Page A6
April 24, 2002
Local
Health
Scholarships
Offered
T he K aiser Perm anente A fri­
can A m erican A ssociation will
aw ard tw o $ 1,000college scholar­
ships to local high school seniors
to study health care.
E ligibility extends to A frican-
A m erican students in M ultnom ah
C ounty and oth er areas served by
K aiser Perm anente in N orthw est
O regon and Southw est W ashing­
ton w ith a grade point average at
or above 2.75.
“W e w ould like to increase the
num ber o f A frican-A m ericans in
health care professions, w here
w e ’ve
been
tr a d i tio n a l ly
u n d e rre p re se n te d ,” said M ary
Roberson, association co-chair.
For m ore inform ation o r an ap-
plication, call 503-813-4487 or send
an
e - m a il
to
Mary.Roberson(g> k p.org. D ead­
line for applying is M ay 1.
T he K aiser P erm an en te A fri­
can A m erican A sso c iatio n p ro ­
vides a fo ru m to en c o u rag e p ro ­
fessio n al and p erso n al g ro w th ,
c a re e r d ev e lo p m e n t, o p p o rtu ­
n ity , and e n h a n ce m e n ts in the
w ork e n v iro n m en t fo r A frican -
A m e r ic a n
w ith in
K a is e r
P erm an en te an d to fa c ilita te d i­
v ersity in itiativ es w ith in th e o r­
g an izatio n .
Interview With Ron Herndon
c o n tin u e d
fr o m F ro n t
level w hat it m eans to daily have
your life negatively defined in large
and sm all w ays by skin color.
W hen a black person tries to get
m edia attention regarding issues
related to societal inequities and
racism , you Find you rself having
to break through the life exp eri­
ences and bias that m any in the
w hite m edia bring w ith them .
Y u g e n : W ho is Ron
Herndon?
H erndon: A person from a
small town in Kansas, raised
as a youth to understand that
justice is something you have
to fight for. I was taught to
never accept injustice, to look
out for your neighbor, and to
help those who are unable to
help themselves. One day that
may be you.
From a small, segregated
community where I grew up,
to my early days as a VISTA
volunteer. I’ve learnedthevalue
of giving back.
I’ve been lucky enough to
receive help from some won­
derful people. And they didn’t
do it for money. I’ve met some
brilliant people in my travels
that, out of the kindness of
their heart, shared their wis­
dom and experiences with me.
I’ve tried to translate all that
I ’ ve been gi ven into programs,
and actions that help others. I
try to positively impact the lives
of people who are disenfran­
chised and system atically
marginalized.
Yugen: Ron, what makes a
good leader?
H erndon: A good leader is
someone with the ability to
translate a people’s misery into
community efforts that posi­
tively address, and, hopefully,
eliminate the sources of suf­
fering. He or she must also
have an appreciation for his­
tory and the victories and de­
feats o f those who came be­
fore them. You shortchange
the community when you at­
tempt leadership with only your
minuscule, personal experience
because our lifetimes are but a
grain o f sand.
A good leader will examine
history and contemporary re­
lated experiences for a frame
of reference. Dr. King (Mar­
tin Luther King Jr.) studied
Ghandi for lessons on how to
successfully confront injustice.
Malcolm X studied everybody
(smile).
Stokely Carmichael was an
acute student o f history, poli­
tics and economics. A good
leader says to people, “This is
what we are trying to do. These
tactics are being used for this
reason. O ur research has
shown these tactics have been
successful in the past. Or, we
are using these tactics because
of lessons learned from failed
past tactics. Here are some
fundamentals we are trying to
accomplish. This is how we
are going to approach accom­
plishing these fundamentals, this
is how we w ill m easure
progress, and these are the
next steps w e’ll take.
This methodology I see tragi­
cally lacking among many lead­
ers across the nation today.
Our analysis of problems fac­
ing our communities is haphaz­
ard at best. We do little if any
research into the successes or
failures of others that have
grappled with the same prob­
lems.
Medical Marijuana Doctor Disciplined
(A P )— Dr. Phillip Leveque,
the osteopath w ho has signed
40 percent o f O reg o n ’s 3,600
m edical m arijuana applications,
has agreed to have his license
suspended for 90 days because
he signed applications for p a­
tients he never exam ined.
Leveque, 79, has agreed
to follow accepted stan­
d ard s o f m ed ical care
when he resumes his prac­
tice Aug. 1. T hat includes
exam ining patients face-
to-face before signing their
medical m arijuana applica­
tions.
“T his is harm ing my p a­
tients,” said Leveque, w ho has
also agreed to pay a $5,000 fine.
“T his isn ’t harm ing m e.”
O reg o n ’s M edical M arijuana
Act, approved by voters in 1998,
allow s residents to grow and
use m arijuana for m edical pur­
poses. A doctor m ust verify that
the patient has a “debilitating
m edical condition” such as can ­
L eveque in February, the board
charged that he routinely signed
applications “w ithout ex am in ­
ing th e p a tie n t, c o n d u c tin g
m edical tests, m aintaining an
adequate m edical chart, review ­
ing possible contradications or
conferring with other m edical
care providers.”
L eveque said he signed
the order because he w as
afraid o f w hat w ould h ap ­
pen if he d id not.
“If you d o n ’t respond
to these turkeys, they drop
a ton o f bricks on y o u ,”
L eveque said. “In this case,
the ton o f bricks w as likely
revocation o f my license.”
Leveque said he plans to use
the 90 days to travel around the
state, lobbying for the m edical
m arijuana program and a pro­
posed ballot m easure that w ould
ease access to the drug.
1
cer, glaucom a, A ID S o r severe
pain.
In its form al com plaint against
9
PoRCHASeD A^D
ULTIMATELY DEE
Portland/Vancouver 1-5 Improvements
The Portland/Vancouver 1-5
Transportation and Trade Part­
nership Task Force will con­
vene for a meeting on Tuesday,
April .30 to discuss various«as-
pects of the draft recommenda­
tions for transportation improve­
ments along the 1-5 corridor be­
tween 1-84 in Portland and I-
205 in Vancouver.
The meeting will take place
from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at
the Oregon Association of Mi­
nority Entrepreneurs building,
4134 N. Vancouverin Portland.
The public is invited to attend,
and children are welcome.
The meeting will involve
presentations on and discus­
sion of: heavy rail needs, po­
tential improvements in the
bridge influence area of the I-
5 corridor, Environmental Jus­
tice issues, land use, finance
and transportation dem and
management.
The Portland/Vancouver I-
5 Transportation and Trade
Partnership is a bi-state plan­
ning project sponsored by the
Oregon and Washington De­
partments of Transportation,
designed to respond to con­
cerns about growing conges­
tion on 1-5, between Portland
and Vancouver.
D esign th e
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