, for centuries,
were certain substances — like opium
and hashish -- used freely until near
the end o f the nineteenth century then
suddenly labeled addictive drugs and
prohibited? (D octors lost billions in
prescriptions.)
“Tobacco: The Dry Intoxicant,”
is how the author introduces the re
lated chapter. He quotes an observer
in The Netherlands (1627) whose acid
opinions rival those o f the House
la tin g n a m e s o f A fric a n -A m e ri
cans so th at w e can p ro v id e c la sse s
to a s s is t them w ith o u r go al bein g
th a t m o re A f r ic a n - A m e r ic a n s
have th e o p p o rtu n ity to have a
c a re e r in fire s e r v ic e .”
“T hese firefighters were provid
ing a com m unity service, were very
well received and thanked for being
there,” said Ms. Pittman. “ We actu
ally had two young adult women who
left their nam es to be contacted for
our services,” said Lieutenant W il
liam Kendrix who has been in the fore
front in the recruitm ent and hire o f
African-A m erican firefighters. “This
years. “
W e w ere ta k in g n a m e s o f s tu was just one o f many community
d e n ts an d a d u lts w ho w ere in te r events which is a sm all form o f com
este d in b e c o m in g fire fig h te rs and munity safety and education that our
w ill fo llo w up w ith p ro v id in g in organization, though sm all with ten
fo rm a tio n a b o u t th e e x a m in a tio n men, have made a com m itm ent to be
p ro c e ss an d a s s is t them th ro u g h involved.” Earlier this year, students
th a t p r o c e s s ,” s a id L ie u te n a n t from W hitaker M iddle School can
W illia m K e n d rix , P re sid e n t o f the vassed part o f the neighborhood with
P o rtla n d B lack F ire fig h te rs A s Lieutenant Kendrix to see if fire de
so c ia tio n . “ W e ’ve been a c c u m u tectors were in homes.
nity to clim b aboard a fire engine and
talk to the firefighters about careers in
the fire departm ent. W hat was most
im portant is that for the first time
African-A m erican and other students
were actually able to see and talk to
African-American Firefighters grow
ing up in the city o f Portland. I never
saw an African-A m erican Firefighter
so that was a career that African-
Americans were not steered towards,
said Edna Mac Pittm an. Now in the
city of Portland, there is a total o f ten
A frican-A m erican Firefighters with
only one being hired in the past five
Commissioner Rules in
Discrimination Cases
L a b o r C o m m is s io n e r M ary
W endy Roberts recently handed down
decisions in favor o f the com plain
ants in three discrim ination cases.
T h e c o m m issio n e r a w a rd e d
$42,000 in lost w ages and $ 10,000 in
m ental distress dam ages to Peter
Krcek as com pensation for the dis
crim ination he suffered due to his
national origin. In the m atter o f Yel
low F reight System , Inc. testimony
revealed that one o f K rcek’s supervi
sors m ade num erous negative and
dem eaning com m ents concerning his
national origin (C zechoslovakian)
and finally term inated him for sleep
ing on duty.
Krcek was a dockworkcr at the
North Portland facility o f Yellow
Freight, a K ansas-based interstate
freight carrier business. The day he
was terminated, Krcek was ill, took a
couple o f aspirin, and laid down in an
area behind some stacked freight
w here he was working to nap during
his lunch hour. He did not punch out
on the time clock, but intended to at
the end o f the day, a practice common
at the dockyard. K rcck’s supervisor
caught him sleeping during his lunch
hour. He was fired the same day for
intentionally “ stealin g ” com pany
time. Evidence showed that while
Krcek did sleep at his post, he simply
failed to clock out for his lunch hour,
a practice that m anagem entregularly
excused. He was the only worker ever
fired for sleeping on the job; others
received warnings, but were never
dism issed for it. W hen K rcek’s su
pervisor fired him , he was later over
heard saying, “ we got rid o f that
Czech, finally.”
Roberts writes “because o f that
overt language directed at the com
plainant and because he appeared to
be accorded less consideration than
employees who were not foreign bom,
the forum finds the com plainant’s
national origin played a key role in
his on-the-job treatm ent and d is
charge."
In the m atter o f Glenn and Nancy
A m esen, doing business as Auto
Q uencher, R oberts found that Ed
ward L. Johnson, an A frican-A m eri
can, suffered severe em otional dis
tress when his supervisor called him
a racially dem eaning nam e and told
Johnson’s friend that he had low ex
pectations o f Johnson’s work perfor
mance because “blacks have smaller
brains than w hites.” Shortly thereaf
ter, Johnson left his job at the Medford
automobile service center. The com
m issioner ruled that the racist atlitutc
o f the supervisor created a hostile
work envionm ent and awarded John
son $15,000 in menial distress dam
ages.
“A lm ost 45 years after the prohi
bition o f racial discrim ination in
em ploym ent in O reogn... com plain
ant was subjected to the ultimate pe
jorative for a black man by his white
male supervisor... his anger, upset
and disbelief w ere understandable.
THen he discovered that the same
supervisor was evaluating his progress
based on a vicious racial stereotype.”
In a sexual harassm ent case, a
supervisor’s com m ents and touching
resulted in aw ards o f $30,000 in dam -
ages and over $1,000 in lost wages to
two female bartenders at the Coos
Bay M oose Lodge. The commisioner
found that the lodge lounge supervi
sor made unwelcome advances to his
fem ale em ployees, touched their
breasts and buttocks and made com
ments of a sexual nature to Nancy
T riplett and C harldene Moore.
S he aw a rd e d M o o re $ 1 ,0 0 2
to c o m p e n sa te fo r lo st w ages and
$ 1 5 ,0 0 0 to e a c h c o m p la in a n t for
m e n ta l and e m o tio n a l d is tr e s s
d a m a g e s.
“W orkers are entitled to a d is
crim in atio n and h arassm ent free
w orkplace,” said Roberts. “The issue
here is respect. The law does not
allow the workplace to become a hos
tile environm ent for employcss be
cause of thcri race, national origin or
sex.”
Energy and Com m erce Subcom m it
tee on Health, “I cannot help but
devote a few words to criticizing that
new astonishing fashion that comes
to our Europe from America, and
which m ight be called a fog-drink
ing bout’ which outdoes all other
passions for indulgence in drink, old
or ne w .” (For a long time there was no
name for w hat you did with tobacco
and a ’high’ was
called “dry drunk
enness”.)
T h e n e rv e -
d u llin g
to x in ,
nicotine, is named
for the French am
bassador to Portu
gal, Jean Nicot, who brought tobacco
to France in the 1700s. This early on,
o f course, the importers had not ac
quired the degree o f sophistication
necessary to adulterate the produce
with the end o f making it more addic
tive. American cigarette manufactures
have brought this technique to new
heights, a recent docum ent revealing
that over a hundred ingredients are
routinely added. Thirteen of these
chem icals the Food and Drug Adm in
istration does not allow in foods.
A m odem medical writer (Kurt
Pohlisch) describes the psychology of
smoking in all its complexity: “The
activity o f smoking, is formed by an
extrem ely rich and variable concur
rence o f purposeful and expressive
m o v e m e n ts ... a b r u p tly r e la x e s
c o n d itio n s o f p sy c h o m o to r te n
sio n ; it d e fle c ts irrita tio n , n e r
vousness
in to
a c a lm in g
m o to ric ity . T he n e rv o u s re stle ss
han d fix e s on a p u rp o se ; a c h e e r
ful m o o d , calm an d a sta te o f
c o n te n te d n e ss and s a tis f a c tio n .”
(S o u n d s lik e an " o rg a sm ” to m e .)
All that aside, we are now brought
up against the fact that on an interna
tional scale, the tobacco com panies
are making bigger inroads than the
“ARMS D EA LERS." A ccording to
the New York Times News Service,
“Physicians say the health im plica
tions o f the tobacco boom in A sia are
terrifying. An O xford U niversity e p i
dem iologist has estim ated the annual
world-wide death toll from tobacco
related illnesses will more than triple
over the next two decades -- from
about 3 m illion a year to 10 m illion,
a fifth o f them in C h in a." L o se
America, but win the world.
The forecast for Africa is not any
better (nor for Harlem, Los A ngeles,
W ashington, D.C. or any other inner-
city where the tobacco giants concen
trate their m illion dollar ad c am
paigns on minorities.) In my series on
South Africa, I mention the fact that
a black magazine featured an article
on an African American V ice P resi
dent in charge o f m arketing on the
African continent for Phillip M orris.
Incredibly, the tone and tenor o f this
presentation was “here is a role m odel
for you, black youth. Be a pusher o f
this poison on your brothers and sis
ters, and you, too, will be provided
with a Lear je t and a quarter-m illion
yearly salary.”
By the way, I quit smoking after
50 years; Voice getting too husky for
T.V. That book, “Tastes o f Paradise,”
is by Vintage, 1993. Also, rem em ber
thatcritical book on plants that I cited
before, “ Seeds o f Change: Five Plants
That Transformed M ankind’ by Henry
H obhouse, Harper & Row 1986-87
(Sugar, Q uinine, Cotton, Tea, P o
tato.)
by Sam Pierce
Profiles In Leadership..« cont d.
ilty Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury
quest “ to get the job done,’ she has failure. But through the black middle
left a long line o f accomplishments in class who to their credit refused to
leave, and the leadership o f persons
her political wake.
W hile Kafoury is reluctant to such as Com. Gretchen Kafoury, who
toot her own horn, there are others by the way remained as w ell, our
who are eager to do it for her. W ith community is coming back w ith a
o u t G re tc h e n ’s help my fam ily vengeance, yes, we have yet to rid
ourselves o f all the problems. C rim e
w ouldn’t be in our house,” said
and violence m ust still be num ber one
Kathryn Kester, a southeast Portland
on our list of priorities. There are still
homeowner.
badly needed social service program s
Kafoury has proven that govern
for our youth; in particularly, a resi
ment can do more with less. She
dential drug and alcohol/mental health
believes quality affordable housing is
facility. Nevertheless, because o f lead
the best investment a city can make to
improve neighborhoods. And a drive ership we are well on our way.
through inner northeast Portland these Thanks to individuals like R epre
sentative M argaret Carter and City
days is all it takes to experience that
Com m issioner Gretchen Kafoury.
im provem ent. It w ould take more
In c l o s i n g , s u r e l y D r.
pages than this article will allow to
D
em
in g w ould be p ro u d o f the
share all o f G retchen’s accom plish
:kend m ind you!
L
e
a
d
e rsh ip d isp la y e d by both
According to Com. Kafoury the ments. But the following are some of R e p re se n ta tiv e M a rg a re t C a rte r
pose o f Leadership is to “mobi- the more spectacular ones:
1. A. $1,000,000 investment by an d C ity C o m m issio n e r G r e t
: and inspire.” Kafoury considers
the city leveraged $11,000,000 in c h e n K afo u ry . B ut m o re im p o r
iership that mobilizes and inspires
ta n tly , P o rtla n d and th e s ta te o f
private lending to rescue 352 homes
“em pow ering leadership.” This
O reg o n is a b e tte r p la c e b e c a u se
from bankruptcy court.
d of leadership does not seek rec-
2. A $10,000investm entbythe o f th e ir le a d e rsh ip . A n d I am
11 tion for the sake o f ego or popu-
city' leveraged $800,000 in private c o n f id e n t th a t th e y w ill b e
e, but rather this kind o f leadership
financing for a Down Paym ent Fund aro u n d fo r m any m ore y e a rs “ e x
*a little bit noble.” To Gretchen
to help low-income families to be a c tin g th e s ta n d a rd ” a n d p r o
foury leadership that mobilizes,
v id in g le a d e rsh ip th a t is “ a little
pires, empowers and is a bit noble come homeowners.
3. Developing 1,700 affordable b it n o b le .”
ces one to com m it to a cause that is
Sam Pierce is a freelance writer
side o f self and seeks the better- housing units in Portland neighbor whose colum n appears bi-m onthly.
hoods.
nt o f others.
His work is in the process o f syndi
During the seventies when what
Com missioner Kafoury ’ s sty le is
cation. He can be reached a t (503)
tom line product, not politics, was termed by “Tim e” magazine as
281-9741.
foury has very few equals in the “white flight” from the American cit
a of product. Her political career ies, many though that inner North/1
Northeast Portland as doomed fori
: spanned several years, and in her
z
•« 1
«
__ ! • ___
This w riter has know n Com-
ioner Kafoury for about seven
s and the best word that I know
escribe her is “tenacious” ! I
t it’s Federal Express whose
an declares that “if it absolutely
10 get there overnight, then call
;ral E xpress.” WeU, that slogan
ty m uch sum s up G retchen
□ury; if it Absolutely has to get
e, then give it to Gretchen!
Because the City Council was
ed with the c ity ’s budget mat-
it was difficult for us to get
:ther. N evertheless, I left her my
le num ber, and indicative ol the
»onable hum an being that she is,
cut her restful stay on the coast
t short to call me at home — the
(NU) - Every year, a growing num
ber of missing fathers are being sought,
but not by former wives or federal
agencies looking for child support.
Instead, a new breed of “adult
children" has emerged in the ’90s
with one goal — to find the fathers
who have been missing, sometimes
for decades. Many of these reunions,
even after 20 to 30 years, are posi
tive. happy ones.
According to Steve Shultz, presi Box 84040, V ancouver. W A 98684,
dent of Seekers of the Lost, the main or call 1-800-669-8016.
reason more fathers aren't searching
for their children is they have been
led to believe their children will re
sent them for not "being there.'
W hile there is some resentment, the
overriding need is for a reunion.
Shultz said.
For more inform ation, contact
Seekers of the Lost, Dept NU, P.O.
Say You
Saw It In...
'Qlljc ÿïortliinù
OPbacrücr
« i