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T he P ori la n d O bserver • S eptember 11. 1996
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P age A5
Economic Development-Criminal Justice Style, Part III
by
P rof . M c K inley B i rt
I here has been an overwhelming
response from black readers across
the nation as their own press pursues
a courageous course in pursuing a
lull disclosure o f the agencies driv
ing the agenda for imprisonment o f
huge numbers o f young black males.
The public alarm has been height
ened no end by the documented rev
elations that the U.S. Government is
the country's biggest drug dealer.
The ‘CIA Crack/Cocaine Enterpris
es Inc.’ can not deny a connection or
responsibility for the ever-darkening
hue o f the incarcerated-as great as
47% black in some areas. The na
tion’s police are angry and frustrat
ed.
Now, the entire world knows and
as is indicated by the foreign press
already on Portland news stands, it is
quite shaken and apprehensive to
find that the boastful LEADER OF
I HE FREE WORLD delivered tens
o f billions o f dollars worth o f narcot
ics and automatic weapons to the
disadvantaged and under-educated
o f is major cities. Will the real terror
ists please stand?
Economists at several Washing
ton “think tanks” along with investi
gative reporters for eastern dailies
are quite busy crunching numbers
and projecting the new fiscal policies
that will have to be put in place,
several journalists seem to be savor
ing a Pulitzer Prize in the Watergate
mode as the 'tote up the bill’ in recent
columns. “Let’s see here, in roughly
fifteen years the total take would
have to be half a trillion dollars—or
more!”
“Now that’s enough money to
overthrow a lot o f governments,”
muses one nosey reporter in his spec
ulations. And you can be, he is sniff
ing a Pulitzer when he theorizes fur
ther that “this shadowy government
agency, the CIA, keeps two sets o f
books and really is no, accountable
to anybody.
In light o f the most recent revela
tions, may we toy with the idea that
there may be some connection to the
growing call for dismantling the In
ternal Revenue Service?" the report
er surmises. “ Perhaps the ‘spooks’
have their own people in Congress."
The “Letters-,o-the-Editor” col
umns in both the black and white
press indicate that, while the public
is not asking the immediate release
o f large numbers o f deliberately un
derprivileged and undereducated
young black men, they are crunching
their own numbers and reaching some
startling and unpleasant conclusions.
“Universally, we have been had, both
white and black ! What is to be done?”
Many Americans are absolutely
overwhelmed when they finally com
prehend the secret governm ents’
machinations over the last fifteen
years—they have escalated the eco-
nomic burden o f both entitlements
and other aid to the poor in an astro
nom ical fashion. W elfare, food
stamps, ADC. WIC, countless social
programs that have been initiated a,
one time or another under the grandi
ose mantra o f "The Great Society”
are seriously threatened. People are
frightened and they should be.
So it is that the naive and the
ingenuous, along w ith the hypocrites,
engage in fierce and energetic debate
over "family values”, even the Con
gress and Presidents.
But it is the federal government
itself that has welded social and for
eign policy info a murderous union,
created thousands o f widows and
orphans and other victims o f urban
w arfare-destroying tens o f thou
sands o f families and placing an
equal number o f black men behind
bars in A m erica’s major "Growth
Industry”.
What can you look for? Remem
N. Carolina picks up pieces
from Hurricane Fran
B y J im L oney
North Carolina residents began
returning to soaked and battered
homes on Sunday to fa c e a huge
clearing-up jo b after Hurricane
Fran.
Dozens I ined up at hardware stores
to buy chainsaws and other repair
tools. Others whose homes were de
stroyed sought food at church-run
kitchens.
Convoys o f trucks streamed into
the Wilmington area to fix utility
poles, replace hundreds o f miles
(kilometres) o f downed power lines,
repair roads and haul away fallen
trees and debris.
Washington D.C. was bracing it
self for the fall-out from Fran as
rising floodwaters along the Potomac
River threatened the nation’s capital
on Sunday.
After Fran dumped four inches
( 10 cm) o f rain in the capital and up
to 14 inches (35 cm) in outlying
areas, forecasters predicted a flood
surge o f 13 to 15 feet (4-4.5 metres)
in the wealthy Georgetown section
o f the city and up to 34 feet (10
metres) at Harpers Ferry, West Vir
ginia.
Rising flood waters also threat
ened to close the main road to Na
tional Airport, the city’s domestic
airport.
Hurricane Fran cut a swathe o f
destruction from the southeastern end
homes in North Topsail Beach foi
o f North Carolina on Cape Fear,
missing people.
where it came ashore, to the north
“ W e’re going house to house or
west o f the state.
the beach looking for people whc
At least 15 people were killed in
might have been trapped. W e’re find
the state, including a firefighter, “and
ing people — they’re scared. They
there may be m ore,” said Sara
were freaked out by the storm,” said
Kempin, a spokeswoman for North
Marian Kleinman, a spokeswoman
Carolina Emergency Management
for Onilow County.
Centre.
An elderly woman who was found
Some drowned, others were ki I led
floating on a mattress in a marsh near
when trees fell on their cars or hous
Surf City after the storm was in crit
es, she added.
ical condition, reports said. Her trail
Local authorities said they were
er home was destroyed.
beginning to allow residents to re
As National Guard troops pa
turn to Carolina Beach and Kure
trolled the islands, bulldozers scraped
Beach, two seaside towns on Plea
sand from beach and roads. Diggers
sure Island o ff Wilmington.
scooped chunks o f crumbled houses
They had been barred since Thurs
and slabs o f broken asphalt out ofthe
day because electric, water and sew
way.
er services were severed and many
"M ajor roads have been cleared.
properties were still extremely un
Almost all the county and city roads
safe, said officials.
are open,” said Bruce Shell, spokes
A 24-hour curfew was in effect for
man for W ilmington’s New Hanover
both towns and a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
County. As many as 400,000 people
curfew was imposed on the rest o f
remained w ithout electricity and trail
New Hanover County. Authorities
er loads o f generators sold out in
said schools would remain closed on
minutes.
Monday while damage was assessed.
The W ilmington City Council
In Wrightsville Beach, a town on
passed an emergency ordinance on
a barrier island off Wilmington, offi
Saturday to prevent price gouging,
cials said it would be at least three
making it punishable by a $500 fine
days before residents could return
or 30 days in jail. W ilson’s Outdoor
because o f safety concerns.
Equipment in Raleigh, where lines
On T opsail Island, north o f
snaked around the corner store, had
Wi Imington, rescue workers searched
sold more than 400 chainsaws.
ber how I concluded my July 3 Per
spectives column9 As in the case of
slavery there is always a ‘cover sto
ry’ to explain away or justify the
exploitation or oppression o f a peo
ple; "IQ, laziness, genes". You de
liberately program them to fail and
manipulate their circumstances as did
the British in India.
Consequently, Rudyard Kipling
announced his famed description of
the indigenous population, ‘T h e
White M an's Burden". The British,
o f course, were in the process o f
extracting tri I lions o f dollars in labor
and natural resources from their “bur
dens” .
We come now to that paragon of
virtue and family values, that Martha
Stewart of moral goodness, Mr Wil
liam Bennett—the man who has sold
2.3 million copies o f his anthology of
moral tales, “The Book o f Virtues” .
Apparently, it pays well to be closely
acquainted with ’virtues’, two best
<
selling sequels, a TV cartoon show
and a 40 thousand-a-speech lecture
circuit Not to mention the Disney
film
But it might do you well to re
member that this is the same William
Bennett who was Education Secre
tary for President Reagan and, then,
DRUG CZAR for President Bush
How well-connected can you be in
all the right echelon of government
and not know w hat’s going on around
you? Maybe it’s all ‘virtual reality ’,
unless you are in prison
A subscriber from eastern Oregon
has called to “...remind you that
you’re only talking about a tiny per
centage o f a minute fraction o f the
federal workforce.”
A local reader suggest that the
corporate press w ill quickly drop the
ball on this one—perhaps pursuing
the Farra Khan/Libya connection as
a diversion "Remember the O.J.
Simpson on gambit.”
G q
Walnut Park
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Public input sought on transportation planning
Officials from the Oregon Depart
ment o f Transportation will hold two
open house meetings next week to
solicit public input on management
objectives for transportation modes
on the Portland-Cannon Beach Junc
tion Corridor Plan.
These meetings will be held Mon-
day (Sept.9) at the Cannon Beach
City Hall, and Thursday (Sept. 12) at
the North Plains Community Center
located at Northwest Hillcrest Street
and Northeast 31 Ith Avenue. Both
meetings are scheduled from 4 to 8
p.m.The informational meetings are
part o f the first place o f developing a
long-range corridor plan on U.S. 26 W
between Portland and the Cannot
Beach Junction, according to Regiot
I Manager Bruce Warner.
I’he local public is encouraged tc
attend anytime between 4 and 8 p.m
The meeting locations are accessible
to persons with disabilities.
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