M a rc h 15 ,2 0 0 0
Page A 4
Articles do not
necessarily reflect or
represent the views of
Have a safe
and happy
St. Patricks Day
<Ehc
Vote 'No' on 81
No Ju stic e , No Peace
sportiani»
© hseruer
USPS 959-680
Established 1970
STA FF
E
d it o r
P
C
in
h ie f
,
u b l is h e r
Charles H. Washington
E d i T o R
Larry J. Jackson, Sr.
B
u s in e s s
M
anager
Gary Ann Taylor
C
opy
E
d it o r
Joy Ramos
C
r e a t iv e
D
It’s difficult for many Americans to
b elie v e the c h a rg e o f po lice
misconduct, which have swirled
around in cities across the nation for
more than two decades. Instead,
many have chosen to believe law
enforcem ent officials who have
vehemently denied such accusations
not only in large cities like New York
and Los Angeles but also in smaller
ones like Pittsburgh and East Haven,
CT. Now a scandal in the Los Angeles
city police department based on the
confession o f a member o f one o f the
plain clothes divisions o f that force
threatens the fiscal viability o f that
city and undermines the integrity of
the entire force there.
W hen officer Rafael Perez was
accused o f stealing cocaine which
had been confiscated from drug
dealers, he began to talk to the Los
A n g e le s D istric t A tto rn e y ’s
department and the stories that he
told now resulted in at least 70 Los-
A n g eles p o lic e o ffic e rs being
investigated, dozens of criminal cases
being thrown out because o f police
misconduct and hundreds o f millions
o f dollars in suits against the city
e x p e c te d .
W h a t’s m ore, as
information has come out, it has
shown that the L. A. police department
officials covered up bad behavior of
police officers, did not civilian
complaints seriously and failed to
take many steps which could have
headed o ff this scandal.
As the story has been revealed.
Officer Perez, who was part of an anti-
gang division in one o f the city
poorest neighborhoods, and his
fellow officers were just as much o f a
gang as those they were policing.
They had initiation rites and plaques
celebrating the : hooting and even
the killing o f victims. They beat
prisoners, planted drugs and guns
on them and sometimes shot and
even killed them. They protected
each other’s illegal activities, with
supervisors sometimes helping to
plant or change evidence or to concoct
protective stories after shooting.
But as horrible as the activities o f this
unit o f the L.A. police department
were, just as troubling were the
charges which have come out against
the whole department. For instance,
despitetheU.S. Justice Department’s
re p e a te d atte m p ts to get it to
computerize information about its
officers since the Rodney King
b e a tin g , it ap p e a rs that m uch
information about its officers are
making decisions about promotions
and assignments, they have done so
without knowing about complaints
officers and other problems with them.
In addition, as Mayor Riordan has
pushed to hire thousands o f new
police officers over the past few years,
at least four officers were hired who
had prev io u s crim in al records
themselves, including one who had
sold drugs as a juvenile and as
involved in a “vehicle tampering”
incident as an adult. The police
department itself admits that this is a
problem, which has not yet been
solved.
The terrible irony is that Los Angeles
black and Latino communities, who
desperately wanted to see an end to
gang violence o f the 1990’s, found
ir e c t o r
Shawn Strahan
P
h o to g r a ph er
David Yandell
4 7 4 7 NE Martin Luther King,
rtla n b ®b»eruer
themselves in doublejeopardy. They
were now victims o f police violence
andpolicesellingdrugsaswell. While
some o f the gangs were broken by
police activity, at what price is the
question that must hurt us.
Officer Rafael Perez’s accusations of
brutality and harassment, bribery,
planting o f evidence, framed suspects
and even shooting unarmed men by
Los Angeles Police officers has
re v e rb e rate d th ro u g h o u t the
department.
The scandals o f the L.A. police
department have a broader meaning
which must not be lost. All cities
m ust tak e se rio u sly c iv ilia n
complaints against police officers.
All police officers must understand
that police brutality and harassment
and cover-ups will mean the loss o f
jobs. All police departments must
put in place ways o f monitoring
officers, and up-to-date, accurate
record keeping about their officers.
In addition, they must find ways to
avoid hiring and to weed out officers
with criminal and violent histories.
Police departments across this nation
must understand that Americans want
safe streets, but not at the expense of
constitutional rights and not through
the use o f unnecessary and illegal
violence.
The reality is that unless every
American believes that every police
officer is treating all citizens justly
and legally, then the moral authority
and integrity o f all police departments
are th re a te n e d .
W ithout that
confidence o f the people, the police
become a force o f occupation and the
very foundations o f our justice
system will be shaken.
Members o f the Trust Juries Not Politicians Coalition converged on the
Secretary o f State’s office today to submit voters’ pamphlet statement
urging a “no” vote on Constitutional Amendment 81 in time tor the filing
deadline forthe May 16,2000 primary.
“1 got justice from a ju ry that spent three weeks hearing my case and
three-and-a-halfdays considering the facts. A ju ry o f 12 o f my peers ruled
in my favor-a verdict that is now under review by the State Supreme
Court. I am a quadriplegic, I need 24-hour care, and I'm in this
wheelchair fo r life. The jury' helped me recover the costs fo r my three
children and myself. Oregonians need this kind o f case-by-casejustice. "
- Linda McCathem, survivor and mother o f three.
“Amending the Oregon Constitution to limit what a survivor may receive
from a jury is irresponsible. Juries should decide the consequences for
a drunk driver on acase-by-case basis. Politicians are ill prepared, without
having heard the facts, to set limits on justice.”
-Arwen Bird, volunteer. Survivors Advocating for an Effective System.
“ Too often, survivors o f a brain injury need to recover damages through
our civil justice system in order to pay fo r rehabilitation and long-term
care. All these people ask is that their case be judged on the evidence
broughtforward at the time ofthe trial, not pre-determined by politicians
who set arbitrary limits based on special interest lobbying. The backers
o f this constitutional Amendment will tell you that it's about controlling
costs. But it is really about asking you to give away your constitutional
rights to a ju ry trial in exchange fo r vague promises o f future cost
reduction.
Bill Olson, President, Brian Injury Association o f Oregon.
"¡fthis passes, defiant, reckless companies will not be held accountable
for dangerous decisions that hurt the public, whether i t ’s making cars
with exploding gas tanks or garage doors without safety features to
protect children, or it s an HMO withholding life-saving treatment.
Insurance companies will bluster and fulm inate as usual, saying this
constitutional amendment is needed to bring down rates. This is untrue.
Studies show that greedy insurance companies will not reduce premiums
upon enactment o f such laws. " — Jason Reynolds. Director, Consumer
League o f Oregon.
"When you live long enough to be a senior citizen, you know people who
have been victimized bv a scam artist, defective products that can injure,
bullying landlords or abusive care givers, and drunk drivers who hurt,
maim and kill. Unfortunately, seniors are often the targets o f the
unscrupulous and the victims o f the reckless. Right now. the Oregon
Civil Justice System is the ultimate decision maker - 1 2 Oregon citizens,
our neighbors and friends, rich and poor, seniors and non-seniors.
Constitutional Amendment 81 would change all that. Oregonians must
vote "no" on Constitutional A mendment 8 1 ." — George Starr, Former
state legislator and volunteer fo r the Oregon State Council o f Senior
Citizens.
The Trust Juries Not Politicians Coalition is fighting for the most basic
rights Oregonians possess the right to complete and impartial justice on
a case-by-case basis from a jury o f our peers. This broad-based coalition
includes organizations that represent consumers, seniors, survivors, and
working families.
«
Cloning not the answer
by P ai e B rownlow
Jr. Blvd.
Portland, OR 9 7 2 1 1
5 03 -2 8 8 -0 0 3 3
Fax 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 1 5
e-mail pdxobserv@aol.com
P ostmaster :
Send address changes to
Portland Observer
PO Box 3 1 3 7
Portland, OR 9 7 2 0 8
Periodical Postage
paid in Portland, OR
Subscriptions are
$60.00 per year
D E A D L IN E S
FOR ALL SUBMITTED MATERIALS:
ARTICLES:
Monday by 5 p . m .
ADS:
Friday by noon
The Portland Observer welcomes freelance
submissions M anuscripts and photographs
should bec learly labeled and w ill be returned
ifaccom pam edbyaself addressed envelope. All
created design display ads becom e the sole
property o f the newspaper and cannot be used
m other publications o r personal usagewithout
the w ritten consent o f the general m anager,
unless theclienl has purehasedthecomposition
o f such ad.
O
SERVER
A L L R IG H T S
1996 T H E P O R T L A N D O B
RESERVED,
R E P R O D U C T IO N I N W H O L E O R I N
P A R T W I T H O U T P E R M IS S IO N IS P R O
H IB IT E D .
The Portland O bserver--O regon's Oldest
M ulticultural P u blicatio n-is a m em ber o f the
National Newspaper A ssociation-Founded in
1885, and T h e National Advertising Represen
tative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. N e w York,
N Y , and T h e W est Coast Black Publishers
Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver
»
Recently, Oregon Health Science University proudly announced the birth of
T etra, their cloned monkey by the process o f embryo splitting. Many hail it as
an accelerated step to finding cures for diseases. However, we must consider
how cloning animals is a threat to human life as it is a stepping stone to cloning
humans. The Scottish scientist Lan Wilmut who cloned a sheep, named Dolly,
told the Press Association o f Britain, “It would be desperately sad if people
started using this sort o f technology with people.”
But, this technology is already being desired and used. Some folks think that
in the future there will be no need for sex. Matt Ridley, wrote in the November
8 , 1999 edition ofTim e Magazine, “Many human beings, especially those who
are rich, vain and ambitious, will be using test tubes - not just to get around
infertility and the lack o f suitable partners - but to clone themselves and tinker
with their genes.” Ursula Goodenough, a cell biologist at Washington University
in St. Louis, joked with The New York Times, “There’ll be no need form en.”
Lindsey Gri ffiths, in the Toronto Star wrote, “Sex will be for lust - babies will
come from reproductive bank accounts.” A team o f South Korean scientists
from Kyunghee Uni versity claimed to have cloned a human cell from an infertile
women which met with strong protest for developing human cells to create
replacement organs.
A 1997 CNN poll intheU .S. found that 89% ofthose who responded believed
that cloning humans was morally wrong, and 74% said that human cloning is
against G od’s will. In spite o f that, a team at the University o f Wisconsin at
Madison reported that it was able to grow unlimited amounts o f embryonic
stem cells - cells that are the parent cells of all tissues in the body - in the
laboratory. And now the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued draft
guidelines in favor o f federal funding o f research that requires the killing of
human embryos for stem cell research. The scientists would be violating the
January 1996 federal law that has banned federal funding o f “research in which
a human embryo or human embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly
subject to risk o f injury or death greater than that allowed for fetuses in utero”
under federal human subjects regulations. Experimentation on live human
embryos is demeaning to human life and many embryos - small human beings
- will be destroyed.
My main reason why cloning is unethical is that it will up the standard for
“perfect" children. If there would be an option to produce children without
medical problems, then those families who did have a handicapped child bom
to them would fall into social scorn. Already a recent survey by the Down
Syndrome Association in the U K. found that Down patients had experienced
discrimination by health officials. They had been denied health care for hearing
and sight, and even been tuned down for life saving heart surgery. Those who
suffer from any disease should not be looking at the experimental use of
embryos with hope but with fear. If one human can be designated expendable
because he or she is small in size, then it’s a short step to designate others as
expendable for their weaknesses or deficiencies.
I sympathize with those who suffer from diseases, and I hope and pray for
cures. But, I cannot abandon the defense o f human life. Since Roe v. Wade,
human life has been crushed and degraded, while “reproductive rights” have
been elevated to the highest point o f eminence. Over the cacophony o f voices
arguing over the value o f life, we must remember that this is al 1 about an assault
on the most vulnerable - those who are too weak to defend themselves.
Concerned Women for America, with 600,000 members nationwide, is the
largest public policy women’s group in the United States. It supports the
protection o f all life from conception until natural death
i
I
Ì
Just thinR: to u r son
is b rig h t, h ea lth y
and headed
college one day You
love the direction your
career has taken. You're doing ar lot of the things you planned
and even a few you didn't, kiying life to the fullest is easy when
you have family behirid you. American Family Mutual
Insurance. Call and talk to one of our helpful, friendly agents.
You'll find out w hy wete consistently rated A+ (Superior) by A M .
Best, the insurance rating authority Then, go on. Dream Plan.
What you do next is up to you and we ll be here to help you
All Your Protection Under One Roof.
h
American Family Mutual Insurance Company and Its Subsidiaries, Madison. Wl 53783-0001 wwwamtam.com
i