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I he P ortland O bserver • J anuary 29, 1997
An aid to locate vital records
V i tai records are j ust that... vital.
We need access to them.
In this age of bureaucratic docu­
mentation, everyone has need of
copies of records o f birth, death,
marriage or divorce. An applica­
tion for benefits from the Veterans
Administration or Social Security,
a passport or marriage license re­
quires not only the information in
the records but usual ly copies of the
records themselves.
All these records are stored per­
manently by municipalities, coun­
ties. states and the Federal govern­
ment. We all know this, but where
each document is kept frequently
unknown.
The Consumer Education Re­
search Center, a national non-prof­
it consumer group, found there was
little uniform ity on w here the
records were available and the costs.
In some states, birth records are
kept by the city and in others by the
county or state. To further com pli­
cate matters, often older records
are held in different places than
current ones. In addition, the ad­
dresses where the records are kept
arc changed quite often.
The consumer group found many
people had difficulty in locatingthe
records they needed. Often, it was
necessary to make expensive long
distance calls just to find out where
to write, what information was re­
quired and how much money to send.
For that reason CERC has been pub­
lishing a book entitled Where To
W rite W orldwide For Vital Records
which contains a state-by-state list­
ing o f the addresses and telephone
numbers o f the archive where each
record can be found, the cost of a
copy of the document and sample
form letters containing all the infor­
mational needed to get these and
othet vital documents. For these
needing information from foreign
countries, the book contains a list of
government offices where you can
get help in locating vital records
kept in almost every country. Even
U.S. citizens born overseas, on a
ship or aircraft can locate the place
where their records are kept.
CERC found that many people
have used previous editions to locate
their family trees or roots. For those,
the book includes informational on
the Family History Library of the
Mormon Church. This library con­
tains over 200,000 volumes of fam­
ily history records and a list of al­
most a quarter-million people who
are willing to share information to
help you find your family roots.
CERC has just released an updat­
ed 1996 edition. To get a copy ol the
useful book, send $8.97 (plus $2
s&h) to Consum er Center-D ocu­
ments, 1980 Springfield Ave.m
Maplewood, NJ 07040 or call 8(H)-
872-0121 with credit card. More
information can be found on the
W o rld
W id e W eb
h ttp ://
www.planet.net/cerc
Robert L. Berko, executive di­
rector of CERC says that originally
the bixik was published to satisfy
the needs of persons applying for
various benefits but many others
have found it useful. He has re­
ceived letters from libraries, coro­
ners, law enforcement, social agen­
cies. credit grantors, collection
agencies, slock ownership tracers,
lawyers, persons searching for
missing heirs, adoptees and those
interested in searching their family
roots.
All these and others have found
use for a book that helps them
locate and prove the status of indi­
viduals.
Many times documents can be
used to prove things other than
what they record. For instance, one
woman wrote to the group telling
them that a birth certificate for her
child proved her residence at that
time in the United States and helped
her become eligible for legal resi­
dence and citizenship.
Second Annual
Kindergarten Showcases
Portland C itizens for O regon
Schixils (PCO S) Education Fund and
Schools for the City have joined
together to present two K indergar­
ten Showcases to help educate par­
ents of pre-school children on the
options available to them within the
Portland Public School system:
• East Side-February 19, 6:45-
8:30 p.m. at Fern wood Middle
School
• West Side—February 20, 6:45-
8:30 p.m. at Bridlemile Elementary
School.
The PCOS Education f und and
Schixils for the City, non-profit, par­
ent-based organizations promoting
records of black slaves owned by Indi­
ans. In addition they have land records,
passenger lists, naturalization records,
passports records, and much more.
The address of all Regional Offices
of National Archives are listed as well
as their computer online address.
Increasing numbers of people are
lixxking for parents. For those search­
ing parents who moved away, the
quest is usually not difficult.
For adopted children looking for
birth parents, the search is very diffi­
cult. They have no name to start their
search because birth and hospital
records are changed to reflect the
name of the adoptive parents. But
don’t lose hope of finding your birth
parents.
There are records that are not
changed and ways to ft nd the true facts
behind the altered records. In addi­
tion, there are several hundred orga­
nizations that can and will help you in
your search.
These organizations provide ad­
vice and assistance from people who
have made many successful searches
to locate birth parents.
How to Find People with Informa­
tion from Public Records includes the
names and addresses of these organi­
zations as well as tactics for making
your search successful.
Many people would like to know
what is in the files kept by government
agencies such as the FBI. The book
contains all the rules that govern get­
ting copies of documents about your­
self or any one else.
Makes 8 servings.
—
Prep time: 40 minutes (Ready in
1 hour 40 minutes).
1. Heat oven to 375 F. Spray
!3X9-inch (3-quarl) baking dish
with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Spray large nonstick skillet
with cooking spray. Add onion,
bell peppers and garlic; cover and
cook over medium heat for 5 min­
utes. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon each ol
the basil and oregano. Place hall ol
vegetable mixture in medium bow l;
set aside.
said Bobbie Regan, PCOS board
m em ber. "T he P o rtland P ublic
Schixil District oi lers a wide variety
of high-quality, innovative options.
We want to make parents aware of
these so they make the right choice
for their child.
The Portland Public School Dis­
trict has about a dozen Early C hild­
hood Education Centers (ECECs)
offering pre-kindergarten and all-
day kindergarten program s; tw o
Head Start programs; two year-round
schools; and seven "m agnet” and
"im m ersion" programs offering in­
tensive language, arts and science
programs.
• 1/4 cup water
• 1(1 -lb.) pkg. Green Giant /• rozen Cut Leaf Spinach,
cooked, well drained
• / ( 1.5-oz ) container light ricotta cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
• 9 uncooked no-boil lasagna noodles
• I (8-oz.) pkg. sliced mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• I !/4 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• I 1/4 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
• 1/2 lb. ground beef round steak
• I (26-oz. I ja r spaghetti sauce
• / cup sliced fresh mushrooms
Looking for someone?
Every day thousands of people are
searching for other people. Some are
adopted children looking for birth
mothers, others are looking for miss­
ing spouses, their ancestors or miss­
ing friends, Many people think these
searches require expensive private
detectives or other professionals. In
mosteases this is not so. Usually these
detectives get their information from
the same public records that you can
use.
A new book by Robert L. Berko,
Executive Director of the non-profit
Consumer Education Research Cen­
ter will help amateur searchers in
their quests for missing persons, birth
parents or information about them­
selves that government bureaus have
in their files.
The book, How to Find People
W ith Inform ation From Public
Records, is available for $19.95 from
Consumer Center, 1980 Springfield
Ave., Maplewixxl, NJ 07040 or by
calling 1-800-872-0121.
Many searches are as simple as
looking lor the name in a database
containing all telephone records in
the United Stales. There are several
computer programs for sale that con­
tain this information. If you don’t
want to go to this expense, Mr. Berko’s
organization has a database ol 80
million records and can do the search
for you.
Other public records that you can
use are marriage, death, divorce, voter
registration. Post Office, Motor Vehi­
cle. Selective Service military and
many more. The book will not only
show you how to determine what
records you need, but how and where
to get these records.
If your problem is a missing spouse
who in arrears on child support, every
state has a Child Support agency that
will do most of the searching for you
even if your spouse is in another state.
The book lists the address of the Child
Support office for every state.
For those searching their roots,
there are many sources ol informa-
lion.
Foremost is the Family History
Centers which have literally millions
of different studies and histories of
family names of those who are work­
ing on family histories for their own
family names.
Some of these people could be work­
ing on your family's and could save
you the search.
The national archives have records
of anyone who has had any contact
with the U.S. Government This in­
cludes just about anyone who has ever
lived in the county. They have Indian
Records going way back and even
quality public education, plan to have
neighborhood public schixils repre­
sented as well as the variety ol mag-
net/alternative programs.
Each program will give a brief
presentation and be available lor
one-on-one discussions with par­
ents.
The deadline for applying to most
magnel/alternati ve programs for the
1997-1998 school year is in early
April, applications will be available
at each Kindergarten Showcase.
"The prospect o f determ ining
what elementary school option is
best for one’s child can be daunting
for parents of pre-school children,"
................................
3. Add ground beef to remaining
vegetable mixture in skillet; cook
over medium heat until beef is no
longer pink. Add spaghetti sauce,
mushrooms, water and remaining I
teaspoon each of the basil and oreg­
ano; mix well. Cook until bubbly,
stirring occasionally. Remove from
heat; reserve 2 cups meat sauce.
4. Add to reserved vegetable mix­
ture in medium bowl, add spinach,
ricotta cheese, salt and 2 tablespoons
of the Parmesan cheese; mix well.
.................................... I * 1— "
5. In bottom of sprayed baking
dish, place 3 uncooked lasagna noo­
dles (breaking to fit, if necessary).
Top with 1/2 of remaining meat
mixture, 2 cups of meat sauce. Top
w ith re m a in in g I ta b le sp o o n
Parmesan cheese. Spray sheet ol
foil; cover dish.
6. Bake at 375 F. for 40 to 50
minutes or until edges are bubbly
and center is hot. Let stand 10
minutes before serving. If desired,
garnish with fresh basil.
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