■ n
June 29. 1994
Serving the community through cultural diversity
Voimiin XXIV Number 26
Needle Exchange
Combats HIV/AIDS
Youth Earn Summer
Pay
Public and private employers
hire 2,000 youngsters in
summer work program.
A syringe exchange program
to stop the spread of disease
has moved to North/Northeast
Portland.
See Careers, Page B5
See Metro, inside
Women’s Health
After Age 40
Golf Tourney To Help
Youth Club
B appy
F o u r th
For women in their second 40
years, menopause requires
attention to good health.
The Portland Boys and Girls
Club will benefit from the
xxx annual golf tournament
at Heron Lakes Golf Course.
of
d u ly !
See story, Page A6
See Sports, Page B2
25C
Men Learn To Keep Anger ■» „
by
M ichael L eighton
“I think any crime has an anger problem
associated with it,” he said, and the
o th e rs around the room nod in
agreement.
National Home Prices On
Rebound
Home prices across the U.S. rose to 3.4
percent annual rate the first quarter of
1994, according to a survey performed by
the Federal Home Loan Mortgage corp,
and the Federal National Mortgage Asso
ciation. National home prices rose an aver
age 3.3 percent the last 12 months and 16.2
percent the last five years. Inflation rose at
a 2.7 percent annual rate in 1993 and is
expected to climb about 3 percent this year.
“A home worth $100,000 a year ago is
worth $103,400. And that beaks the down
ward pressure homes have been under in
the past,” says Freddie Mac spokesman
Neal McGarity.
Home Owners In South
Are The Least Likely To
Spend On Home
Maintenance
Fifty-six percent of homeowners in the
nation’s Souther region spend money oh
home maintenance, compared to 64 per
cent in the West and Midwest 66 percent in
the Northeast, according to a report from
the U.S. Commerce Department’s Census
Bureau. The researchers say that the South
contains a relatively large number of mo
bile homes, newly built homes and lower
income households, all groups with lower
rates of maintenance and improvements.
For example, 52 percent of homeowners
with incomes of $60,000 or more spent
some money on a home improvement com
pared with 37 percent for homeowners with
incomes less than $20,000. “Therefore,
homeowners in the South are not likely to
do home improvements,” says report au
thor Barbara williams. “However, due to
the large size o f the Southern region, it had
the largest number of households paying
for cither maintenance or home improve
ments,” she said.
These men are discussing how to keep
their tempers under control. Nearly all of
them have hurt someone else, destroyed mar
riages, other personal relationships and com
mitted crimes, because of their own violence
and anger.
“When someone lashes out, they take so
many people down with them,” said another
group member.
Every week, these men meet at Portland ’ s
Men’s Resource Center at 2325 E. Bumside,
to help work out the anger and violence in
their lives.
They represent all walks of life, men of
all ages, from attorneys and medical doctors
to roofers and painters.
Many if most of the participants were
ordered to serve in the program, because their
behavior got so bad. Some of them found
themselves before a court, convicted in some
sort of battery.
Few will admit their problems on their
own and seek help.
It’s serious business, because in some of
the worst cases, violence leads to serious
physical injuries, even murder.
“I slapped by 11-year-old son, that’s what
brought me here,” said John Hood of Port
land.
But the anger is Hood’s life started much
earlier.
Now divorced, he recalls the stormy rela
tionship which once marked his daily life.
“For me, there was a lot of verbal abuse,”
he said.
Both Hood and his former wife knew
exactly what to say to each other, what buttons
to push, to start a destructive and angry
argument, he said.
“She knew exaedy what to say and I could
do the same to her,” he recalled. “It became
natural and I looked forward to pushing those
Men in a Portland group therapy session work out the anger in their lives by addressing domestic abuse and taking
responsibility for their behavior.
buttons.”
Hood believes much of today’s problems
with drugs and crime has to do with violent
relationships.
He’s remorseful for the image of family
life, he himself, portrayed at home.
“It’s sad, for the kids to see mom and dad
fighting all them time and they begin to think
that’s natural,” he said.
Teaching anger control in school would
help, he adds.
One of the tools to control anger is to learn
Furse Calls For Passage Of 1
In the a fte rm a th o f the tragic m u rd e r
o f N icole B ro w n Sim pson, R ep. E liza b e th
o th e r c o m m u n ity o rg a n iz a tio n s to w o r k
to g e th e r to p re v e n t a n d s to p d o m e s tic
Furse jo in ed about a dozen colleagues and
m em bers o f the N a tio n a l O rgan izatio n fo r
W o m e n a t a C a p ito l H ill news conference,
v io le n c e a b u s e .
R ep. Furse m ade the fo llow ing state
calling fo r passage o f th e Violence A gainst
W o m e n A c t ( V A W A ), now pending as
p a r t o f th e C rim e B ilL
F n r s e ’ s d o m e s tic v io le n c e
b ill,
m ent a t th e news conference:
' ‘Domestic violence is a problem th a t
potentially strikes a ll wom en, w hether they
a re ric h o r p o o r. I t m akes the place that
should be safe - th e ir ow n home - unsafe.
w h ic h passed th e H o u s e la s t f a l l a n d is
in c lu d e d in th e V A W A , m o tiv a te s p o
lic e , v ic tim s ’ a d v o c a te s , m e d ic a l a n d
NNPA And Black Press
Still Hold Complaints
Against Denny’s
Although Denny’s parent company,
Flagstar Companies, has settled a suit
against them by thousands of black custom -
ers with $46 million, two major black orga
nizations arc still not happy with Denny’s.
In 1993, Flagstar made an agreement with
the N AACP to do nearly $ 1 billion worth of
business with blacks in a variety of fields
including professional services, purchas
ing, marketing, the supplying of materials
and products and franchises. The NAACP
says that “This has not been fulfilled.” The
National Newspaper Publishers Associa
lion (NNPA) says that an agreement was
m ade by F lagstar chairm an, Jerom e
Richardson, to “Do $1 million worth of
business with the black print media. They
too say that the term of their agreement
have not been met. The NNPA and the
NAACP say that Flagstar and Denny’s
officials will have to come back to the table
before they will consider the agreements
have been made whole.
A c t to help wom en feel safe in th e ir own
A2
lence is not going to get you what you want.”
The M en ’s R esource C enter is a p ri
vate counseling agency, certified as a
state m ental health provider. It has one
of the largest dom estic violence program s
in the U n ited S ta tes, with 17 group
therapy counseling groups and about 200
men en ro lled in anger m anagem ent at
any one time.
Next week: The profiles of abusive per
sons and taking responsibility and being ac
countable for destructive behavior.
Women Act
•la s t year in P o rtla n d , 22 wom en died
fro m d o m e s t ic v io le n c e abuse, and o f those
2 2 ,2 0 had restrain in g orders. W e m ust do
m o re . D u rin g th a t same tim e, m ore wom en
died from domestic violence abuse than by
m urders from gang members. W e must do
m ore.
“ M y domestic violence bill, which is
included in the Violence Against W om en
A ct, helps to b re a k this cycle o f abuse. T h e
men and wom en o f the House and Senate
have acted to p rotect women fro m violence,
homes.
an d this b ill must be passed.”
T h e r e a re m iu o r d iffe re n c e s b e
tw e e n th e H ouse a n d S en ate v e rs io n s
o f th e V A W A . T h e S enate v e rs io n
a llo w s w o m e n to sue ab nsers based on
g e n d e r d is c r im in a t io n . I t a ls o in
clu d es m o re m o n ey f o r this p ro b le m .
T h e b ill is now in c o n fe re n c e as th e
H ou se an d Senate w o r k o u t d if f e r
ences b e tw e e n th e b ills .
T h e C rira e B ill is expected to be passed
w ith in the next few weeks.
City Council
Fattens Own Pay
Urban League Leads The Way
In Outreach And Support For Sexual Minority Youth
The Urban League of Portland’s slogan
is “Creating Community Solutions. The
Urban League’s youth and family staff saw
that there was a need for an outreach and
support group directed specifically toward
sexual minority youth on the east side of
Portland, and created “Rainbow Services” in
response.
Youth and Family Services Counselor
Shala Moaydei, who holds a Masters Degree
in Psychology, heads up the Rainbow Pro
gram which offers a positive peer support
group for gay, lesbian and bisexual youth,
homophobia education in high schools, HIV/
AIDS education and individual and family
counseling. Goals of the program are to re
duce the number of lesbian and gay teens who
run away from home, work as prostitutes,
drop out of school, become HIV infected or
commit suicide.
Moaydei says, “the problems of lesbian
and gay youth in North and Northeast Port
land arc serious, and need to be addressed
from an early-intervention perspective. Our
program is heavily influenced by a mediation
mentality When a young person comes out to
his or her parents, we arc available to help
mediate the situation, should the parents need
education or the young person need support,
By being available with education, we can
assist the family through what can too often be
a very stressful, if not totally disruptive time.”
The care and health of the family unit is
one of The Urban League ’ s primary program -
matic goals. Helping sexual minority youth
integrate into society will reduce the stress on
their families. Not only docs the Rainbow
program provide support for the youth, it is
designed to provide support to the entire
family system.
---------- 11 .* ...-.:..
EDITORIAL
how to identify it. The body will give out signs.
“In my case my nose flares,” Hood said.
The men learn to channel their anger to
keep it in check. Taking time out to settle the
nerves, exercising and diet will help.
They talk out the importance of being
accountable for their behavior, being disci
plined in life and knowing the consequences
of being violent.
Hood said too often men use violence in
a false attempt to prove their manhood.
“But that’s not manhood,” he said. “Vio
VANCOUVER
A4
Moaydei says, “Schools are one place
where lesbian, gay youth and bisexual youth
have a particularly difficult time. They expe
rience extreme social isolation, having no one
to
talk —,
to; -------------
emotional isolation, feeling - dis-
»-------
lanced from family and peers because of their
sexual identity; and cognitive isolaüon, hav-
ing a lack of access to good information about
sexual orientation and homosexuality.
The Rainbow program features a weekly
support group for sexual minority youth, which
includes a series of eight education work
shops led by professionals with expertise in
various subjects including AIDS, substance
abuse, school issues, religion, identity con
flicts, self-esteem and family. The program
also has an ongoing commitment to bringing
education about sexual minority youth to area
The Portland City Council in adjust
ing to ever increasing cost-of-living voted
to add more “fats” to their pay checks.
The raise is at 3.6 percent of salary, an
adjustment based on the most recent fig-
uresby the federal government which shows
cost-of-living has jumped in the Portland
area.
The increase will start July 1. The
raise also was negotiated in new labor
contracts with city unions and will be
given to the city’s 900 non-union employ
ees.
The Mayor will now take home
$80,746 annually, the four City Commis
sioners will receive $68,016 and City Au
ditor Barbara Clark will have her salary
increased to $63,898.
▼
Continued to page A4
Continued to page A4
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HEALTH
SPORTS
A6
B2
ENTERTAINMENT
B3
RELIGION
CLASSIFIEDS
B4
B6