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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