Las Vegas Westside: newspaper clippings, community programs, and correspondence

The Community Thanks You
RUBY DUNCAN
No Host Cocktail 7:00 p.m. • Dinner 8:00 p.m.
Mediteranean Room • Aladdin Hotel • Las Vegas, Nevada • July 7, 1979
Cocktail Music By Pat Loewy
Songs By Anthony Thomas • Pianist Susan Wolf
DINNER MENU
Fresh Fruit Cocktail Breast of Capon w/Mushrooms
Pommes Parisienne
Green Beans Amandine
Strawberry Par. Fait Beverage Rolls Butter
COMMITTEE
Lucille Gee
Myrtle Banks
Bonnie Juniel
Ruby Frieson
... Chairperson Go-Chairperson Basileus .. First Basileus
A TRIBUTE TO RUBY DUNCAN
PROGRAM
Harriett Trudell • Mistress of Ceremonies
Opening.............................................; Myrtle Banks
Invocation ............................... Reverend Maylas Thompson
Song ...................................................................................Anthony Thomas
Introduction of Distinguished Guest..... ........... Bonnie Juniel
“This Is Your Life” Ruby Duncans ,.... ... ....... ..... Harriett Trudell
Song ....... i . Anthony Thomas Scholarship Award Lucille Gee, Chairperson Film
Closing ..................................' Ruby Frieson
LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty-
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us, Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, trading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our god, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand.
May we forever stand.
True to our God,
True to our native land.
, - — - „ „ Year 1, Volume 4 OPERATION GLIFE
COMMUNITY PRESS 'The Community Can Only Be as Strong as the People in it’
Ruby Duncan Named Executive Director
Ruby Duncan has been confirmed
permanent Executive Director of
Operation Life C.D.C. by the Office of
Economic Development (O.E.D.) in
Washington, D.C.
The federal agency gave its support to
Ms. Duncan in a letter dated February 15,
1978 from Gerald Mukai, associate
director of O.E.D. to Maya Miller,
chairwoman of the O.L.C.D.C. The letter
stated in part that “our office has reviewed
Ms. Duncan’s involvement with Operation
Life to date and her role in the
development and progress. We concur in
your choice of Ms. Duncan as permanent
executive director. We wish you every
success in your efforts to put together an
effective CDC and overall economic
development plan to serve as the basis for
developmental activities in your impact
area.”
Ms. Duncan was aproved executive
director on her prior organizational
community and economic experience,
which dates back to 1968. Under her
leadership, Operation Life has grown to be
one of the largest and most successful
community organizations in the nation.
The executive director of a CDC has the
responsibility to develop and implement
the goals of the project, including the
formation of an economic development
plan for the specific community, in this
case, West Las Vegas. Besides the tasks
and capabilities required of her, Ms.
Duncan’s newly confirmed position is
quite impressive because, of the 49 CDCs
throughout the country, Ruby Duncan is
The only woman to be appointed executive
director.
The announcement of the appointment
was made by Maya Miller who expressed
great satisfaction, “I am truly pleased with
O.E.D.’s confirmation, and have total
confidence that Ms. Duncan will provide
the quality leadership needed to insure the
project’s success.”
Economic Development and Community Development Corporations:
HOPE FOR WEST LAS VEGAS
The term “economic development” has
become a common one in West Las Vegas
and in Clark County as a whole, but how
many of us know what economic
development really is and what it can do
for us?
Economic development means different
things to different people, but in general, it
is the creation or strengthening of
organizations value and energy of the
community. Economic development
means to develop and upgrade the human
and social conditions of an area - so the
result is that poor communities have the
same opportunities and advantages as
more affluent communities. An instrument
for guiding economic development is the
community development corporation.
What is a Community
Development Corporation?
A Community Development Corporation
(CDC) is a community tool created
by people in low-income areas to gain
influence over the economic conditions of
their lives to get that influence to make
fundamental changes in their communities.
CDCs can:
* Identify and Develop local skills and
talents,
* Own and control land and other
resources; start new business and
industries,
* Increase job opportunities,
* Sponsor new community facilities and
services,
* Improve the physical environment.
In short, CDCs carry out programs of
economic development. But unlike other
economic development programs (private
or governmental) the CDC approach aims
to increase power and influence for the
low-income community as a whole — not
just for a few individuals or groups.
Although CDCs have been started by
many different racial and ethnic
backgrounds, most are directly or
indirectly by-products of the civil rights
movement, and what started with the black
minority has been taken up by others
throughout the nation.
Funds for CDCs come from many
sources including private foundations,
churches, industry and government
agencies. The chief support from 1968 to
now has been the Special Impact Program
through the Office of Economic.
Opportunity (now the Community
Services).
The first formal CDC was the Bedford
Stuyvesant project which was the creation
of Senator Kennedy, who persuaded
important financial and business figures to
become, involved in the project. The
Bedford Stuyvesant project was not what
you would call community-controlled, but
outside initiated.
Operation Life
Hires Community
Development Planner
On February 1, 1978, Operation Life
hired Lavert Lucas as its Economic
Development Planner. Mr. Lucas was
previously employed by the City of Fresno,
California. He has seven years experience
in Planning, most of which is in the area of
Urban Renewal. Mr. Lucas’ Enterprises,
iiiclude membership to the Board of
Directors of Self-Help Enterprises the
largest self-help housing program in the
country, Economic and Technical
Assistance Organization and Big
Brother/Big Sister Organization. Mr.
Lucas will be responsible for the overall
economic development plan of the
Operation Life CDC.
Congressional pressure for more
comprehensive development projects like
the Bedford-Stuyvesant combined with the
President’s Commission on Civil
Disorders put OEO on the spot to
demonstrate its recognition of what was
missing in the range of poverty programs
and why they were not enlisting some of
the people who most needed them.
Operation Life Community
Development Corporation
Operation Life is Nevada’s only
Community Development Corporation
funded by the Community Services
Administration. It is one of eight
organizations in the United States to
receive a planning grant for communitybased
economic development. There are
currently 42 CDCs in the country that are
operational and federally funded through
CSA, whereas there are nearly 900
community action programs. This means
that CDCs are a select group which is
expected to demonstrate that economic
development can be a viable tool in the
elimination Of poverty.
Operation Life is the only CDC in the
nation that truly meets congressional
legislation — most CDCs were formed
from scratch. Operation Life has
accomplished more than most CDCs
without funding from CSA.
Operation Life is now in the planning
stage of developing a full-blown CDC. The
main objectives for the first year are: 1.
developing an overall plan for economic
development, 2. developing staff
capability, 3. conducting Board Training,
and 4. involving community participation
in CDC planning activities. Operation Life
intends to involve all types of people in its
CDC, not just business and financial
people. Low-income women and youth
will be of major concern to the
organization.
PAGE 2 — March, 1978
WE NEED FOOD
NOT BOMBS betters Dear Editor:
I am disturbed to find that the proposed
February 1979 Carter budget allows
$115.2 billion for defense. This represents a
real increase, after inflation, of 3%, and is
one quarter of the entire budget. For a
military already capable of destroying the
world several times over, any increase is
excessive. I’m not advocating that the U.S.
disarm itself, however this year may be the
best chance we ever have to take the
initiative.
On the international level, the first-ever
United Nations Special Session on
Disarmament will take place in May-June
1978 in New York. International support
for disarmament has been growing for
some time, and we need to express our
support to our local and national
representatives (and to ourselves) so the
U.S. delegation takes an active role toward
world disarmament at this session.
On the national level, the so-called
Transfer Amendment will be introducd in
the House this year. It calls for up to $12
billion for reduction from military
programs to be transferred into national
needs like urban & rural housing,
community development, public
transportation, health care, food and
nutrition programs, small farm support,
and safe energy sources. Funding these
domestic needs would mean more jobs for
Americans than the military could ever
provide.
Brad L.
School Board Needs Open Sessions
Dear Editor:
The School Board is assisting us and we
appreciate their cooperation. A serious yet
critical issue of the allegations which
conerns the Vo-Tech school has erupted
with racial overtones which should and
does concern the public.
On February 9th, 1978, a group of
concerned parents, including myself,
attended a meeting of the school board in
high hopes of resolving the issue at Vo-
Tech. The public should have been
enlightened to the solution of the debated
problem. Instead, we were met with one of
the old tactics of yester-year closed
sessions which only included the school
board members.
When the public has insight through
whatever media, of allegations asserted at
a public school, it is in the public’s interest
to know that this type of problem occured
and if this type of problem shall reoccur.
Consuelo Flores West
Can’t Earn a Living and Ride the Buses
Dear Editor:
The Las Vegas bus drivers of the local
transit system are to be commended for
their extreme patience. Bus passengers sit
out long frustrating waits. Some
passengers feel the drivers are why they
had to wait.
Beginning in late 1976 I have ridden the
local buses many places in the area. My
part time employment takes me to all parts
NEWS AND SERVICES IN
Nubian Kefentse Kultural Kommunity
The Nubiaav Kefenise -KultuTal
Kommunity at 1830 North Highland Drive
would like to acknowledge that we are
Open to the general public. We are offering
a wide variety of cultural-oriented classes
and workshops.
The N.K.K.K. center has been
established by a group of visual and
performing artist who saw the need for an
outlet featuring the artistic talents of local
and national Black artist. Through this
Center we plan to stimulate economic
growth in the Black Community.
The following classes are now open for
enrollment to the general public:
Creative dance held Tuesday and
Thursday from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.
Basic drawing and painting held on
Monday and Wednesday afterrnons from
4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Anthony Baron
Instructor.
Beginning Swahili which meets every
Sunday afternoon from 3 p.m. until 4 p.m.
Dr. Corene F. Casselle will instruct the
class.
Introduction to Art for adults, instructed
by Arthur Perkins, held on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday evenings from 6 to
8 p.m.
We also have a drama class now being
formed under professional teachers.
Interested parties should come to the
center for more information and
registration. Hours of operation is 9 a.m.
until 6 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
weekends.
When the exhibit is Over we plan to start
our weekend bazaars. All interested artists
and craftsmen are invited to stop by
N.K.K.K. Center for more information.
For more information contact Mr.
David Washington, 1830 North Highland
Dr.
Community Mandates New
Direction for Legal Services
The Clark County Legal Services
Program held it’s priority-setting session
this weekend, with attendance nearing 200
persons each day. Participants were asked
for all their ideas of what problems
CCLSP should address. Balloting and
extensive lobbying resulted in a final vote
which set the most important areas:
handicapped rights, immigration,
economic development and employment,
welfare and medical. These areas
An exhibit, Black Artist of the
Southwest, is planned as our spring
project. Artists from throughout the
region will be presented in the display
which will show from April 30-May 23.
The first week in May it will be displayed in
the UNLV Student Union. Then the
works, which we hope will number 200
pieces, will move to the West Side Library
commanded the outstanding majority of
votes, and were followed by housing,
juvenile rights and family law.
The new areas will not be served
immediately by CCLSP. The program
must obtain materials and training to
prepare for the shift to the new priorities.
Three to six months is the time anticipated
to develop the staff expertise; public notice
for a three-week stay. will be given.
CCLSP will be assisted and monitored
in the implementation of the new priorities
by the Client Council. Participating clients
at the priority-setting session elected Client
Council officers: Consuelo Flores-West,
£hairpersoni CUarlptte Barnes,, .Viceeha-
»r-p-erSeiri ra ncesfZno','-
Secretary and Mitzi Grune, Treasurer.
CCLSP expresses gratitude to the many
people who worked so hard this weekend
to plan the priorities, and encourages all
persons interested in taking an active role
to contact the Client Council officers.
Black History Celebration
at Doolittle Center
Doolittle Center located at J & Lake
Mead held an extravaganza which
featured local talents and creations in the
celebration of Black History.
Included in the program was drama,
spiritual and pop music, dancing, and
weight lifting, along with presentations of
lectures of prominent Blacks, who have
made history.
of the Valley. I live close to two bus lines.
Approximately four hours of my work day
is spent on buses. How can anyone work
efficiently eight hours after spending two
hours getting to the job? Lower income
people want to work, not wait for buses.
Let’s hope some type of grant or help is
soon given to the local transit system.
I share my husband’s retirement income,
so I only work part time. If transportation
was better I would work full time. There is
no way a person can earn a living and ride
buses.
Mary Ducharme
Westside Announcement
The next library board
meeting will be March 9, at
11:30 A.M. at the Westside
Library. The board will review
and take action on the
recommendations of the
Community regarding the
operation and staffing of the
Westside Library. PLEASE
ATTEND.
TOWN
Mrs. Juanita William, of the music
department presented musical selections
along with a recital from her pupils.
There is enormous creativity in the
community which should be given credit
arid recognition.
Versatile black is, soul along with
rhythm.
Did You Earn It?
This is a correction to the article in the
January issue of Operation Life
Community Press, titled “You Earned It”.
The article dealt with the Earned Income
Credit. Two more questions must be added
to those in the article. You must be able to
answer yes to both additional questions to
be eligible f°r tbe Earned Income Credit.
1. Did you pay more than one half of the
cost of keeping a home in which you lived
last year?
2. Was this also the home of your child
who was under 19 years of age or was a full
time student or your dependent child who
is disabled?
Please accept our apology for leaving
out these important questions.
IRS Assistance
If your gross income for 1977 was
$10,000 or less, you qualify for assistance
under the volunteer income tax assistance
(VITA) program.
Please bring your IRS mailed tax
package, all W-2 forms, interest, dividend
and miscellaneous income statements, and
all other tax records with you when you
visit a VITA location for assistance.
In the Westside area, the VITA location
is the E.O.B. Office, Education Division
Building, 2228 Comstock Drive, Las
Vegas, Nevada.
The dates and hours for this service are
as follows: From 6:00-8:00 p.m. on the
following dates: February 14, 21, & 28,
1978; March 7,14,21 & 28,1978; and April
4 & 11, 1978.
March, 1978 — PAGE 3 Operation Life Joins
Westside Federal Credit Union
After weeks of discussions regarding the
Westside Federal Credit Union and
Operation Life CDC, Mr. Woodrow
Wilson and Ms. Ruby Duncan arrived at
the following solutions:
1. To enroll all Operation Life CDC
employees as members of the Credit
Union;
2. To start a payroll deduction plan by
March 1, 1978;
3. To establish a working relationship
with both organizations.
Operation Life will set an example for
other organizations in the community to
follow in the near future. With the
participation of these other organizations
in the Credit Union, our community will
not only be strengthened, but will bloom
like a rose. A community is no stronger
than the people within it. So please join
your Westside Federal Credit Union to
build a together community.
Below is a letter from Mr. Woodrow
Wilson, the secretary/ treasurer of the
Credit Union, addressed to Ms. Ruby
Duncan, Director of Operation Life CDC.
Dear Mrs. Duncan:
The Board of Directors of the West Side
Federal Credit Union instructed me to
write yqur organization expressing our
desire to unite in an effort to strengthen the
economic base of the black community.
In this regard, I would like to point out a
few facts about our credit union.
Rev. Dunn, Jewel Scott, Ruby Duncan,
Woodrow Wilson, and Dan Curtis.
1. The organization was chartered
January 10, 1951. The field of membership
is: members of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored Peoples
in Las Vegas, Nevada; employees of this
credit union; members of their immediate
families; and organizations of such
persons.
2. Our Board of Directors consists of
seven members: the Supervisory
Committee consists of three members, the
Credit Committee has four members,, the
Education Committee consists of
approximately ten members at this time.
3. Each member account is insured to
$40,000.00 by the National Credit Union
Administration.
In meetings with Mr. Dan Curtis,
Operation Life Business Developer;
Reverend Albert Dunn, Publicity
Director; and our President, Mr. Jewel
Scott, it was mutually agreed to solicit the
membership of all the Operation Life
Community Development Corporation,
its board members and employees. We
would like to express our appreciation to
you for giving your full support to this
effort. The principles and philosophy of
credit unionism coincide with the intent
and ideals of Operation Life.
For more than 100 years credit unions
have continually fought for survival and
the means to improve the services provided
to their members. By working together in a
cooperative spirit, credit unions and their
supporters have succeeded in making
available, world-wide,, a system which
encourages thrift and promotes the wise
use of credit.
Innovation, self-help and cooperation
are the driving forces which enable credit
unions to overcome challenges and to
allow their members to avail themselves of
new opportunities in changing times.
People working together throughout the
world have sustained the growth of credit
unions and have demonstrated the need
and desire to help themselves and others in
their efforts to achieve economic and social
well-being.
Success can be ours if the ideal expressed
above is, in fact, our goal.
Sincerely yours.
Woodrow Wilson
EXPLOITATION IS NOT PERSONAL, IT IS INSTITUTIONAL
The Black Businessman’s Plight
By Rev. Albert Dunn
White exploitation is responsible for the
black businessman’s plight in Las Vegas,
Nevada. The black businessman is taxed
just as the white businessman the
difference being that the black business
has no representation in the Convention
Authority, the Downtown Progressive
Association, the Chamber of Commerce,
the Hotel Association, or any other agency
that is designed to enhance his Business
District. The Convention Authority made
a decision against the building of the
Downtown Sport Arena. The decision was
determined to the best interest of the black
businessman. Not one word was in the
report about minority enterprise, or the
advantage of this project to the
development of the black community.
They take our tax dollars in one hand,
suppress, and exploit us with the other.
The black businessman is the most
discriminated against group in our
community.
In the white community a tremendous
plus sustaining effort is made to keep the
white businessman strong. They are
organized in the form of banks, all kinds of
lending institutions, Merchant
Associations, Conventions Bureaus plus
other ventures for tourism which keeps
them economically strong.
The Black Community must realize that
we are dealing with group struggle, we are
dealing with group power. Some blacks
still think it is better to struggle on an
individual basis. Whites counsel blacks to
improve our self, our individual self. The
blacks among us who listen to this counsel,
may have refined and culturizeo
themselves, byt they still don’t have any
power. White people, as a group, will do
whatever is necessary to secure things for
white people. Power is not an abstract
thing. Power is very real. We can see it, we
can watch it work. We are watching it work
against us right now in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Power is self-determination. Power is the
ability to exploit for the benefit of the
group. The white man oppresses so that he
can exploit.
Some white people are psychologically
sick and enjoy oppression and brutality,
but for most white people oppression is for
a purpose. We are oppressed so that we can
be kept powerless. We are kept powerless
so that we can be exploited. We are
exploited so that our enemy can become
wealthier and increase his power. It makes
sense, the power of a dominant group is
exercised for the benefit of the total group.
Individuals act only as agents for the
group. -
The white policeman on the street is just
an agent doing what the good white people
want him to do. He is only brutal when
they want him to be brutal. The white man
in the personnel office who will not
promote black people, hires only a limited
quota, and puts black folks in all the worst
jobs, is just functioning as a part of the
system established by his group. He is
working for good white people who do not
have to discriminate personally because he
is doing it for them. We must realize that it
is a system.
The black businessman must organize
with other black businessmen so they can
get some power. For unless they get some
power, they will continue to be exploited.
A group exercises power through the
institutions that it controls, and the
institutions function for the benefit of the
group. Our enemy does not consist of
individuals who in a.very limited sense may
be either good or bad in terms of personal
relationships.
If you work in a hotel or a school, and
most of the people there are white, you
begin to define the black-white
relationships in terms of how you get along
with this little group of whites. If some of
them are pleasant and will go out to have a
drink with you, or go to lunch or sit and
talk about “the problem”, you begin to
think white people are not so bad. But you
are talking about personal relationships
and they have nothing at all to do with the
problem of oppression.
Personal conversations with individual
white people have nothing to do with
problems of institutional white power and
racism. The black businessman must seek
power unashamedly, because it is basic to
the liberation of black people. All black
people must become involved in the black
man’s struggle for liberation, because it is
also his struggle for survival. We want
power because we can’t survive without
power.
Exploitation is a very simple thing.
White people grow wealthy at our expense?
they take, part of what we earn. They
charge more for everything we buy. We are
a basic source of the white man’s wealth
.and power.
Community
Participation
An Operation Life Community
Development Corporation (OLCDC)
survey team will conduct a business survey
in West Las Vegas next week.
The survey is designed to provide
information to the OLCDC from the
business sector of West Las Vegas. It is
part of a total effort to bring community
participation into the planning efforts of
Operation Life. Other surveys will be
developed to assess individual and family
desires and needs in addition to public
meetings.
-‘Operation Life is concerned with
involving all sectors of our community in
the construction of the overall economic
development plan”, according to Ruby
Duncan, Executive Director of Operation
Life. She also states that it is of utmost
importance that this project truly represent
the needs of our community: “Operation
Life Community Development Corporation
is a community project and it is vital
that all the community participate in what
can be a final hope for bettering our lives.”
PAGE 4 — March, 1978
OPERATION SMOKEY:
Testing The A-Bomb On American Soldiers
is
to
a
genetic birth defects may be higher among
the children of these men. The claims of
Paul Cooper and Donald Coe that their
eukemia is service-connected and that
they are therefore eligible for V.A..
disability, has attracted growing attention
to this issue over the past year.
A West Coast peace group, Another
Mother for Peace (AMP), has recently
been attempting to publicize the plight of
these victims. AMP has charged that the
AEC and the Defense Department are
guilty of, “criminally inhumane actions in
deliberately exposing hundreds of
leukemia. j
Along with 3,100 other soldiers, they
participated in a “combat exercise” codenamed
Operation Smoky, which the
Pentagon staged in conjunction with the '
explosion of an atomic bomb in Yucca '
Flats, Nevada on August 31, 1957. Asj
Donald tells it, “We were driven out into
the desert in trucks, to within two and a
half miles of ground-zero. As the countdown
began, we were told to get out of the
trenches and to lie prone on the ground,
facing the blast area, our eyes covered with
our hands. We wore only regular uniforms
and helmets, although we were given little
badges that were supposed to measure the
amount of radiation we’d been exposed
to.”
After the e^ploSipn, ,fhe men ^were
ordered to perform military maneuvers in
the blast area for two and a half hours.
According to Mrs. Nancy Cooper (Paul is
too ill to be interviewed), her husband was
in the advance party, scarcely a mile and a
half from the blast site. After the blast, his
unit was marched toward ground-zero,
until the heat became so intense they had to
turn back. Her husband told her that the
750 foot high tower from which the Abomb
was detonated had melted into a
“glowing red blob, about twenty feet high.”
Both Don and Paul corroborate each
other’s contention that there was not postblast
evaluation or medical follow-up,
although Don was briefly hospitalized
when he complained of severe headaches
and dizziness. When the troops returned to
their barracks, they were dusted off and
their boots hosed down. Paul Cooper told
his wife that a promise that new uniforms
would be issued after the test was not kept.
He also reported that Atomic Energy
Commission (AEC) officials in the test
area all wore elaborate protective clothing
and hoods.
Donald Coe, who was a 25 year old Pfc
at the time of Operation Smoky told of
being frightened when he was picked for
temporary duty at the Army’s Camp
Desert Rock. “They told me I was chosen
because of my security clearance. I didn’t
want to go, but they forced me; even
though we were called “volunteers”. They
said, “There’s nothing to be afraid of, we’re
just going to watch an atomic blast.” I lay
on the ground and felt a wave of heat pass
over my body; it felt like something hot
was sticking to me.” Coe was to witness at
least seven other atomic "exercises” before
he left the Army.
Now; twenty years later, evidence
accumulating that links exposure
radiation at Yucca Flats with
significantly higher incidence of leukemia
among the GIs who were present. There is
also some data suggesting that rates for
Reprinted from WIN
Donald Coe and Paul Cooper are
veterans of the U.S. Army. They both
served in the years following the Korean
War. On the surface this appears to be one
of the few similarities between them. Don
lives on a Kentucky farm with his wife and
seven children. Until recently, he scratched
but a living as a tenant farmer. Paul lives
two thousand miles away in Idaho, where
he’s settled after twenty one years duty as a
career soldier. Paul and his wife recently
bought a new house so that their three
children would have a “real” home after _
years of Army towns, A single fact, thousands to atomic bomb radiation.”
however, binds Don and Paul together: They are seeking to locate and identify
they are both dying from incurable other GIs with health problems which may
be related to radiation exposure.
Due to publicity generated by these
cases, the Government has recently formed
an inter-agency team to coordinate the
study of possible radiation hazards from
the 588 nuclear explosions which the US
has set off since 1945.
Dr. Glyn Caldwell, Deputy Chief of the
National Center for Disease Control in
Atlanta, was recently named head to a
comprehensive investigation into the
possible effects of Operation Smoky, In a
phone interview, Dr. Caldwell was a model
of scientific caution. “The fact that six out
of 432 men have been found to have
leukemia (about three times the normal
rate) does not mean that six more cases will
be found in the next 432 we locate.” He did
7 acknowledge that the ■ Center’s -study > will
also seek data on genetic birth defects and
sterility, in addition to leukemia
symptoms. Caldwell expects the
preliminary search for more veterans of
Operation Smoky to take several more
months. He predicts it will take at least a
year from that point before any
preliminary findings can be released.
The stakes in the proposed study are
high indeed. In the past, a number of
nuclear scientists have warned that
exposure to even “slight” doses of
radiation may induce cancers and other
ailments over a long period of time. If the
study finds some linkage, say, between
leukemia and even “moderate” radiation
exposure, such as these GIs supposedly
received, then the entire program of federal
nuclear safeguards and radiation-exposure
standards may have to be scrapped and
rewritten. This could have an enormous,
impact upon the conditions under which
thousands of people work with nuclear
energy projects today.
In recent years, an increasing mistrust
concerning things nuclear has replaced an
earlier euphoria about mushroom clouds
as symbols of national potency. Mass
actions such as those organized by the
Clamshell Alliance and the Trojan
Decommissioning Alliance demonstrate
that a broad cross section of americans will
mobilize against the reckless expansion of
nuclear technology. This new caution
about radioactive perils evidently was
extended to military personnel only
recently. It is a sad irony that when a dying
Sgt. Cooper tried last summer to visit the
Yucca Flats atomic site on the twentieth
anniversary of Operation Smoky, he was
refused entry by Army sentries. Their
reason? “A continuing radiation hazard
exists in the area.”
Editor’s note: It is with regret that I
report that Paul Cooper, of Idaho, has
since died of leukemia.
Stay there men, it’s only a sprinkle!
Johnny Atomseed: What is he planting?
Tenant Rights
Rent Increases & Notices
by: Roberta Caldwell
This is the first of series of articles on
TENkNTSiRJGHTS: ::We rfasfc strongly
that you must be aware of your rights in
order to effectively advocate for yourself
and WIN. We will answer some of the
questions most frequently asked by the
client community. This series will initially
be limited to private landlords, and the
information will not apply to Public
Housing rentals.
Can the landlord increase my rent once I
become a tenant? If so, how much notice
must I be given?
The landlord or his/her representative
can increase the rent at any time once the
tenancy begins. All notices for rent
increases must be given in writing. If you
rent on a monthly basis, the notice of rent
increase must be given 30 days prior to the
expected increase. If you pay the. rent on a
weekly basis, the notice must be given
seven days prior to the expected increase.
One exception to the 30 day written
notice is when a lease, for a fixed period
(not month to month) is signed. For
example, if you sign a lease for one year,
unless it states that there will be rent
increases, the landlord cannot raise the
rent before the expiration of the lease.
Retaliatory Rent Increases
Another exception is a retaliatory rent
increase: If you complain to the landlord
Or any governmental agency (i.e., building
safety, health department, etc.) about the
conditions of your apartment, or join a
tenants union, to fight for better living
conditions, the landlord cannot retaliate
against you by raising or threatening to
raise your rent.
In addition, rent increases must apply
uniformly to all tenants. The landlord
cannot single you out and only raise your
rent.
Remember, read all leases, or month to
month rental agreements before you sign.
If a lease calls for frequent or high
increases and you know you won’t be able
to afford them, you probably don’t want.to
rent the apartment.
How much notice must I give of my
intentions to move, in order to avoid
paying additional rent?
Legally you must give written notice of
your plans to move in advance. Oral notice
is not enough.
If you pay rent on a monthly basis you
should protect your rights by giving a
written 30 day notice in advance of
moving. This is true whether or not you
have a written agreement. However, the
landlord cannot require you to give
him/her more notice than he/she has to
give you.
When you first move in you and the
landlord may make an agreement as to a
shorter notice period.
Notice of intended departure doesn’t
have to correspond to a due date for rent.
You could pay rent at the beginning of the
month, give notice in the middle and move
out in the middle of the following month.
Of course, rent would be due through the
first half of the second month, and any
additional days you remained beyond your
notice date.
If you move out early, before your 30
day notice is up, you may be able to make
an agreement with your landlord that if a
new tenant moves in, he/she will pay the
remaining portion of the rent, and you will
receive that portion back. Otherwise, the
landlord can hold you accountable for the
full 30 days rent.
Since the law doesn’t provide you with
much assistance in preventing the landlord
from increasing the rent as often or as
much as he/ she chooses, you have to
protect your own rights. One solution
may be to get together with your neighbors
and fight for your rights together.
Continue reading this series in the
Operation Life Community Press, and in
later issues we’ll tell you more about
Tenant ORGANIZING.
March, 1978 - PAGE 5
THE DANGERS OF LOW-LEVEL RADIATION
Radiation and Cancer are Personal Friends by Sagebrush Alliance
Recently, the daily newspapers have
brought to our attention the connection
between radiation exposure (especially
regarding those involved in nuclear testing
at the NTS) and the development of
cancer.
We’ve also been informed that people
have died of leukemia, yet their widows
have been unable to collect any
compensation. Why? In some cases, the
military claims that there has been no
proof that exposure to radiation at the
NTS has caused —or sped along— the
cancer, and in other cases they claim that
low-level radiation is not necessarily —or
sufficiently— harmful. In other words, the
burden of proof is on the victims.
Dr. Thomas Mancuso, a physician who
has devoted his life to the study of
occupational disease —since 1965 at the
Hanford Atomic Operations in Richland,
Washington— has been able to match
cause of death with radiation exposure.
Mancuso found more frequent and more
intensive exposure to ionizing radiation in
workers who developed fatal cancers than
in those who died from other diseases. The
more one is exposed to radiation the
greater one’s chance of developing cancer.
What’s worse, the lifetime exposures were
below what the law allows a worker to
accumulate in a single year. This standard,
five rem per year (a "rem” is the measure of
radiation received in terms of its biological
effect on the body) in the nuclear industry
and five rads (units of absorbed energy) in
other industry and ((he .military^ misleads
workers and military personnel'into
believing that limited exposure is harmless.
In Mancuso’s study, workers who
accumulated doses of four rem developed
8»
cancer of the bone marrow. Some diseases
with accumulated rem doses of only one to
three were: cancer of the pancreas, brain,
kidney, lung and large intestine.
There have been reports claiming that
veterans and/or workers have developed
cancers —some dying—A after receiving
doses of radiation well below the
permissible limits set by government, and
industry. In one Veteran Administration
(VA) case, a claimant’s husband died of
leukemia after receiving less than a one rad
dose 7— an amount equal to one dental Xray.
Doingwot'koikatomic testanalysiSyDr
Karl Z. Morgan, now of Georgia Tech and
formerly the Director of Health Physics
for the A.E.C.’s Oak Ridge Laboratories
claimed, “ There is no safe level of exposure
and no dose of radiation is so lo w that the
risk of causing a malignancy is zero." In
addition, Arthur Tamplan, staff scientist
of the National Resource Defense Council
in Washington claims; “All radiation
contributes to the chance that one will die
°f a malignancy; perhaps it's a small
contribution but it makes an imprint.”
Referring to the tests at NTS in the 1950’s,
he said, ‘‘It certainly did cause cancer
among some of the troops and also among
the population residing outside the test
Site.” ' -
In light of this testimony, medical
compensation claims by exposed persons,
or in some cases, their widows, have been
turned down by the VA because, they say,
with low-level radiation, “no injury...is
expected.”
The relationship of radiation to cancer
has far reaching consequences for many
Americans. An estimated 85,000 workers
are exposed to radioactivity in the nuclear
industry; at least 78,000 people
participated in the series of atomic
experiments in Nevada before the aboveground
tests were stopped , in 1958
(underground tests are still being carried
out, with at least one major leak —
*Baneberry — occurring in 1970, in which
least three people died of leukemia), and
there are countless people each day that
come into contact with radioactivity in the
form of X-rays, radars, FM radio and TV
transmitters, infrared, gamma, and
microwave ovens.
; What this aH boils down to-is that there -
certainly is a possible connection between
low-level radiation exposure and cancer-
By making standards of radioactive
acceptability, the D O E. (Dept, of
Energy) and the D.O.D. (Dept, of
Defense) has failed to protect its citizens.
According to the information we’ve
already gathered, one would be hardpressed
to deny that an allowable level of
radiation.is an allowable level of cancer.
For further information, write the
Sagebrush Alliance, c/o Fred Landau
P.O. Box 7339, Las Vegas, Nevada 89101.
If You Think You’ve Been Exposed...
For those who think they might have
been exposed to radiation during the
nuclear weapons operations at the N.T.S.
you can contact:
a. Citizen Soldier: 175 Fifth Ave; New
York, N.Y.; 10010 (212) 777-3470.
b. Another Mother for Peace: 407 N.
Maple Dr.; Beverly Hills, Ca.; 90210, (213)
278-3476.
c. Dept, of Defense: call (800)638-8300,
between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. EST. It’s a toll-free
number.
Sagebrush Alliance and many other
concerned citizens are insisting that the
responsible agencies (elected officials,
Dept, of Defense and Dept, of Energy)
take the initiative to conduct medical
follow-ups for all those claiming to have
participated in nuclear operations.
To ensure that our concerns are
recognized, the Sagebrush Alliance urges
you to call the following:
Rep. Jim Santini - 385-6574.
Sen. Howard Cannon - 385-6278.
Sen. Paul,Lax a lLr,385-6547.
Mayor Bill Briare - 386-6011.
Dept, of Energy (local) - 734-3011.
American Cancer Society - 733-7222.
LANDLORD’S PROFIT
THE SKY’S THE LIMIT Son of S1
by Rose McIntyre
Very nearly everyone in America today
who is subject to any kind of advertising is
aware that money invested must earn a
certain amount of interest. Some people
put their money in banks or stocks, others
in industry whereby they receive dividends.
It is up to the management of any of these
institutions to operate in order to produce
that interest. The Housing industry
operates in the same way.
However, there are a few controls on the
methods used in obtaining the money and
too few controls on the amount to be
gained.
Consequently, we are forced with a runaway
situation, whereby those who control
housing are allowed to make as much as
possible. This situation soon filters down
to put pressure on the renters. The scarcity
of regulations combined with the scarcity
of housing results in a virtual monopoly
held by the owners of the houses,
apartments and other units available to
rent. Until the regulatory system is
tightened or changed there is little help for
those paying rent into and for the use of the
money invested in these units,
these units.
Like all regulatory measures, they do
not start or grow by themselves, but must
be forced in one way or another. Our
government regulates the amount of
interest allowable for both lending and
borrowing money so why not in housing?
If housing were ample or even sufficient
the task of regulating would be a simple
one but it is not. Because of the lack of
adequate housing, individual and group
effort must be accelerated until better
regulations are brought about and sources
of resources are formed, and any
infringement on human rights and equity
would be punishable by law.
Naturally, the poor are the hardest hit.
They have no resource even if there were an
abundance of housing. Because it costs
money to move anywhere, most of the
poor are forced to stay where they are and
subject to the attempts on the part of the
owners to acquire as much interest on their
investment as possible.
A majority of owners of the available
rental units — houses, apartments or
mobile home parks — live out of state and
have little or no concern about the misery
they inflict on the unfortunate who are
subject to their methods.
Until these same unfortunates band
together and demand measures for
adequate housing for their needs, the
situation is not likely to perish and if not
checked, will grow progressively worse.
No one begrudges an honest and fair
return on the money they invest. So until
we are able to fight with organized protest
to obtain any regulations, we will stay at
the mercy of the absentee landlords and
those delegated to carry out their orders.
Las Vegas is particularly hard hit. There
by A.C.L.U. of Nevada
is an increasing number of minorities and
senior citizens, ethnic groups and single
women with families who suffer most by
the seemingly whimsical attitude of those
in control. These home groups are helpless
to fight back. So until regulations are
enacted and sufficient housing is available
with adequate income to take advantage of
the home, they will continue to suffer.
The Federal Court is at it again passing
laws AGAINST instead of FOR the
people. SB 1437 was shuck through the
Senate and is now in the House of
Representatives under the HR 6869. This
bill is a new version of the S. 1, and
threatens the right of political-protest so
necessary to the Civil Rights movement.
What is S. 1437? This is the Son of S. 1,
and the most repressive legislation enacted
in our lifetime.S. 1437 equals 1984. In the
House, the bill is called HR 6869. The
unlikely co-sponsors of this bill, Sen. Ted
Kennedy and John McClennon, have
created a monster which has:
1. Double penalties during war which IS
NOT DEFINED.
2. Indeterminate sentences.
3-Co-conspirator liability without
knowledge or participation.
4. Vague and minimal “conspiracy”
provisions.
5. Penalties for soliciting action.
6. Penalties. for refusing to move or:
disperse when ordered by any government
official.
7. Weakened Miranda warnings.
8. A compulsion of testimony provision
totally contrary to the 5th Amendment.
9. Much more on behalf of Big Brother.
Call (385-6574) or write Jim Santini
(U.S. House of Representatives;
Washington D C., 20515) to tell him to
vote against HR 6869.
p GE‘ Know Your
Employment Rights
By Committee of Low Income Women
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
established for the first time a
comprehensive federal law to assure equal
employment opportunity by making
unlawful acts that discriminate on the basis
of race, sex, national origin or religion.
The enactment of this law represented a
twenty-year struggle by civil rights
advocates.
Like many new laws, Title VII had to be
interpreted in many law suits before those
protected would know what impact it
would have on their right to equal
employment. Thus, for the first twelve
years after its enactment there were many
landmark cases decided by the courts
which explained and interpreted what
Congress meant when it passed the law.
Today while not all of the issues have been
resolved, patterns have developed which
enable people in the job world to know
whether their rights have been violated.
A look at a few examples is probably the
best way to explain these patterns.
Q) An employer hires 15 people on a
full time basis for 52 weeks: a year. Is the
employer subject to the equal employment
laws?
A) Yes, Title VII covers employers
engaged in interstate commerce,
employment agencies, labor organizations
(unions) and joint labor-management
apprenticeship committees employing 15
or more employees each working day in 20
weeks of the current or preceding calendar
years.
Q) Are Federal and State government
agencies covered by the equal employmem
law?
A) Yes.
Q) Ah employer puts an ad in the
paper: Male help wantedfor security guard
position — Salary $49.00 a day. Is this
discrimination?
A) Yes. Descriptive words such as
“male”, “female”, “salesman”, “girl
Friday”, etc., gives the impression that the
employer favors a person of one or the
other sex. This is unlawful.
Q) An employer in Las Vegas has a
96% white work force. It gives preference
to family and friends of current workers
and does its hiring through word of mouth.
The Black population of Las Vegas is 12%.
Is this employment discrimination?
A) Yes. The employer’s policy of not
advertising has a more serious impact on
the Black population than the White
population because Blacks will not know
that the jobs are available and thus will not
apply for them. If an employer’s work
force lacks minorities, it’s ads should be
placed in those papers or announced on
those radio stations that are known to
serve minority neighborhoods.
Q) May questions about a persons
age, arrest record, credit rating, height or
weight be asked in a job interview?
A) These questions may be asked but an
employment decision cannot be based on
their answer unless it can be shown as
necessary for successful performance on
the job. The different sexes and minority
groups often have many characteristics
which are common only to them. Since
questions of this nature usually have
nothing to do with ability to perform the
job, they are .suspect. Thus,, to base, an
employment decision on these
characteristics would be discriminatory.
Q) An employer requires a job
applicant to have a high school degree, or
to take a test for employment. Is this
discrimination?
A) Nothing in the Act prohibits the use
of testing or measuring procedures;
obviously they are useful. Congress has
forbidden giving these devices and
mechanisms controlling force unless they
can reasonably be shown to measure job
performance. Thus, if it cannot be proven
that a high school education is necessary to
do the job or that a test measures some
characteristic needed for job performance,
it is discrimination.
Q) An employer refuses to hire women
to work at night because he wishes to
protect them. Is this discrimination?
A) Yes. The requirement is non-job
related. It gives no indication whether the
person can do the job.
Q) An employer refuses to establish
different benefits, pension, retirements,
insurance and health plans — for men and
women. Is this discrimination? “
A) Yes. Women must get the same
coverage as is given to men. To do
otherwise is illegal.
Q) It is noted that in a hotel, all the
pit bosses, floor managers and casino
managers are men and all the change
persons, housekeepers and PBX operators
are women. Is this discrimination?
A) Yes. When women are segregated in
certain positions and denied access to
others, usually higher paying jobs, it is
discrimination. Women should have an
equal chance to be hired or promoted to
different positions as men.
The above questions are a few examples
of ways in which people are discriminated
against on the basis of race, sex, and
national origin. There are many more. If
you feel that you may have been
discriminated against, contact the
Committee of Low Income Women. Do it
as soon as possible. There are time limits in
which you must file and administrative
action against an employer in order to
recover for the wrong done. The
Committee of Low "Income WotrierrTithr
people who can help you do this.
No Longer Maids:
Household Techicians
Job Possibilities
at Titanium
by Committee of Low Income Women
By Mary Ducharme
Mary Ducharme, a household
technician and local representative of the
National Household Committee to
upgrade home-making employment, has
discovered that when she introduces
herself as a “household technician” as
opposed to a “maid”, many of her
customers balk, or are taken aback. It
seems there are quite a few customers who
would rather have a maid. A household
technician implies someone that has a
professional attitude towards their work,
someone who is competent and therefore
not submissive, someone who needn’t be
told to do their job, and someone who is
higher paid.
Every household worker should be
aware that the National Committee on
Household Employment (7705 Georgia
Ave. N.W., Suite 208, Washington D C ),
founded in 1964 by Anna Roosevelt
Halstead, is working to bring domestic
employment benefits up to par with the
rest of the labor force.
It’s plain to see that domestic workers
suffer from low wages and infrequent
benefits that other employees may take for
granted: sick leave, paid vacations, legal
holidays, unemployment insurance and
workmen’s compensation. It is the human
attitudes regarding household employment
that are degrading, not the work
itself. This can be seen not only by the lack
of benefits, but the infinite variety of daily
indignities ranging from being called “The
Maid” or “Honey” to the work we are
expected to do.
“The day worker may be expected to
clean 8 rooms, get up on a ladder and do
the outside of the windows, scrub the oven
and clean out the refrigerator all in one
day”, says Carolyn Reed, coordinator of
interview, only to find that she can’t get a
decent wage — and must pay her own
carfare back and forth anyway.
The National Committee on Household
Employment has been set up to deal with
these issues, to improve the lot of
household technicians. Our immediate
goals are: 1. to inform both household
workers and employees that household
workers must be paid at least minimum
wages, and are entitled to common
working benefits; 2. to develop a realistic
attitude toward professional household
workers, and create among the workers
an awareness of the true value of their
labor.
Being a household technician is a
fulfilling job, offering many challenges. As
Carolyn Reed says, “an experienced
household worker can walk into your
home and understand your values. She can
tell if you care about your plants, if you’re
fanatic about your kitchen but don’t pay
too much attention to the bedrooms, if
your books matter to you. She can quickly
determine the best appliance or household
product to use for every job. You don’t
have to tell her where things are kept or
when the closets need cleaning, or whether
the floors are over-waxed.”
the Progressive Household Technicians of
New York.
Domestic workers may be fired at will or
on whim, often with no notice. Frequently,
a job applicant travels far to a job
Household work must be upgraded and
adequately compensated. Most
important, the one-to-one relationship
between employer and employee must be
business-like and based on mutual respect
and personal dignity.
The Timet Division of Titanium Metals
Corporation of America, in it’s Henderson
plant, will hold a tour on Wednesday,
March 8,1978, at 10:00. The purpose of the
tour is to inform low income people of the
job possibilities and types of work
available at Titanium.
Mr. John Wells of Titanium said that
community organizations such as the
Operation Life Committee of Low Income
Women, CETA, NALA and NAACP,
have been asked to send members to the
plant. After the tour those who are
interested in applying for a job will be
notified of job openings through the
respective community organizations.
Mr. Wells stated that Titanium
produces raw titanium metal which is
shipped to their East Coast plant to make
tubes and other products. The types of jobs
for which they will have openings consist
of everything from maintenance to fork lift
operators to laborers. The lowest paying
job in the plant starts at $6.90 per hour and
there are also health benefits. The work is
not seasonal in nature and should provide
year round employment.
If you are interested in this plant tour
contact the Operation Life Committee of
Low Income Women at 648-2886. They
will find day care and transportation if
needed and will give you more details. Ms.
Joyce Broussard, Coordinator of the
Committee, states that this is a particularly
good opportunity for women who are
interested in non-traditional jobs which
pay a good salary.
the
contains blank spaces, lines or pages, and
have all the warranties and guarantees in
writing. Demand that copies of contracts
FREDDIE G
1234 MAIN ST
Yes, although in fact, some people do
not even know that they have been arrested
until some time after they arrive at the
police station. The police, to avoid trouble,
often simply tell people that they want to
talk to them in the police station, and the
people go along and are told later that they
have been arrested. The few regulations on
this subject provide that people must be
informed of the charges while they are in
the precinct..not later on when they get to
court.
Where can a- consumer go to find out
about the reputations of certain businesses
and their records?
“I wduld strongly recommend that they
call the Better Business Bureau because
they can tell the consumer how many
without cost to you.
It is also required that the police give
these warnings in a way that is
understandable to you. If the defendant
does not want to answer the questions or
ask for a lawyer, the questioning must end.
Can the police legally question arrestees Anything you say can be used as evidence
in order to try to obtain a confession to use against you in trial; 3. You have a right to a
at a trial? lawyer. 4. If you want a lawyer and can’t
Yes. However, a confession or any afford one, a lawyer will be appointed
statement, in order to be admissable in a
trial, must be voluntarily given, and the
police must give certain warnings, called
Miranda warnings, before questioning.
These warnings claim that:
1. You have a right to remain silent. 2.
by Ed Dunn
The oppression of undocumented
workers from Mexico increases at a steady
rate. Last year, three undocumented
immigrants were brutally attacked and
burned by the sons of a powerful rancher in
southern Arizona. One of the immigrants
was hung but managed to escape. The allwhite
jury in Cochise County found the
ranchers not guilty of any crime or
misdemeanor. The undocumented are
made to live in constant fear that their
give minimum cost counseling to
undocumented in an atmosphere of trust.
But before this center can operate fully, it is
vital that it have the legal back-up and
support to protect the rights of the
undocumented who take great risks in
seeking a life of hope and dignity. The
Counseling Center would be a focus of
immigrant’s rights, a place where the
undocumented can be told of their rights as
human beings.
I m talking today with Virginia
Brewster. Virginia is an investigator for the
Consumer Affairs Division in Las Vegas.
Does Consumer Affairs have limitations ,
imposed on it with regard to what tvpes of complaints have been filed against a
cases it can and cannot accept? , ;
“Definitely. We are restricted to three
‘specific laws: the Nevada Deceptive Trade
Practices Act, the Automotive Repair Act,
and the Door-to-Door Sales Act. Now,
what we try and do in many instances is try
and assist consumers with various
problems. We are also used as a referral
service and we assist with the Consumer
Product Safety aspect for the federal
agency.”
Can you briefly describe what these acts
are?
The Nevada Deceptive Trades Act
covers, among others, false advertising,
false affiliation — like if a motel claims
that they are affiliated with the Better
Business Bureau or the Chamber of
Commerce (in order to bring in more
From the time that a person is told he or
she is under arrest until the time that he or
she is brought before a judge, that person is
physically under the complete control of
the police department and there is little
that can be done about it.
During that time a person has some
rights, but very few and little power to
enforce them. The source of those rights
are some Supreme Court decisions, State
statutes, and local police department
regulations, which vary greatly.
Do the police have to inform arrestees of
the charges against them at the time of
arrest?
business firm. A lot of people get very
upset with Consumer Affairs because we
are unable to do so. We cannot tell you,
how I dream the day will come when I can
tell you where to go and where not to go.
But at this particular time we are restricted
by legislation.
Virginia, what other kinds of
precautions besides the ones you just '
suggested, would you advise the consumer
take before he deals with any business in
Las Vegas? ’
“There are many things that I could
recommend, but I’ll just go over a few. For
instance, contracts. I would recommend
that the customer read it completely, if he’s
in doubt contact someone who has the
expertise to examine the contract; ask
questions about any portion of the
business), but they’re not, and^ failure of contract that’s not clear. Do not sign, if it
business firms to make delivery of goods,
products and services in a reasonable time.
The Automotive Repairs Act states that
Rights of
Suspects
Part II
Reprinted from the ACLU Handbook
THE UNWANTED
March, 1978 — PAGE 7
If the Miranda warnings have been
properly given, are all confessions made
after the warnings admissable in evidence?
No. Confessions must be voluntarily
given by the defendant. Brutality, or
threats of brutality, make a confession
involuntary. Frightening, undressing,
denying food or medicine, promising
leniency, using a friend or relative, or using
a psychological trick (suck as telling the
defendant that his partner confessed and
“put the finger” on him) may also
invalidate a confession.
What should a citizen do when being
questioned by the police? .
The best advice, when questioned by the
police, is to say nothing other than your
name and address. This may be difficult to
do. The police are sometimes skilled
interrogators; they have many techniques
for “opening people up”. They may play
the good guy-bad guy game. This is when
one policeman acts threatening and violent
and the other acts as though he’s trying to
protect the defendant from his rough
partner. The defendant then fears the
rough cop and trusts the other cop,
opening up to him.
To every question asked you should
answer that you have nothing to say. Even
if you are innocent and have a secure'alibi,
■ you are better off disclosing the
information at a later time, after you or
your lawyer have been able to check it out
’ and make sure your witness remembers.
’ Your refusal td answer any questions
I cannot be held against you, but a slightly
mistaken statement can be used against
• you at trial.
CONSUMER AFFAIRS:
Why Get Ripped Off By Xeir Elmers & Vii'ginfa Brewster
Thought of as cheap labor or welfare burdens, humanity is violated.
children may be apprehended by
Immigration at schools or that their
husbands will be arrested at work and
returned to Mexico with no notice given to
the rest of the family. The plight of the
undocumented in Las Vegas and Clark
County is no less great. There is nowhere
new immigrants from Mexico can go to
apply for their papers to remain in the
United States, that will not cost them a
thousand, sometimes two thousand
dollars.
Sister Evelyn Montez of the Franciscan
Center staff is prepared to open an office as
soon as possible in Las Vegas, with funding
provided by the diocese of Las Vegas, to
In 1978 it is clear that an injustice done
to one is an injustice done to all. There is no
group of Blacks or Chicanos or Native
Americans or poor Whites who can say
that their oppression is unique or
exclusive. Even President Carter’s plan of
amnesty for the undocumented will force
those immigrants who arrived between
1970 and 1977 to remain in a state of limbo.
The undocumented person, especially
from Mexico, is now the most vulnerable
of the oppressed in the United States. Most
of all, they depend on the compassion and
support of their brothers and sisters who
have experienced some of that oppression
themselves.
garagemen must have a sign, 22” x 28” in
boldface letters, and in clear view of
customers, that if a customer requests a
written estimate on parts and labor, it must
be furnished. After leaving the car with the
garage, the actual repair cannot exceed
20% of the estimate, or $40. Failure to give
this notice is a misdemeanor.
The Door-to-Door Sales Act asserts
that a customer has a right to rescind, and
change their mind on a contract within 72
hours of the purchase... if the purchase is
more than $25 and is made away from the
place of business. In other words, the
Salesman must sell you the merchandise in
the street, at yoUr home, etc.
be given to you. Don’t be taken in by the
door-to-door sales tactics, some of them
might be, ‘you have been especially
selected’... ‘I’m taking an advertising
survey”.,, or ‘your home has been chosen
as a special model’,..all of these leading up
to some type of deception. And, if in
doubt, call our agency and we’ll refer the
consumer to the proper source. Not only
do we do that but, we also educate the
public. We appear periodically on TV,
radio, in the news media, to educate the
consumer as to how to shop.”
Consumer Affairs is located at 2501 E.
Sahara, Room 304 in the Bradley Building.
The telephone number is 385-0344.
PAGE 8 — March, 1978
The Operation Life Community Press
White Man in the Black World
stipulation, the Nevada State Welfare Board passed new regulations on January 26, 1977. These regulations requite the value of any personal resources to be reduced by the amount due of any loans which are secured by the resources.
NSWD regulations currently require that a family cannot have resources valued in excess of $500-for one child plus $ 150 for each additional child in order to be eligible for Welfare. Many people are denied Welfare for having “excess resources”.
If you are denied Welfare for excess resources, but the resources were security for a loan, you may now be eligible. Subtract the amount due on the loan from the value of the property and check if you are now under your personal resource limit.
If you think you are eligible, contact the Nevada State Welfare Division. If you have problems or questions, contact Clark County Legal Services Program (386- 0690) and ask for a Welfare interview. You may also contact the Committee of Low Income Women at 648-2886.
3.
You have to have management skills.
4.
You have to know your customers.
“You must have these abilities and knowledge right from the beginning because you only have one chance to do it right.” He carefully explained each of the four ideas.
Business is a complex organism. In order to be good at it you must know the nitty-gritty of how everything is related to everything else. For example, one axiom of Mr. Love’s is “Service Breeds Business”. If you give a little extra kindness and attention to your customers it comes back to you in increased sales.
You have to know your business. You must know your suppliers and your^ product inside out. Jimmie says, “If you know how much profit you are making from each sale of each product, you are on the right track.”
You have to have management skills. You must know your personnel. You must know how to organize people and plan activities.
Most importantly, Jimmie emphasizes, “you must know your customers”. As an example he cites opening a fish market. “If you plan on selling lobsters and oysters here in West Las Vegas, you won’t be open one week.” You must know what your customers will buy, who they will be, how they will come to your business and what type of service they will pay for. If you have each of these four qualifications,” concludes Mr. Love, “you will survive and prosper in the business >yorld.”
We at Operation Life applaud Mr. Love for his frankness and dedication to our community. His openness about what he calls the “business mind” will be of aid to present and future businesspeople.
injustices exist but that the strengths of the Black culture outweighed those of the white world. Their developments in music and dance and art and poetry and literature were more vital; their
By Barry Weber
This is the first of a series of articles on the Businessman of the Month. Each article will feature one Black Leader who has shown that he has established his business in this community.
An interview between Jimmie Love and / this reporter took place on Friday, February 3rd. During this conversation Jimmie spoke of two concerns: public relations, and the qualifications one should have to start a business.
Jimmie began the interview with an acute example of what he means by public relations. “My business. Love’s Cocktail Lounge, is not in the Westside. It is in West Las Vegas. It is time”, Mr. Love continued, “that we removed the stigma of words from our community. When I invite someone from outside our community to my business, they will come to a predominately black neighborhood in West Las Vegas, but they won’t come to the Westside because they are scared of the word. If we remove this word from our vocabulary, we will be casting off a selfimposed defamation.”
Another area of public relations which is of importance to Mr. Love is the appearance of the area. “We need stop lights on the corner of “D” and Jackson and “F” and Jackson. We also need street lights throughout the business district.”. These measures are aimed at improving the safety of the area and, in Mr. Love’s opinion, should increase tourism.
“Not everyone should go into business”, said Mr. Love, “you have to be qualified to do it right”. The qualifications of which he spoke are four-fold.
1.
You have to know the meaning of business
2.
You have to know your business.
Businessman of the Month JIMMIE LOVE
STAFF: Fred Landau Address: 400 Jackson St.
Elnora Stevenson Las Vegas, Nevada 89106
Barry Weber (702) 648-0012
Ray Woolfolk
Special thanks to Marty Kraemer, of US Inc., for the art work.
NSWD Forced To Change Resource Valuation Rules
By C.C. Legal Services
Many persons denied Welfare by the Nevada State Welfare Divsion are now eligible because of a Federal court lawsuit, brought by Sean Bieck of the Clark County Legal Services Program.
On January 18, 1978, a class-action complaint and motion for immediate injunctive relief were filed in Federal court in Las Vegas against George Miller, Administrator of NSWD, and the Members of the Nevada State Welfare Board.
On the same day, United States District Judge, Roger D. Foley, ordered the plaintiff Yvonne Brey immediately reinstated to welfare, finding that NS WD’s policy of failing to consider encumbrances when valuing resources was a violation of Federal Law.
Plaintiff Yvonne Brey was denied welfare because she had title to two vehicles havihg a value of $4,250. However, these vehicles were security fora loan on which over $4,800 was still owed.
As a result of the Judge’s order and the
By Bill Ludwig
Why would a white man choose to work in a Black community? What does it feel like for a white man to promote and defend and implement the world of Black culture? How does a white man view the internal happenings of the Black world? And how does he view his own White world’s reaction to blacks individually and as a group?
These questions and so many more have been asked me or perhaps more frequently have been in the mind of many people who have been hesitant to ask. Since so much publicity has been given to my place in the community in recent months, and since the community has shown such an overwhelming support for me in those public matters concerning the library, I feel responsible to attempt an answer to those questions and can only assume that you the residents of the Westside have wondered about the reverse of your own situation, that is, of being white in a Black world.
Let’s call it the “White experience!” In some minor ways it’s a little like the Black experience except in reverse colors, a negative: my life has been threatened a few times (by obviously sick people), I’ve been called “cracker” as well as “blood”, been ignored as well as hugged; I’ve had knives pulled in arguments, tables overturned in anger, notes left on my desk saying “I love you” and pieces of cake brought to me when I couldn’t get out to lunch.
But all of that is part of the experience of serving the public and being involved with it and shouldn’t be labeled as any "color” experience. Yet the . real fact of color remains in our social structure, and no-one
is more conscious of it than Blacks and the occasional white who lives in some kind of bridge-world between the two colors, as I do.
It’s a curious land there between those two halves of our society. In many ways it brings out the best and the worst of both sides. Yet with all the internal tension those two colors can produce, I think the most difficult thing for me to accept is the anger and antagonism that still exists in portions of the white world. The distrust and anger of Blacks is not only understandable, but it is actually honest and rational. How else can Blacks approach a man whose people have historically suppressed them? How can they trust any white institution, the very agents of their deprivation? rational. It is as if a few people—and I emphasize only a few people— perhaps because of insecurity, are saying to me “you are a traitor and are not to be trusted”. However difficult it is for me to understand these people, I know and have always known they exist.
I became involved in the Black community almost by osmosis, without any liberal banner to wave or political axe to grind. My identification, if that is the word, grew gradually out of my daily contact with the Black world as it came to me over the years. My responses were personal and always natural and supportive.
Although this gradual process of involvement developed during the sixties, the seeds of my reactions were sown many years before. I remember, for example,
when my mother refused to stand under an umbrella offered to her by a young Black girl and proceeded to get drenched to the skin in a cloudburst. The incident so amused me that I made quite a joke of it at home, much to my mother’s anger and embarrassment. But it proved to me how ludicrous the whole matter of prejudice was.
As the Movement developed during the fifties and the sixties, there was no doubt about which side I was on; it was only a matter of how to translate my attitude into a constructive response. During the same period, I found that my association to the library profession offered me the precise combination of my interests and opportunities to accomplish some sense of contribution. And thus I became identified to that service.
Yet the intensity of my attitudes was stronger than most of my associates, and I was gradually separated from them by degrees, until I found it uncomfortable to be in an all-white world with all-white values. I became highly sensitive to the barrage of daily injustices and more and more committed to supporting the needs of the Black world in the larger society. The only way I could do that was to listen very carefully to what the Black community was saying, not only locally, but throughout the nation and the world, and try to feel that experience.
Certainly I was not always successful in that effort. I probably slipped backwards more often than not. But my determination never waivered; the center of my belief I knew to be strong and right. I came to understand that not only did social
re-examinations of the social sciences such as psychology and sociology were more valid; their demands in education were more honest; their insistent reforms in the area of civil rights and justice were more humane.
I saw also how the clash of two societies produced a cultural shock of confusion and sickness and the new images of quick success destroyed the minds and lives of young people.
Change was necessary but change was brutal. There was no easy way out: the white world would resist any effort to have their controls taken from them and the Black world would often be ill-prepared to interpret their newly gained, piecemeal power.
I recognized that my role in this sometimes deadly process of change was one of making available to others the tools and the opportunities to create that change on their own terms. I could never pretend to know what was wanted or how it was to be done. And I could never assume that everyone wanted the same thing in the same way. All I could do would be to offer a diversity of choices to as many as possible.
Overall my experience has not been comparable to the Black experience for I have always had the sanctuary of my white skin to protect me. But it has often been lonely. Only the daily exchanges with people, the moments of gratitude by individuals and, recently, the tremendous support for the library by the whole community have made all those long and sometimes difficult hours meaningful. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
By James Kastelic
Review-Journal
> The Las Vegas City Commission distributed
$1,458,201 in community development
block grants Wednesday to 14
programs and projects working to eliminate
urban blight.
./'Following a public hearing at City Hall,
the commission voted to give eighth-year
funding to the programs based on earlier
recommendations from the Citizens Advisory
Review' Board.
A total of 27 requests totaling $4.7 million
had been received from communityservice
organizations, non-profit groups
and city departments hoping to continue
revitalization and educational projects in
the West 1 «is Vogus area, according to
Richard Blue, director of the city’s, funds
ctnirdination department.
.•sj-lowieypr, uni;? D.,479,200 was given to
the city by 'b- federal government this
Mar. TW. is about 15 perci ot less than
Wt year’s allocation, Blue noted.
■"Community development, block grants
are made available by the federal governject
staffed by low-income youths. .
The proposal was approved by q 3-2
vote with Mayor Bill Briare and Commissioner
Paul Christensen dissenting.
The board expressed reluctance at giving
funds to programs appearing on a
secondary list because they were either
new or duplicate services, meaning that
the money would have gone to pay administrators
only.
The citizens advisory board, which becomes
defunct now that the. funds have
been distributed, recommended $300,000
be given to a city sidewalk installation
program. That amount was decreased by
$72,000 to finance R.I.D.E.
V The board also recommended $254,35!
I be given to the city’s housing counselor
/ program, $182,880 for the -Westside
School restoration, $100,000 to a revolving
loan fund,. $98,843 to. the Jacksbr
Avenue commercial revitalization pro |
ject, $85,322; to the homeowner- manage
ment education program and: $74,995 t< -
the Sarah Allen Community Develop-
■i ment Credit Union.
ment to local governments to eliminate,
urban blight, improve safety conditions
and energy-saving techniques in low-income
housing-areas, improve community
services, restore historical sites and alleviate
social and economic'"distress.-’
After lire hearing. Commissioner Roy
Woofter made a motion to take $72,000
from the amount recommended for one
applicant and give it to R.I.D.E., a neighborhood
renovation/beautification pro-
Further recommendations included
$72,520 to the Nevada Association of Latin
Americans child-care center, $70,655
for the residential counseling/rental code
enforcement program, $60,508 for the
city’s- home facelifting service program,
$57,600 for the rehabilitation materials
program, $57,000 for the Senior Companion
Volunteer Program and $41,918 to the
Fire Safety Education and Home Survey
sReprinted
from THE BULLETIN of the
National Association Of Secondary-School Principals
October, 1960
Evaluating Intergroup Relations Education
CHARLOTTE EPSTEIN
JLHE changing pattern of relations between Negro and white people
in this country and in the world requires the development of new insights
and skills if we are to adjust creatively to that change. We are no longer
so naive as to imagine that we can avoid interreligious conflict and tension
by refusing to talk about religion. It is with some sense of shock
that we realize that we can no longer use an ethno centric frame of
reference in dealing with people of other nations. Problems of interracial,
inter-religious, and inter-ethnic tensions must be intensively
studied, and efforts at amelioration of intergroup relations must be
systematically analyzed, if we are to understand the world in which we
live and participate actively in the process of change.
This article offers some additional items for the Evaluative Criteria1
for secondary schools—items which suggest the desirability of developing
an intergroup relations program in the secondary school and which represent
guidelines for such a program. Before we come to the check list
of those items, however, it seems advisable to discuss the framework on
which the check list is built—some of the concepts which have grown out
of the study and practice of intergroup relations.
1 National Study of Secondary-School Evaluation, Evaluative Criteria, Washington
6, D. C., 1960.
Charlotte Epstein is Assistant Professor of Human Relations, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
For generations, children in the United States have been taught that
all men are created equal, even while they have been taught just as
thoroughly that it is not desirable to live next door to people of certain
races and religions, that some nationality groups are inherently unassimilable
into the mainstream of American culture, that some groups
are inherently inferior to other groups. School people can continue to
agree that children should be taught to understand and appreciate the
ideals of American democracy, without ever examining the built-in contradictions
in our society or discovering how to help children resolve
them creatively.
Again, though we may agree that all youth of secondary-school age
need to assume their responsibilities and understand their rights in a
democratic society, we are faced with the necessity for applying this
principle in a specific socio-cultural and psycho-dynamic context. How
free do teachers feel to permit their minority-group students to express
their feelings of frustration, their doubts and their anxieties concerning the rights which majority-group people take for granted? Observation of the public schools seems to indicate that these feelings are rarely— if ever—aired, and Negro children, particularly, learn to respond to talk of democracy and democratic rights with cynicism or discouragement.
If rights are not forthcoming—or are perceived as not forthcomingobligations will be assumed reluctantly or not at all. Some children in our country have heard their parents say that they would not dare to vote regardless of what civil rights laws are passed by Congress for fear of physical and economic reprisals. This is what many of them learn about democratic obligations. In varying degrees in different parts of the country, motivation to participate actively in community affairs is impaired by the inability to anticipate positive results from such participation. We know that a what’s-the-use attitude toward voting is widespread in our country. Among minority-group people, whose very attempts at participation are so often discouraged, the attitude is intensified.
In the student’s school world, it is often true that the patterns of limited participation and customary exclusion are so subtle, that those excluded are not themselves aware of the need for change. I remember recently being vehemently assured by the principal of a boys high school that, so high was school morale, and so loyal were students to each other and to the spirit of the school, that there could be no question of intergroup tension. When I asked an assembly of students if this was so, they agreed without qualification. However, after a few more questions and a half hour of discussion, it became apparent that the Negro students believed there was a regulation against their joining the rowing team, white and Negro students separated for lunch because there was a nonverbalized understanding that Negroes did not patronize one of the local luncheonettes and whites did not patronize the other. This, after only a few minutes of exploration, in a school whose administration still insists it has no intergroup problems.
In another school, we wondered why Negro students apparently weren’t even trying to join the high-prestige clubs. No one had ever wondered about this before. They had repeatedly decried the fact that Negro students refused to come out for social service activities as Nurses’ Aids and Keep You School Beautiful. But no one had ever made the connection between the similiarity of these activities to the traditional association in this country of Negroes and service occupations.
Though, as educators, we accept the dictum that young people need to respect others, regardless of race or religion, psychology teaches us that many young people “need” just the opposite of respect for others: what they need is to tear others down, distrust others, fear others, even hate others. These needs are developed in social contexts and receive support from the society in which the child lives. Therefore, respect for the integrity of others is often adapted to conform with local customs, and few young people ever learn how members of other groups define their
2
own integrity. (It is from this kind of gap in understanding that we get the widely held belief among white people that Negroes are satisfied with their inferior status.)
The development of a standard of ethics is probably one of the most difficult problems posed for educators. Teachers have always had a tendency to treat ethical standards as if they were universal absolutes, deviation from which is reprehensible and punishable. Young people know quite well that ethics are situationally determined, and that their efficient functioning in society depends on how well they assess the ethical criteria of each situation. Thus, though the middle-class teacher rejects physical aggression as anti-social and even immoral behavior, the lower-class youngster knows that physical aggression will often bring him social acceptance, protect him from attack, and help him develop his self-concept of manhood. While the teacher maintains that lying is wrong, children realistically appraise the pressures on them to lie—and they are well aware that most adults evaluate lies in terms of degree, from little, white, acceptable lies to laughable whoppers to very serious, morally indefensible lies. School thus becomes a world apart, and our folklore contains the sentiment that what is learned in school is not practical—not applicable to everyday living, that eggheads (that is, formally educated people) don’t really know how to solve life’s problems effectively.
Our children are learning that fair play is an admirable standard of behavior. Most of them endorse it. But in practice, fair play is almost always interpreted in ethno centric terms. One might ask our young white people, “Is it fair to restrict Negroes to living in certain small areas of the city?” and the answer is likely to be, “They prefer to be with their own kind of people; I know I do.” There is little consideration, or knowledge, of the causes of self-segregation, and the essential difference between desirable functional association and forced exclusion.
Respect for the law is an attitude which must be developed in spite of the many forces which interfere with this development. The concept of supremacy of the law is a vital one in the maintenance of our democracy, yet few children understand its significance for equality, freedom, and orderly change. A few years ago, an examination of thirty-six of the most widely used social studies textbooks in the United States revealed that not one book treated this concept adequately, and only rarely was it mentioned at all. Add to this the fact that fearing and hating the police officer—the symbol of the law—is a lower-class feeling and that contempt for the police officer is a middle-class value, and we are faced with some serious methodological and substantive problems in teaching respect for the law.
Concepts of leadership have changed so radically in recent years, that old criteria for differentiating between democratic and dictatorial leadership are no longer considered valid. Today, teaching the dynamics of democratic leadership involves the knowledge that democratic leadership is a group—not an individual—function, that majority rule is not the most democratic or the most creative way to resolve problems, that real democracy
involves an understanding and acceptance of others and skill in dealing with others which we as a people do not systematically learn. Youngsters and adults, observed in community organizations of various kinds, generally demonstrate that they believe in democracy, but they do not know how to live it.
Though we attempt to teach children sensitivity to the needs of others, how many of us realize the extent to which we assess the needs of others in terms of our own needs? Young people need an opportunity to understand the mechanisms involved in our perceptions of others—the distortions in perception which result from ignorance, fear of and separation from others, the projection of our own unacknowledged traits on to other people, the belief that all people generally are like ourselves and need and want pretty much what we do. (Though it is true that we are all very much alike, we are also quite different in many significant ways.) As adults, even as professional adults, few of us are aware of these factors. How, then, can we teach about them?
So many young people learn to be a part of a community, giving and receiving in a cooperative, neighborly atmosphere. How often do teachers discuss with minority students the inescapable fact of their marginality? Rejecting their own groups, rejected by the dominant group, they are often torn with conflict and guilt and have little understanding of why they feel the way they do. If their need to participate in and be accepted by society is to be fulfilled, they must understand the pressures, both external and internal, which interfere with that feeling of acceptance.
With these observations in mind, I have developed what might be used with the Evaluative Criteria as a section on the intergroup relations program of a school. The form generally follows that of the other sections in the Criteria, though some of the specific sub-headings have been eliminated here for the sake of brevity. If this is to become a useful tool in an educational area which is in a critical state, it should be studied, discussed, revised, and discussed again by all educators.
Intergroup Relations Program
Guiding Principles
An adequate educational program should deal with three aspects of intergroup relations:
1.
Young people-need the knowledge in the field; i.e., the facts about groups other than their own and how groups interact with each other in various social settings.
2.
Young people need an awareness of and sensitivity to the needs and problems of groups other than their own.
3.
Young people need opportunity to develop skills in interacting creatively with people of groups other than their own.
I. General Nature and Organization of the Program
A.
General Nature of the Program
1.
Is there an organized, on-going attempt to identify, analyze, and solve intergroup relations problems? (Is there, for example, a program of social attitude testing?)
3
4
2.
Is there adequate minority-group representation on all committees and clubs working on intergroup problems? (Adequate minority-group representation implies members of minority groups who are friendly but firm in their attempts to improve minority-group conditions, and who are not afraid or reluctant to take a stand in mixed-group organizations.)
3.
Are outside professionals in intergroup relations an integral part of in-service intergroup relations education?
4.
Is there an on-going program designed to explore and develop methods of inducing the best-qualified teachers to remain? (Especially if this is a school with a changing population or a lower socio-economic population.)
B.
Organization of the Program
1.
Is there a continuous formal program in intergroup relations education for teachers and administrators?
2.
Are there special units in intergroup relations in required social studies courses? (Or a required course in intergroup relations?)
3.
Have the teachers who teach intergroup relations had formal education in this field?
4.
Does the school have a faculty-administration-student intergroup relations committee which meets regularly?
5.
Is there some kind of intergroup relations club in the co-curriculum program?
II.
Evaluation of Intergroup Relations in the School
A. Among Students
1.
At lunch times and other non-directed times, do Negro and white students, Christian and Jewish students, Catholic and Protestant students, and students of different nationality groups mix in their seating and associations?
2.
Are some clubs in the co-curriculum program consistently made up of a single racial, religious, or nationality group?
3.
Is a group (or groups) consistently excluded from some clubs?
4.
Does a group (or groups) consistently avoid applying for membership in some clubs?
5.
What are students’ attitudes (based on a program of attitude test- ingEtoward racial, religious, and nationality groups not their own?
6.
How do minority students feel about their opportunities for participation in the co-curriculum program?
7.
How do minority students feel about the fairness of teachers?
8.
How do minority students feel about their acceptance by other students?
9.
Are there overt evidences of intergroup tension among students?
a.
Do students use racial or other group epithets when they are in conflict?
b.
Are there formal or informal gangs among students made up along group lines?
c.
Are there rumors concerning violence of one group against another?
d.
Is there evidence of fear of a racial, religious, or nationality group?
e.
Is there a pattern of mischief by one group or against one group?
f.
Are there intergroup fights among students outside of school?
5
B.
Among Faculty and Administration Members
1.
Is there a larger than normal turnover of experienced faculty members?
2.
If this is a school considered difficult to teach, is the average length of experience of faculty members greater thamnormal?
3.
Are different racial and religious groups represented on the faculty?
4.
Are there signs of friction along group lines among faculty members?
5.
Do faculty members regularly discuss school problems in intergroup relations, including intra-faculty problems?
6.
Is the administration committed to a school-wide program in intergroup relations?
C.
In the Community
1.
Is the community a segregated one; i.e., is it made up of only one group or of a number of separated groups?
2.
What are the employment problems of minority-group people in the community?
3.
Is there intergroup tension in the community? (In one-group communities, this may take the form of fear that a minority-group will come in, resentment by a minority group that its housing is limited to this community, lack of sensitivity to current intergroup problems, refusal to discuss intergroup problems, etc.)
4.
Are there agencies in the community working to improve intergroup relations?
III.
Method in Ameliorating Intergroup Relations
A.
Teaching Method
1.
Do students have opportunity to learn democratic skills and values by interacting in democratic problem-solving groups?.^
2.
Are the problem-solving groups concerned with real problems in intergroup relations which are of immediate relevance to the lives of the students?
3.
Are role-playing, feedback, analysis of group roles, sociometry, and other techniques used to help students understand both themselves and the dynamics of group interaction?
4.
Do students have opportunity to meet and work with people of many different ethnic and social groups?
B.
Encouraging Involvement
1.
Does the administration actively participate and encourage faculty participation in community intergroup problems?
2.
Does the administration provide time and facilities for faculty study of the community from which the students come?
3.
Ate communitymrembers—including the parents of students—invited in small groups or individually to meet teachers, administrators, and students, observe classes, discuss problems and in other ways to become active participants in the life of the school? (This is in addition to any parent-teacher association, which often appears to operate tangentially to the school rather than in it.)
4.
Do the administrators and faculty members have regular opportunity to meet with the administrators and faculty of other schools to compare experiences?
Single Copies 5<f
Quantity prices on request
COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE
Third printing Institute of Human Relations July 1963
165 East 56 Street
New York 22, N. Y.
i When a community begins to think about the future of its
younger generations, it is well on the way to improving itself.
1 It is refreshing to see so much such interest displayed in the
predominantly black West Las-Vegas community recently.
This type of activity also helps the adults as well as the
youths of a community. It gives both groups a wider scope of
their surroundings, and most of all it gives them a chance to
.develop a pride that will lead to other improvements.
-*The education committee of the Westside Federal Credit
Union has launched , a program in the community to teach
youngsters how to use their money. It is called “Project Savings.”
According to Woodrow Wilson, treasurer, manager of the union,
the principal objectives of the program is to “ensure a better
life for our children; teach them the importance of systematic
savings and money management; develop strong economic links
between the local NAACP branch and the union.” .
Mrs., Mabel Hoggard, a backer of the plan, said the program is
just starting. “The success attained by this group could not have
been done without the faithful work of co-chairpersons, Mrs.
Robert Fortson and Mrs. Earle White Jr.”
Noted political figure Mrs. Gwen Weekes Rahner, chairman
of the advisory committee, was one of the primary instigators
of the program. Mrs. Hoggard said Mrs. Rahner’s
concern for her community effected this program.
Further information can be obtained by telephoning 648-2880
or 6484626.
1977 HIGHLIGHTS
Since the Annual Meeting in, January, the Education Committee has continued td emphasize its work with young people.
FEBRUARY AND MARCH
Members of the Education Committee volunteered to keep the Credit Union office open Satrudays from 10 aiin. to 2 p.m., and Virna Canson, West Coast Regional Director of IW NAACP, reviewed Project Savings (the main program of the Education. Committee) and suggested;that it become a pilot program for other NAACP branches^ \
APRIL AND MAY
The origin of the Westside Federal Credit Union and an explanation of Project Savings appeared in the Las Vegas Review Journal and the Las Vegas SUN.
JUNE
Your chairperson appeared before the staff of the Title I project of the Clark County School District, St. James Roman Catholic Church, and Pilgrim Church of Christ (Holiness) seeking and receiving support for Project Savings^ ‘
JULY
Your chairperson and Jesse Scott attended the NAACP Convention in St. Louis and made a presentation on Project Savings to the 'National Workshop on Economic Development. A cassette tape was made on the history of the project;.
AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER
Attention was focused on children who are enthusiastic over their savings accounts, and college students who have saved in the past were used to help inspire savings among younger children.
OCTOBER \ .
Project Savings received the unanimous support of Southern Nevada-Southern California Church Women United at a meeting held in Los Angeles. Areanria Christie of Las Vegas, area chairperson, introduced Mabel Hoggard, who in turn presented the project to tjjie groups z
NOVEMBER
H. P. Fitzgerald, Director of the Westside Community Development Project, donated a bulletin board for the Credit Union office to help improve communication in West Las Vegas.
DECEMBER
Retired Westside school teacher, Joan Parry, donated her original oil painting, "Children of the World," to the Credit Union. Since the Credit Union office is small; the painting has been
* „ hung in-the-Westside Community Development Commission Office in the old Westside Schoo!,
330 West Washington, „
The officers and members of Project Savings extend their thanks to everyone who has been instrumental
in enrolling children in our savings program.
With the support of its members this past dividend period, the Credit Union was able to pay a
6% dividend, which was the largest in its history. The Credit Union is hoping to grow more in
1978 than in 1977 and that it will be able to offer more support to its membership and to the
community.
Amabel Hoggard, /J /
Education Committee Chairperson
AARON WILLIAMS
To Be Honored I
PPPT Sets
Testimonial I
Poor People Pulling I
Together (PPPT) will salute I
County Commissioner Aaron I
Williams June 19 at 8 p.m. in I
a testimonial banquet at I
Doolittle Recreation Center. I
Proceeds from the $7.50 I
per person banquet will go I
to PPPT, Z non-profit I
organization, to continue I
their efforts in the communi- I
ty to aid lower-income peo- I
pie. I
For further information |
on the banquet contact the
PPPT office, 1285 W. Miller
Ave., Las Vegas
UlA 6 -3O -7&
WESTSIDE FEDERAL
CREDIT UNION
EDUCATION
COMMITTEE
ANNUAL REPORT>
JANUARY 22,1977
WE SAVE A LITTLE AT A TIME*
SILVER NUC-G-ET
2140 LAS VEGAS
BLVD. NORTH
BOOKMARK—|
A Thought While We’re Reading■'
All that we need for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing!
This Book the Property of
WEST SIDE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION EDUCATION COMMITTEE
OFFICERS
Mabel W. Hoggard, Chairperson
Ezra Davis, Treasurer
Maryon Hebert, Secretary
PROJECT SAVINGS
George Simmons, Project Manager
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Jesse D. Scott, Chairman
Mrs. Ora. Hughes
Mrs. Audrey James
Mrs. Perry Fortson
Cover by Betty Ann Reichert
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Education Committee wishes to especially acknowledge the following people and organizations 'for their support and generous assistance in the growth of the West Side Federal Credit Union:
Governor Mike O’Callaghan
Senator Howard Cannon
Lawrence Albert Las Vegas Voice
Mrs. Ruthe Deskin Las Vegas Sun
Mrs. Areanna Christie, Past President
Las Vegas Unit - Church Women United
Al Bramlet, Secretary-Treasurer Culinary Union
Dr. Kenny C. Guinn, Superintendent Clark County School District
Clark County Retired Teachers Association
Members of the Press and Other Media
All those who have given memberships to children in the West Side Federal Credit Union
3
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
The first meeting of the Education Committee was held on Sunday, July 20, 1975 at the home Of Mrs. Gwen Weekes Rahner. Project Chairman George Simmons conducted the meeting and “Project Savings” began. The principal objectives of the Education Committee are to ensure a better life for our children, to teach them the importance of systematic savings and money management and to develop strong economic linkages between the local NAACP Branch and the West Side Federal Credit Union.
In the course of the year, four workshops were held for children and two for adults to promote the achievement of these objectives. Also, numerous meetings with children and citizens of the community were held to inform them of the West Side Federal Credit Union and “Project Savings.”
A training session was conducted by Mr. Glenn Reese, Director of the Nevada Credit Union League, for the Education Committee and members of the Board of the West Side Federal Credit Union.
The Education Committee
Wishes to Give Special Thanks to:
The Board of Directors West Side Federal Credit Union Mr. Jewell Scott, President
Mr. Woodrow Wilson, Secretary-Treasurer West Side Federal Credit Union
Mr. William Ferrence, Secretary-Treasurer
Boulder Dam Credit Union
Mr. Glenn Reese, Director Nevada Credit Union League
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
Thanks to All Who Have Helped Make “PROJECT SAVINGS”
The Success It Is
Ms. Pamela Ice, a very active member of the Education Committee, has taken a position with Burson-Marsteller, a public relations firm in New York City. We regret her leaving but are pleased to have Mrs. Bobbie Troutman as a new member of the Education Committee.
Portions from
“A BAG OF TOOLS”
Isn’t it strange
That common people
Like you and me
Are builders for eternity?
Each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass, A book of rules;
And each must make,
Ere life is flown,
A stumbling block
Or a stepping-stone.
R. L. Sharpe.
Davenport, Iowa
Ignores Needs of
Poor, Suit Charges
NATIONAL COMMITTEE AGAINST DISCRIMINATION IN HOUSING . 1425 H STREET. N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005.202-78
2 ■ *'iply “with federal, civil It also asks for assurance of ade- participation in an amended
continued from page 1
'^central Davenport, the purchase of: which thg city says is an “urgent need,” because the price is good.
In addition to the planned expenditure ot funds for parks and tennis courts, the suit questions the assisted housing program of the City. “Despite the overwhelming needs for as- ||sisted units for lower income families as Cbm- pared t<Telderly and handicapped persons”, the City provided-330 assisted units, of which | 7305 units or more than ninety per cent were | for the elderly and handicapped. Goals for the provision of units to.satisfy lower income hous-. ing needs for _e Id e rlya n d _h a n di cap p e d persons, were almost completeiy_met_. . . while goals for the provisions units tf^sStisfy lower income | housing needs of_fa mmes_wei£^not-.even E able fundsand to comply federal^ rights laws. .. quate citizen “application.
NCDH and HELP-Legal Assistance fded the class-action suit on behalf of the Central and Western Neighborhood Development Corporation the East Side Neighborhood Development Corporation and Nancy Blake, Thomas Gervais, Bruce I.obak, Augustine Mayes, and C . Walker, all of Davenport. Defendants include Carla Hills, Secretary (if HUD, Guy J. Birc| Area Director of the Omaha Area Office of HUD HUD itself, Robert Duax, Mayor ot Davenport, the City’s Director of the Department of Community Development and the City itself.
NCDH attorneys, along with HELP Legal- Assistance of Davenport, Iowa, have filed a lawsuit accusing Davenport of ignoring the needs ot the poor in its use of community development funds.
Charging that Davenport planned to use more than forty-six per cent of its community development money for parks and tennis courts in upper income areas, the suit Ms that the City be required to spend the funds for the benefit of its low and moderate income residents.
Davenport, with a population of approximately 100,000 persons (5.1 percent of whom are minority residents), is entitled to receive ' 5925,000. in comm unity "development funds! I administration, with the 'concurrence |of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban I Development, is attempting to expend almost 'half of the funds for unauthorized uses, the Icomplaint-stated.
Although Davenport’s black population is small,Seventy-one percent of all black families live within five census tracts. According to the complaint, “In its first and second year applica- ti°2g| the City had indicated that these census | tracts are blighted and have a concentration of I low income families; lack open space and recre-ii ational facilities; have deteriorated streets, alley^ curbs, and gutters, and that the environmental inspection department of the City received many complaints from this area concern- ing^ substandard dwellings, broken .curbs and Sidewalks, damaged streets, overgrown: vegetation and lack of open spacchLM
One tract, “contain^’thirty.-seven percent pt. all black families in the city, ■ and’ has the" highest concentration of lower income.families .n Dave..port. Yet this tract, “has.been entirely from. the. housing rehabilitation p?p- graM and does not benefit in any .way from dis-- _trib ut ion of Title I_fund$..under the .city’s plantSw tlid complaint stated. .
The parks and tennis-courts for which the -tyh- allocated. 5337,000 ar.e_.tQ_be Jn_up£er * 5 1 J£.SL_£ rac (s_lo cqted in _ the .north ern
£art_ol. Ijaj enport, far u^om the con'centrationfajr low and moderate income and minority group families.” The oth^W $93,000 under question iisnfor a park in
continued on page 2
Me Greater Delo Jerusalem
Haptist Murch
1100 NORTF1UD" STREET
FLAS VEGAS, NEVADA 89106
REVJF. N. ADDISON, MINISTER
United Voices of Greater New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church
Psalm 98:1
O Sing Unto The Lord A New Song

711 Morgan Avenue
LaaV ega s, Nevada
January 13,1967
Assemblyman Woodrow Wilson
Nevada State Legislature Carson City,Nevada
Dear Mr* Wilsons
Thanks very much for taking time out from your busy schedule to visit Highland School yesterday.
It is most gratifying to me to have someone at the legislative level in our state who is sincerely interested in the improvement of our public school system to the point where its excellence is acknowledged and appreciated in every neighborhood of every city of our state*
Constructive programs are underway in a number of our schools aimed at reclaiming the disadvantaged and preparing them for entrance into the mainstream of American life. I am hoping that you agree with me that Project Saturation now in operation at Highland School is one of the best programs ever initiated in our schools,and will do all in your power to insure its continuation.
An evaluation is now being made of Project Saturation.and I shall ask Principal Sari Brunner to forward a copy to you upon completion.
David, joins me in best wishes for a successful legislative session and kindest personal regards.
Sincerely,
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HELP COALITION
October, 1971
With the approach of autumn, 1970, a new association of concerned citizens became visible in Clark County. Adopting the name "Help Expand ■ Lunch Programs" (HELP), it set out to inform the public and enlist broad support for the task of alleviating hunger and malnutrition among local school children. Like many such movements, it didn't just happen; its roots can be traced back through several months of prior activity by a number of individuals and groups.
The first spark of interest that later produced the HELP Coalition was ignited at University United Methodist Church in February, 1970, during a workshop on poverty held for all United Methodist Church women. As a result of the workshop, a group of volunteers proposed starting a breakfast program for children bussed to Marion Cahlan School in North Las Vegas, to be supplied from nearby Wesley United Methodist Church, whose minister, Rev. Herbert Osman, has been a leader since the beginning in the campaign against hunger in Clark County.
This initial concern led to a general meeting of women from six United Methodist Churches in the area, at which agreement was reached on the importance of expanding the school lunch program in the county. Their concern was reinforced when in May, President Nixon signed into law the new Scnool Lunch Act setting guidelines for school districts receiving child nutrition subsidies. The new law was partial fulfillment of the President's futile promise the previous Christmas to guarantee a school lunch for al 1 needy American children by Thanksgiving, 1970.
Several months of individual conferences with legislators and School District officials fol 1 owed the April meeting, during wnich time the District announced a feasibility study .to determine whether or not to build additional lunch facilities by 1972 or 197)» As the District had solicited community opinion, several individuals stepped up their activity and by August the HELP Committee was formed. By that time the individual efforts at persuasion had met with some success -- a promise to expand the existing lunch program, which reached only one-fourth of the elementary schools and was aimed mainly at children in the integration program, to six additional schools as soon as possible -- but it was evident that broader participation would be required in any effort for change.
As its first step, then, HELP set out to enlist support from individuals and organizations. Active participation within a few months came from the Clark County Ministerial Association, Church Women United, the NAACP, the Clark County Economic Opportunity Board, the Franciscan Center, the Nevada Association of Latin Americans, First Presbyterian Church, the National Welfare Rights Organization, the Clark County Legal Aid Society, the Commission for Social Justice and Peace of the Roman Catholic Church, and particularly from the League of Women Voters.
With the HELP Coalition on a firm footing, it immediately launched the second phase of its campaign in the early fall of 1970. This was an intensive effort to determine the facts of the existing lunch program in Clark County Schools, the State and Federal resources and regulations
2
affecting lunch programs, and the possible channels for improvement and expansion of the program. During this effort, contact was made with school administrators, School Board trustees, members of the State Board of Education, Senators Alan Bible and Howard Cannon, Governor-elect Mike O'Callaghan, the Children's Foundation of Washington, D. C., the State Department of Education, the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the Columbia Center on Social Welfare Policy and Law, the National Welfare Rights Organization, the County Health Department, the National Council of Christians and Jews, the Clark County Classroom Teachers Association, and Senator George McGovern's Senate Committee on Nutrition and Health Needs.
This fact-finding effort was highly productive. HELP documented the extent of the hunger problem among Clark County children; exposed a number of School District violations of Federal law at a11 levels of administration, and supplied the District with accurate data on its obligations under the new 1 aw; documented the miserably inadequate state of facilities in local elementary schools; found over thirty sources of potential support for the program, some of them unknown previously to the District; and discovered a condition of widespread confusion among School District officials on the subject of the lunch program. The results were presented publicly at hearings on hunger held in November by the Economic Opportunity Board and resulted in extensive publicity concerning the problem.
Within two weeks of the hunger hearings, the School District announced steps it would take to identify qualified children and provide them with free lunches, steps required by 1 aw and never before carried out. The action was taken during the Christmas holidays and resulted in an immediate,, increase in the number of free lunches provided in the District from 600 to nearly 4,000 daily -- a number which would have doubled had adequate facilities been available for preparation and distribution of lunches. Also, shortly after the hunger hearings, the School District's feasibility study was completed rather sooner than anticipated by outside observers.
HELP then progressed from fact-finding to action aimed at helping the District overcome obstacles to rapid expansi oh of the lunch program. Efforts to enlist State support led to a firm commitment from Governor O'Cal laghan to recommend use of nearly $700,000 in surplus State funds for the Clark County lunch program. Later in the spring the State Legislature approved this appropriation for the purpose of building facilities required by an expanded program. Through the efforts of Senators Bible and cannon, a promise was received from the Department of Agriculture to provide an additional $400,000.
In spite of these promising developments, the campaign for an adequate lunch opportunity for all Clark County school children received serious, setbacks early in 1971. At the end of January, the School Board responded to the District's feasibility study by denying a high priority to the lunch program, thus effectively burying the matter. District administrators then decided that the special legislative appropriation, passed with the intent of supporting an expanded lunch program, should rather support the District s faltering elementary school integration program, for which the District had not budgeted any funds during the preceding two years.
With its efforts at education, persuasion, and assistance thus stymied, HELP resorted to legal measures. For several months it had appeared likely that a Federal Court suit would be inevitable to keep the District's
3
expansion plans moving. In March, 1971, the suit was filed by the Legal Aid Society on behalf of twelve children qualified for free lunches, but refused them because of the inadequate facilities.
At its May meeting, the State Board of Education, although it lacks enforcement authority, voted to urge the School Board to use the legislative appropriation for construction of the intended food service facilities. At the same time the School Board finally responded to continuing pressure from HELP and others by voting to guarantee free lunches for al l needy children in the county when school opened in the fall.
This move and the District's reluctant but apparent willingness' to use the legislative appropriation as intended led later in the summer to a withdrawal of the suit. It was obvious, however, that continued citizen surveillance and pressure would be necessary. By October HELP organized a comprehensive school-by-school survey to determine progress and assess in detail both the facts of the program in each school and the atmosphere and attitudes fostered by school personnel. This survey is now in progress and wi11 be a major aid in assessing HELP's overall impact and directions for future activity.
Although at times the public controversy generated by HELP'S efforts has focused attention on the problems of minority and economically deprived children, the goals of the coalition have from the beginning encompassed all the children of Clark County. Its members believe that emphasizing particular racial or economic groups induces further polarization in an already troubled community. Furthermore, there is evidence that even children who can afford good nutrition fail to get it in the absence of a lunch program because the void is filled by such substitutes as mobile vendors and PTA candy sales.
HELP is we 11 aware that its success- depends upon widespread cooperation. The success itself has been documented by the Columbia Center on Social Welfare Policy and Law, which credits the HELP campaign as the country's most successful to date in terms of generating a speedy response from the School District. The cooperation has been abundant, both from numerous private citizens and from public officials whose key influence is required at critical points. Among these are Assemblyman Woodrow Wilson, whose support insured continuation of the breakfast program; Governor O'Cal laghan, with his leadership at the State level; and Senators Bible and Cannon, who have opened channels at the Federal level.
THE HELP COALITION LEADERSHIP
Rev. Herbert Osman, Chairman
Rev. Richard Markle, Fact-Finding Committee
Mrs. Mabel Hoggard, Consultant.
Mrs. Mary Forrester, Secretary
Mrs, Alma Gray, Treasurer
Mrs. Peggy Smith, Special Assistant
Mr. Jack Anderson, Legal Advisor
711 Morgan Avenue
Las Vegas, Nevada 89106
March 20, 1972
Mrs. Helen Cannon, Member
Clark County School Board 2832 East Flamingo Road Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
Dear Mrs. Cannon:
I certainly appreciate your considering me to run a Pilot Lunch Project in one of the West Side schools. You know my great interest in prograws which help children make the most of their educational opportunities. Both the Breakfast Program (in which you were instrumental) and the Lunch Program fall into this enabling category, and assisting in improving and expanding them would be a very worthwhile and rewarding project.
However, in view of the present racial climate, I feel that for the success of this type of project, two schools having large percentages of children from poverty-level families should be chosen - one predominantly Black and one predominantly White. The program should be supervised by certificated nutritionists in each school.
I would recommend a black nutritionist with a white aide in the predominantly white school, and a white nutritionist with a black aide in the predominantly black school. This would offer a dual opportunity for the School District to combine good race relations and good nutrition through real concern for the children's welfare.
Using fully qualified personnel would insure the acceptance of the project results and also give additional stature to the School District. Ultimately, such a program should be established in all the elementary schools in the county, with a Nutrition Supervisor for each zone.
The School Board is to be commended for its foresight in establishing member committees with specific responsibilities. However, the committee structure still leaves overwhelming areas for each group to cover, due to the size of the District and the growing complexity of current educational problems. If each committee of the School Board had a consultant whose special job would be to provide that committee with first-hand details obtained by visiting schools, meeting with teachers, principals, students, PTA's, etc., as the situations demand, the workload of the committee would be greatly facilitated. Such a consultant's activities would also be helpful to the administrative staff of the District.
I believe that my 24 years' experience as a teacher in the Clark County School District and my position since retirement as the Special Consultant to the HELP Coalition—an unusually broad-based community organization—uniquely qualify me to serve as Consultant to the Lunch Committee of the School Board- This, then, is the position for which I would like you to consider me.
As the results of many nutritional surveys are made public, the direct effect of the nutritional needs of children on their learning ability is being increasingly well documented. The School District has a wonderful opportunity to take the initiative in this area by providing top-notch feeding programs, and also by placing emphasis on nutrition instruction in required health classes. Coordination of such instruction with the practical application possible through a School Feeding Program would offer an excellent reinforcement for the learning process.
With the assistance of a Consultant, teachers could be made more aware of the advantages of good nutrition in their immediate classroom situations; community agency activities (County Health Dept. University Extension Nutrition Service, etc.) could be coordinated with school activities; and input from school personnel, students, and parents could be solicited and used to improve the efficiency and "palatability" of both the food program and the nutrition instruction. Since the Consultant would be able to function at a high level of authority—directly under the supervision of the School Board Committee—cooperation from all areas would be given more freely. Food programs should be completely divorced from teachers and principals, except for their constructive suggestions, and handled under a separate agency of the School District. The Consultant could act effectively as a communications link between them, making possible more understanding, while at the same time eliminating extra administrative burdens.
I hope that you will consider this proposal seriously and let me know.your opinion of it. I am always ready and willing to be of assistance in helping prepare children to become constructive, contributing members of society.
Sincerely,
Mabel W. Hoggard
cc. Dr. Kenny Guinn
September 2, 1976
Mr. Earl A. Evans, Jr.
Board of Trustees
Clark County School District
2825 Enmons Drive
North Las Vegas, Nevada 89030
Dear Mr. Evans:
"Project Savings," a program initiated by the Westside Federal Credit Union,
was one year old in July, 1976. Its field of membership is the Las Vegas, Nevada,
Branch of the NAACP. It is designed to encourage savings and money management on
the part of young people. Credit Unions are cooperative associations and are
excellent mechanisms for the kind of group economic discipline so necessary for the
building of viable communities. The Westside Federal Credit Union is a substantial
economic anchor in the development of an expanding community in Las Vegas. "Project
Savings" is part of the growth and its educational value for young people in our
community is great 1 The quality of thrift is essential to a secure, meaningful
life. It reduces the kind of economic dependency upon government and others that
seems> to have become a way of life for so many throughout America.
As we enter our third century as a nation, "Project Savings" can give our
community a positive educational program as well as a new economic thrust. Although
initially designed for primary children of West Las Vegas, "Project Savings"
is open to all citizens of Clark County, Nevada; adults as well as children, regardless
of race, creed or color.
Because we no longer have a savings program in our schools, we (members of the
Education Committee of the Westside Federal Credit Union) are desirous that you be
informed of our activities. To that end, we welcome the opportunity to discuss
"Project Savings" with the Board of Trustees, in person, at your earliest convenience.
Thank you for your attention. I would appreciate your prompt reply.
(Mrs.) Mabel W. Hoggard
Co-Chairperson
Westside Federal Credit Union
Education Committee
ps: The banks no longer make education loans to freshman college students; there
fore, we are extremely anxious that high school students — particularly
those who might need leans in order to attend college — receive "Project.
Savinas" information. ■ (
PROJECT SAVINGS
FOR THE CHILDREN
Initiated by the
EDUCATION COMMITTEE
of the
WESTSIDE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
Whose field of membership is the
Las Vegas, Nevada Branch of the
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
Principal Objectives:
To ensure a better life for our children.
To teach them the importance of systematic savings and money management.
To develop strong economic linkages between the local NAACP Branch and the
Westside Federal Credit Union.
lo the many people of good will who have volunteered assistance:
We believe that, in order to accomplish these objectives, we must do a
massive public relations job.
For further information, please call:
NAACP Office 648-2880
or
Westside Federal Credit Union 648-4626
Westside Federal Credit Union
REPORT
EDUCATION COMMITTEE
WESTSIDE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
September II, 1977
The Education Committee is reactivating after a summer which brought
illness and death to families of some members. Hope all who enjoyed
vacations are back and ready for work.
Your Chairperson attended the Annual Meeting of the NAACP in St. Louis
and was asked to participate in the Economic Development Workshop where
she explained Project Savings. The idea was well received and her remarks
taped and available on cassette.
SUMMER GROWTH
While the early spring and summer saw unprecedented growth of the
Westside Federal Credit Union, partially as a result of the efforts
of the Education Committee, we are particularly happy over the interest
and support developed by the members of the St. James Roman Catholic
Church. The Rev. Louis Vitalie and several lay members have pledged
to continue seeking new members for the Credit Union and urging the
parents to open accounts for their children.
DONATIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Ms. Betty Ann Reichert continues to donate and contribute to Project
Savings through her artistic abilities. We thank her for the recent
posters given to the St. James Roman Catholic Church.
Our thanks also go to Mr. W. C. Brewster who installed the bulletin
board in the Credit Union office. We hope the members will read the
information on SAVINGS and other interesting items when they visit.
Submitted by,
EDUCATION COMMITTEE
1977 HIGHLIGHTS
Since the Annual Meeting in January, the Education Committee has continued to emphasize its work with young people.
FEBRUARY AND MARCH
Members of the Education Committee volunteered to keep the Credit Union office open Satrudays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Virna Canson, West Coast Regional Director of the NAACP, reviewed Project Savings (the main program of the Education Committee) and suggested that it become a pilot program for other NAACP branches.
APRIL AND MAY
The origin of the Federal Credit Union and an explanation of Project Savings
appeared in the Las Vegas Review Journal and the Las Vegas SUN.
JUNE
Your chairperson appeared before the staff of the Title I project of the Clark County School District, St. James Roman Catholic Church, and Pilgrim Church of Christ (Holiness) • seeking and receiving support for Project Savings.
JULY
Your chairperson and Jesse Scott attended the NAACP Convention in and
made a presentation on Project Savings to the National Workshop on Economic Development. A cassette tape was made on the history of the project.
AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER
Attention was focused on children who are enthusiastic over their savings accounts, and college students who have saved in the past were used to help inspire savings among younger children.
OCTOBER V .
Retired Westside school teacher, Joan Parry, donated her original oil painting, "Children of the World," to the Credit Union. Since the Credit Union office is small, the painting has been
Project Savings received the unanimous support of Southern Nevada-Southern California Church Women United at a meeting held in Los Angeles. Areanna Christie of Las Vegas, area chairperW, introduced Mabel Hoggard, who in turn presented the project to the group.
NOVEMBER
H. P. Fitzgerald, Director of the Westside Community Development Project, donated a bulletin board for the Credit Union office to help improve communication in West Las Vegas.
DECEMBER
mJng tn the Westside Community Development Commission Office in the old Westside School,
330 West Washington.
The officers and members of Project Savings extend their thanks to everyone who has been instrumental
in enrolling children in our savings program.
With the support of its members this past dividend period, the Credit Union was able to pay a
6% dividend, which was the largest in its history. The Credit Union is hoping to grow more in
1978 than in 1977 and that it will be able to offer more support to its membership and to the
community.
Education Committee Chairperson
-TO THE
Iorder OF._Ed.uca t1 on Committp.p.
0 AU 7 ORAN GRAGSON
Cv JIr AA A ■ BONNIE GRAGSON 3700 apache lane A A LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 8 9107
January 17, iq 78 94-65
1224
Westside Federal Credit Union & 100.00
_ONE_H U IIP RED DOLLARS-------- --
CASINO CENTER OFFICE
BANK OF NEVADA
IAS VISAS. NEVADA
20 shares - $5.00 per share
ii a eu»‘oo& s»;
------------ v----------------- Dollars
WESTFSII ®E COMIN1CHIL
A unique and
o f communication with schools
ultimate goal
ty at large by
dren and adults. This can only be accomplished through the
improvement of the channels
and parents.
new kind ofcoalitiqn has taken the initial
the formation of the Westside Council.Our
is to aid in the reformation of the communiraising
the level of education for both chil-
The Council has
decision-making
home and schools
increased the opportunity for' effective
and promoted the understanding between
through the airing of unfounded prejudices
and frank dialogue. We will continue with renewed strength
and vigor to deal constructively with current realities.
Mrs. Mabel Hog^gard
Chai rman
CoVoTSGilberf Elementary School
Mrs. Jane Noland Mr. Richard Minyard
Highland Elementary School
Miss Paula Christensen Mrs. Annie M. Norwood
Jo Mackey Elementary School
Mr. Curtis Hall
Kit Carson Elementary School
Mrs.. Charlotte Cook
Mr. Raymond Nelson Mrs. Annette Bremner
Madison Elementary School
Miss Rosalyn Harris
Miss Margaret Furr J
Mrs. Eva Simmons
Matt Kelly Elementary School
Miss Mary Mathews Mr. Kermit R. Booker
2
FORMATION
Department a comprehen- sxhooIs . It the oppor- p r o b Iems
During the past year, a group of Westside teachers and administrators worked with members of the of Instruction to fashion a framework for sive program for the children of their six is the first time Westside teachers have had
tunity to meet and discuss new ideas for old during school hours.
The Westside Council bi-weekly meetings.
is now well underway, Its agenda is diverse.
having held
Basically, the structure of the program gives priority emphasis to four distinct areas.
1.
Health and nursing
2.
In-service
3.
Language Arts
4.
Self-concept
3
^0 0^5 8 IO
PROGRAM 1. . .health, and establishment of supplemental
nutritional programs, including physical and psychological testing, counseling, and the correction of those physical informaties where possible."
A breakfast program has been initiated in all six Westside schools. The cost is 10$ per child. Menus vary daily and include cereal, fruit, waffles, etc. Milk is served at each breakfast.
Nursing: At present, each school has but one ni>rse for one day per week. A Nurse Committee has been formed of representatives from each Westside school to explore various aspects of this program. Bi-monthly meetings have led to planning a more effective programming with the cooperation of a number of public health nurses.
PROGRAM 2. "To provide the teachers in the Westside schools with the necessary skills so they may more effectively teach disadvantaged children."
To help attain this objective, two permanent substitute teachers in each Westside school have been appointed so that members may attend Westside Council meetings during school hours.
PROGRAM 3. "A focus on self-concept through a series of workshops are the initial projects."
The development of language skills helps enhance a child's self-image. The Council has secured, as a first step, more library material on Negro history. New programs for teaching Negro history are also underway.
PROGRAM 4. "To provide children with as many successful school experiences as early as possible so as to enlarge the child's self-image and insure success in future learning tasks."
A feature of this program is that of inter-school principal cooperation and communication to initiate new and diverse inter-school programs such as field trips.
- 4 -
SUCH PROGRESS CANNOT BE MADE WITHOUT MUCH COOPERATION AND MANY LONG HOURS OF WORK.
SPECIAL CREDIT GOES TO THE PRINCIPALS OF THE WESTSIDE SCHOOLS
Mrs. Helen Anderson
Mr. Theron Goynes
Mr. Robert Onken
Mr. Dennis Ortwein
Mr. John Walker
Mr. Herschel Williams
Kit Carson Elementary Highland Elementary CVT Gilbert Elementary Jo Mackey Elementary Matt Kelly Elementary Madison Elementary
Much deserving credit is also extended to
Dr. Clifford J. Lawrence - Associate Superintendent, Instruction Mr. John T. Paul - Associate Superintendent, Administration Dr. Kenneth Seifert - Administrative Aide
Mr. E. A. Greer - Associate Superintendent, Business
Mr. Robert Dunsheath - Director Curriculum Services
Mr. Preston T.Bishop - Coordinator Curriculum
Mr. O.F. Westover - Director Food Services
Mrs. Emma Higby - Assistant, Food Services
Dr. Donald Dickinson - Coordinator Student Services.
Mrs. Natalie Arrington - Out-of-District Consultant
Mr. Emory Lockette - Nevada Chairman, National Committee for Support of Public Schools
Assemblyman Woodrow Wilson
Members of the Nurse Committee
Mrs. Beverly McGarrow
Mrs. Catherine Ford
Mrs. Lois Clarkson
Mrs. Bernice Runke
Mrs. Mauri Peer *Mrs. Chris Christensen
* chairman
Highland Elementary Matt Kelly Elementary Madison Elementary Kit Carson Elementary CVT Gilbert Elementary Jo Mackey Elementary
- 5 -
Boardpf Global Ministries
\J£foe United Methodist Church tSnal Division, W. Darwin Andrus, Room 308
Third Floor. 475 Riverside Drive, New York, N.Y. 10027.
The Reverend Marion B. Bennett
Zion United Methodist Church
2108 North Revere Street
North Las Vegas, Nevada 89030
7 90*7 1------
Board of Global Ministries
The United Methodist Church
475 Riverside York, N.Y. 10027. (212) 149 0700.
Cable: missions new york
January 28, 1974
The Reverend Marion B. Bennett
Zion United Methodist Church
2108 North Revere Street
North Las Vegas, Nevada 89030
Re: North Las Vegas, Nevada
Zion United Methodist Church
$40,000 Additional Loan
Dear Mr. Bennett:
In keeping with my promise to you and the officials of Zion Church, I am setting
down in writing the proposals we discussed during my meeting with your group on
Friday evening, January 25.
At the present time, Zion United Methodist Church has a $75,000 United Methodist
Development Fund Loan, granted 9/27/66, for 15 years, at 6% interest. The loan
is payable in semi-annual installments of $2,500 principal, plus accrued interest.
There is at this time a principal balance remaining in the loan, in the sum of
$45,000. The payments on the loan are up-to-date; there are nine years left in
which to pay off the principal balance.
Zion Church needs an additional loan of approximately $40,000 to pay off a $35,000
Construction Loan granted by the Southern Nevada Methodist Foundation, and to pay
for furnishings for the new Multi Purpose Building now under construction. Zion
Church has already paid out $15,000 of its own funds on this project. The Construction
Loan from the Southern Nevada Methodist Foundation is for a period of
one year, at 6% interest. The Foundation has indicated its willingness to participate
in a permanent loan up to the sum of $20,000, at 7 1/2% interest.
I suggested two alternate proposals;
(1) i strongly recommend that Zion Church apply for an additional $40,000
loan, for a total loan of $85,000, for a period of 15 years at 7 1/2%
interest. $20,000 of this sum would be a participation by the Southern
Nevada Methodist Foundation; $20,000 would be new funds from the United
Methodist Development Fund; and $45,000 will be the principal balance
remaining in your present loan #300388. The monthly amortization of
National Division, Third Floor
BoardpfGlobal Ministries
\j£he United Methodist Church
National Division, W. Darwin Andrus, Room 308
Third Floor, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, N.Y. 10027.
The Reverend Marion B. Bennett
Zion United Methodist Church
2108 North Revere Street
North Las Vegas, Nevada 89030
M..6ZNBP
. on
' ~ i f
_______
The Reverend Marion B. Bennett
North Las Vegas, Nevada
January 28, 1974
Page 2
principal and interest will be §787.97', the annual amortization of
principal and interest will be $9,455.64. It will be necessary to
execute a new Note and a new Mortgage, plus bringing the title up-todate
.
(2) I do not recommend this proposal, and expressed the opinion on Friday
night (and now find that my opinion was correct) that it would be very
difficult to persuade the Directors of the United Methodist Development Fund
and the members of the Committee on Church Extension to agree to this
proposal. Since this proposal had been first made by The Reverend Mr.
Bennett and there seemed to be some of your officials who preferred this
proposal, I set it forth as follows. Zion Church will keep the present
loan #300388, continuing to make semi-annual paybacks in the sum yf $2,500
principal plus 6% interest. Zion Church will apply for a new Note only
loan in the sum of $20,000 from the National Division, for 10 years,
at 7 1/2% interest. The Southern Nevada Methodist Foundation will
participate with a Note only loan in the sum $20,000, for 10 years, at
7 1/2% interest. The loan #300388 would be changed to a monthly payment
basis in the sum of $574.25 principal and interest, for an annual amortization
of $6,891. The new $20,000 loan from the National Division would
have a monthly payback in the sum of $237.41 principal and interest; the
annual payback would be $2,848.92. The Foundation’s $20,000 loan would
have a payback of $237.41 principal and interest; the annual payback would
be $2,848.92. The total loan in the sum of $85,000 would have a monthly
payback in the sum of $1,049.07, and an annual payback in the sum of
$12,588.84.
To summarize; Proposal Number One will require a monthly payback in the sum of
$787.97, and an annual payback in the sum of . $9,455,64. Proposal Number Two will
require a monthly payback in the sum of $1,049.07, and an annual payback in the
sum of $12,588.84. In either case, the church will always have the privilege and
opportunity to make advance payments as often as possible and whenever desired.
Such payments would automatically reduce the amount of interest due on the loan.
There are certain conditions that must be met. First, the annual amortization of
the loan must fall within the Southern California-Arizona Conference Guidelines to
the effect that not more than 25% of the total income of the church may be spent
for all debt retirement (including parsonage payments and any other debt payments,
for property). The loan must be given a high Priority Rating by the Southern California-
Arizona Conference Board of Global Ministries in order for us to give any
consideration whatever to the application. Finally, I stressed the point very
strongly in my meeting with your group on Friday night, and I again reemphasize
the fact that the granting of a $20,000 loan on the part of either the United
Boardipj Global Ministries Me United Methodist Church
National D*ivision W. Darwin Andrus, Room 308
Third Floor, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, N.Y. 10027.
_. eo_ HviSM'S'nlr J
W.62N«r
The Reverend Marion B. Bennett
Zion United Methodist Church
2108 North Revere Street
North Las Vegas, Nevada 89030
The Reverend Marion B. Bennett
North Las Vegas, Nevada
January 28, 1974
Page 3
Methodist Development Fund or the Committee on Church Extension will depend
altogether upon the availability of funds for loans. Our loan funds are very
limited, and we will be able to grant only a very small percentage of the
applications received.
Finally, I must say to you very frankly that in my judgement there will be no
possibility for continuing the present loan at 6% interest, and securing a new
additional loan as mentioned in Proposal Number Two. After discussing the matter
with others on the Staff, I am convinced that Proposal Number One is the
only one I will be able to recommend.
It was indeed a genuine pleasure to visit with you and with your officials, to
observe once again the marvelous manner in which your church is involved in the
community, and to observe at first hand the excellent spirit displayed by the
leaders of your congregation.
I did give John Graham your greetings, and am happy to report that he was very
glad to hear from you.
Sincerely,
W. Darwin Andrus
Office of Church Extension
WDA: pa
cc: Dr. Robert Weirbach
Mr. George F. Williams
Dr. Will Hildebrand
Reverend H. Paul Smith
Reverend Earl R. Barr
P.S.: I should have stated that the $65,000 portion of the loan to come from
the United Methodist Development Fund will need to be guaranteed by the Southern
Nevada Methodist Foundation, as is the case with the existing loan #300388.
W.D.A.
PEOPLE
From the photo, it looked as if the
Archbishop of Canterbury, 62, were
being hustled off to the pokey—and in
Las Vegas yet. Well, not quite. The
Most Reverend and Right Honorable
Arthur Michael Ramsey, stopping off
for a day en route to an Episcopal conference
in Seattle, was merely getting
a V.I.P.’s reception, Nevada-style. His
Grace drew a crowd of 8,000 businessmen,
politicians and high-rollers to the
Convention Center for a talk on Christian
unity. Las Vegas responded with a
luncheon for 600, at which the Archbishop
was observed guffawing at Comedian
Danny Thomas. “Some of the
jokes I understood,” said His Grace
gracefully, “and others I didn’t.”
There was little chance that the item
would have made the Moscow papers
four years ago, when Nikita Khrushchev
was in power and Son-in-Law Aleksei
Adzhubei was editor of Izvestia. But
now Adzhubei, 43, is just a features editor
on the magazine Soviet Union, and
the Russian press was only too willing
to note that he had been charged with
reckless driving for running down a
woman as she pushed her baby carriage
across the street. Adzhubei could
have been jailed for ten years if mother
or child had been seriously injured.
The woman did suffer a concussion,
but the child was unhurt, and Adzhubei
was let off with a small dose of
humiliation and a public apology.
It started out like one more straightforward
publicity triumph for India’s
Reifa Faria, 23, the reigning Miss
World. Reita called a press conference
REITA IN HER FASHION
Whose sari now?
ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS
CANTERBURY & LAS VEGAS SHERIFF
Repent, ye high-rollers.
in London to announce her efflorescence
as a dress designer; a few days later,
under the crest of Irvine Sellars’ House
of Fashion, she modeled ten outfits that
she said she had nimble-thimbled herself.
Hold on, yelped Sellars Designer
lane Fox, 22. “I did the sketches, cut
the material, had the patterns and samples
cut. Reita Faria couldn’t tell sacking
from silk.” Well, said dauntless
Reita, “the ideas and the influence were
mine.” Whose sari now?
New York’s Fordham University
wanted a headliner for its liberal arts
program, and it picked a winner. For a
$30,000 salary, plus $70,000 for research
assistants, the adventurous
Roman Catholic university got Canada’s
self-styled Mind-Massager Marshall
McLuhan, 56, to come down for a year’s
guest professorship. In his very first lecture,
McLuhan told his 178 students
that the Viet Nam war is “an all-out educational
effort” and that TV is “an Xray
machine.” The one student who
tried to take notes dissolved in utter confusion.
But the rest were turned on—to
say nothing of the reporters at a press
conference where McLuhan went on
about orchestra conductors (“janitors”)
and the separation of church and state
(“outlived its usefulness”). “It was a
good show,” said campus Editor George
Thomas. “He performed wonderfully
for the press.” ,
Britain’s bookies had made Sir Winston
Churchill the favorite at 3 to 1;
Prince Charles and Princess Margaret
were the second choices at 4 to 1. Not
even Queen Elizabeth II (a 14 to 1
choice), who was to. christen the ship,
knew the name until launching day.
Then, told the secret at last, the Queen
stepped onto the platform at the bow
of Britain’s new, 58,000-ton luxury liner
and proclaimed: “I name this ship
Queen Elizabeth II, and may God bless
all who sail in her.”
It was the dangdest bunch of lobbyists
anyone ever laid eyes on—a fiveman
Arkansas jug band appearing before
a Senate subcommittee on behalf
of Green Thumb, a Government project
that gives old folks jobs beautifying
Arkansas roadsides. As the jug band
sawed away, someone passed out Green
Thumb hard hats (worn as protection
against falling tree branches). One of
the hats wound up atop that dour Arkansan
John McClellan, 71. Without a
change in his grim expression, McClellan
stood up and began dancing a jig
to the Arkansas Traveler, all the while
slapping at the hat to keep it in place.
Before long it was too much even for
Stoneface. “He’s actually smiling,” said
an aide, and so he was.
“What we wanted to know,” explained
an adman with London’s Ogilvy
& Mather, ’‘was whether the average
girl’s tastes were way out and
nouveau, or whether they were more
traditional and sophisticated.” So the
agency polled a sampling of London’s
young ladies. Which of twelve women
would the girls most want to look like?
Twiggy, who figured to be an odds-on
favorite, finished a very flat tenth. In
front of her were a couple of more familiar
matrons: Brigitte Bardot and Elizabeth
Taylor. Ahead of them came
Jacqueline Kennedy. At the top by a
wide margin: Britain’s favorite model,
Jean Shrimpton, 24, who pointed unerringly
to her advantage over the likes
of the Twig: “I’m not so thin.”
MODEL SHRIMPTON
There is nothing like a dame.
TIME, SEPTEMBER 29, 1967 45
TIME ESSAY
.RACE & ABILITY
F all animals, man is the most unpredictable^Toynbee
notwithstanding, history makes an uncertain prophet:
the same circumstances, involving different times and different
men, can lead to war or peace, love or hate, fraternity
or murder. The same hereditary material, pooled by the
same man and woman in the act of reproduction, can produce
children who do not much resemble either their
parents or one another. Even identical twins, issuing from
the same egg, can vary; for instance, they never possess identical
fingerprints or dispositions.
Classifications may not exist in nature, but order does.
And the observable differences among men, as broadly varied
as the species, have long challenged the orderly human
mind to catalogue them—to find a way, in short, to subdivide
the fascinating and unruly diversity of humankind.
Within the diversity may lurk patterns, and the patterns
may aid man’s understanding of himself and his differences.
This prospect has endlessly occupied—and eludedMthe inquiring
human mind. If the species could be sensibly subdivided
into races, then the races could be measured one
against another, could be assigned proper places in the hierarchy
of mankind. Cultural and geographical isolation, occurring
over numberless millennia, could conceivably have
bred peoples of widely differing physical and intellectual capacity.
And taking Western technological man as the norm,
it could be possible, given the right tools, to compare his performance
against those of all the other human varieties.
What Eyes Can See
The problem is far more complicated than that, as any scientist
who has tried merely to determine the biological
races has discovered. Among the first to try was the German
zoologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in 1775. On
the basis of physical characteristics, he saw five human subspecies
or races—a term possibly deriving from the Arabic
ras (beginning). Blumenbach divided humans into races that
he called Caucasian (white), Mongolian (yellow), Ethiopian
(black), American (copper) and Malay (brown).
In Blumenbach’s century, other naturalists and philosophers
disputed his arbitrary racial census; with equal arbitrariness,
it has been reduced and expanded many times
in the 192 years since. Sorting men into groups according
to their differences may seem a simple task. But even now, anthropologists
argue heatedly on how to do it. They have
partitioned the human species into anywhere from two to
200 races; some anthropologists maintain that humanity cannot
or should not be subdivided into races at all. The
debate does not particularly concern the great majority of nonexperts.
Man’s eyes tell him that the species comes in
three predominant skin shades, which are chromatically
though imperfectly described as white, yellow and black.
From much the same evidence, three major divisions are frequently
deduced: Caucasian, Mongolian and Negroid.
Not every human being fits neatly into one of those
three categories, but most of them do. The system is at
least workable, all the more so because the physical disparities
in man are not limited to the color of his skin. The socalled
Mongolian race, for example, can also be distinguished
by the epicanthic fold that gives some Asian peoples,
among them the Japanese and the Chinese, a slant-eyed
look. Evolutionary hypothesis has traced this feature to its
probable source. The predominant theory is that it developed
from a mutation—a random change in the elaborate
chemistry of human chromosomes, which govern man’s
biological evolution. For arctic and desert-dwelling people,
subjected to blinding blizzards of snow or sand, the eye
fold had definite survival value: it increased the eyes’ protection
against such hazards. Thus the trait endured.
The dark skin that usually, though not invariably, characterizes
members of the Negroid race may also be a
protective device. If man was first born in tropical Africa,
as some anthropologists now suggest, then it is possible that
his skin, whatever color it may have been to begin with,
took on added pigment—again, starting with chance mutation—
as a screen against harmful radiation from the sun. It
is a fact that Negroes seldom have skin cancer, though its incidence
is rising noticeably in the white population of the
U.S. The same pigment, by filtering solar radiation, impedes
synthesis of vitamin D, which prevents rickets and is
manufactured from the sun’s rays by the body. As early
man migrated out of the tropical sun—into the green jungle,
north to less torrid zones—light skin thereupon conferred
an advantage by admitting more vitamin D-producing
sunlight. And the lottery of evolution, patiently awaiting
the appropriate mutation, then fixed this advantage into
place. Thus, over the centuries, environmental factors were
producing genetic changes.
Man’s extended tropical sojourn appears to have generated
other useful or once useful adaptations more frequently
found in dark-skinned peoples. A hereditary blood condition
known as the sickle-cell trait, which grants resistance
to certain types of malaria, is only now beginning to wane
among U.S. Negroes, who no longer have any need of it.
The Negro’s woolly black hair once provided insulation
against the heat of the blazing tropical sun; his thick lips,
by exposing more mucous membrane, may have increased
the body’s evaporative cooling powers in torrid climates;
his characteristically long legs and lean frame were once distinctly
helpful to some prehistoric race of hunters.
The list of apparently Negroid characteristics can be extended,
since dark-skinned persons come in so many shapes
and sizes, from the storklike Watutsi, to the Pygmies.of Central
Africa. Generally, Negro skull capacity—affecting the
size of the brain—runs about 50 cc. below that of whites.
However, before any large conclusions are drawn from
that, another fact must be considered: on the average, the
skull capacity of modern whites is some 150 cc. smaller
than that of Neanderthal man, who lived 50,000 years ago.
Some anthropologists go so far as to say that the Negro’s attributes,
coupled with the ordeal of slavery, have produced
in him a physically superior race—a theory that gains
strength from the Negro’s extraordinary ability in athletics.
The strongest African blacks were selected as the best slave
material; only the hardiest of these survived ocean transport
in slave ships; only the sturdiest of back and spirit
endured slavery’s arduous, degrading yoke.
Bitter Division
It is on the issue of racial superiority, physical and mental,
that all of mankind bitterly divides. Such value judgments
are largely subjective and lack any solid scientific
foundation, but that has never stopped men from making
them. The Negro, who reached the U.S. in bonds, has ever
since been classified in some quarters as a member of an intellectually
inferior race. The attitude is not without historical
precedent. Segregationists of the U.S. South often quote
the Book of Genesis 9:25, which relates that Canaan, the
son of Ham—whose skin was believed to be black-—is accursed
throughout time: “A servant of servants shall he be
unto his brethren.” The 18th century Scottish philosopher
David Hume suspected “Negroes to be naturally inferior to
the whites.” Several U.S. Presidents, among them Jefferson
and Lincoln, shared the same opinion, at least for a while.
As long as the two races lived together, said Lincoln in 1858,
“there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I
as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior
position assigned to the white race.” Washington unreflectively
accepted slavery as an institution simply be-
46 TIME, SEPTEMBER 29, 1967
cause it was there, but before dying he drew up a will emancipating his slaves. The late Albert Schweitzer, who devoted his life and medical skill to African Negroes, went to his grave believing that “the Negro is a child, and with children nothing can be done without the use of authority.”
The theory of racial inferiority lurks at the edges of current anthropological thought. In his book The Origin of Races, Anthropologist Carleton S. Coon suggests that Homo sapiens—modern man—evolved not once but five times, in five different places. The last to attain the fully human estate, says Coon, was the Negro—a conjecture that, if accepted, explains why Negro cultures in Africa lag behind the West’s and why the Negro is not yet the white man’s intellectual peer. According to Coon, he simply has not had enough time. Approaching the subject from closer range, University of Chicago Physiologist Dwight Ingle writes: “America is trying to build the Great Society by applying only palliative methods for the correction of cultural handicaps and ignoring possible biological bases of incompetence, indolence and irresponsibilty.”
Open Possibility
Few members of the scientific community agree with these points of view, preferring instead merely to keep open the possibility that the races of man can be intellectually ranked. To Curt Stern, a geneticist at the University of California at Berkeley, it seems unreasonable to conclude that “because there is no evidence of inherent inequalities, the situation couldn’t exist.” Says University of Colorado Anthropologist John Greenway: ?I would not want to say that an Australian Aborigine is dumber than I am, because there is no way to tell. In their noncompetitive society there is no way to make any tests and hence no way to make comparisons. We don’t know what the differences are between different racial groups and there is a strong prejudice against finding out. Suppose you made a study to determine if there are differences between the brains of whites and Negroes and proved it?” Nobel Laureate William Shockley, a solid-state physicist, drew outraged reaction from the scientific community when he charged that “inverted liberalism” raises taboos against research into man’s genetic intellectual differences and “paralyzes the ability to doubt.”
A scientist who is closer to the pertinent field put it in less provocative terms. “The idea that human races differ in adaptively significant traits is emotionally repugnant to some people,” wrote Geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky in Mankind Evolving. “Any inquiry into this matter is felt to be dangerous, lest it vindicate race prejudice.” Undeniably, racial prejudice is social or cultural in origin rather than biological, and it is understandable that anthropologists, who hesitate to make value judgments on the basis of biological fact, would hesitate also to enter what is fundamentally a sociological-^and highly emotional—controversy. Anthropologist Morton Fried says that “participation in a ‘debate’ over racial differences in intelligence, ability or achievement potential is not participation in a scientific debate at all. It means lifting in the public eye the status of studies otherwise disqualified and rejected by science.” Interpreted one way, such studies apparently suggest that the U.S. Negro is inferior to the U.S. white. On IQ tests, he generally averages 15 to 20 points lower. The results of World War I alpha intelligence tests have frequently been cited as evidence of the Negro’s mental inferiority, since the Negro soldier invariably ranked below the white soldier on a state- by-state basis. But the same test results can be used in another way to demonstrate that Negroes are smarter than whites. On the alpha tests, for instance, Negro soldiers from the Northern state of Ohio outscored whites from eleven Southern states. Beyond this, it could be inferred from the tests that Northern whites are superior to Southern whites, because they almost always did better.
Most psychologists have now abandoned the notion that intelligence can be accurately tested; it is difficult even to define the terms. Einstein once confessed to Anthropologist Ashley Montagu that in the Australian Aborigine’s society,
he would rightfully be regarded as an intellectual idiot who could neither track a wallaby nor throw a boomerang. As Anthropologist Stanley Garn has dryly noted, if the Aborigine drafted an IQ test, all of Western civilization would presumably flunk it. “It is possible that some of the behavioral differences between human groups may be genetically determined,” says University of Michigan Anthropologist Ernst Goldschmidt. “These may include differences in intelligence, but such differences may equally be due to cultural determinants. The question simply remains open.?” Harvard Psychologist Thomas Pettigrew points out that “while the intelligence test means of the two races are still divergent, the range of performance—from the most retarded idiot to the most brilliant genius—is much the same in the two groups. Some Negro children achieve IQs into the gifted range (130 or over) and right up to the testable- limit of 200.” For three years running, the highest scholastic achievement among Australian state schools was registered by one composed exclusively of Aboriginal children.
Those who resist making value comparisons among groups do so on two grounds^ The first is that science as yet lacks valid tools to sort mankind into biological races. The second is that even if science possessed such tools, the racial divisions could not conceivably be used to grade human worth. So meager is man’s understanding of the complicated biochemistry of evolution and of the nonhereditary influences of cultural environment that no one can confidently assign that portion of intelligence with which man was, born and that part he acquired. If heredity bestows his capacity to learn, culture decides what he will learn—in some cases, how much he will be permitted to learn. The handicaps under which the U.S. Negro has existed since he arrived, in chains are cruelly reflected in his group achievement.
Environment & Culture
Physical differences are variations on the universal human theme. All men are different. But all men are also alike; the similarities outnumber the differences, says Morton Fried, on the order of 95 to 5. During man’s nomadic residence on earth, a continuum reaching back 2,000,000 years, he has indiscriminately mingled with his own kind, thoroughly scrambling his genes. It may be possible one day to unscramble the human genetic omelet. Until then, group distinctions decreeing one race’s superiority over another must necessarily be made on nonbiological lines. With only a few dissenting votes, the world of anthropology has swung in this direction. “The peoples of the world today,” concluded delegates to a world meeting of ethnologists and anthropologists in 1964, “appear to possess equal biological potentialities for attaining any civilizational level. Differences in the achievements of different peoples must be attributed solely to their cultural history.”
It seems probable that before society solves the thorny problem of race prejudice, advancing science—or even the continuing evolution of the human species—will beat society to it. The world’s population is already three-fifths colored—that is, other than white. Geneticists Bentley Glass and Ching Chun Li predict that within ten centuries or so, at the present rate of exchange, the U.S. Negro will be genetically indistinguishable from the U.S. white. In far less time than that, says Stanford University Geneticist Joshua Lederberg, science will have learned enough about the genetic code to tamper with it-^-to insert into the human chromosomes artificial chemical commands capable of determining anything from skin color to musical aptitude.
Until the world accepts the proposition that the universality of mankind outweighs the differences, speculation about the meaning of the diversity will continue. The human physical variety is self-evident, so is the wide spectrum of human achievement. It is well-established that the controlling factors are cultural and environmental. Nothing that man has discovered about himself so far provides any sound scientific foundation for the conclusion that one race is innately superior to any other. No one knows. And the men of tomorrow, looking back, may wonder , why anyone was ever concerned with such comparisons.
TIME, SEPTEMBER 29, 1967
47
MUSIC
OPERA
Transcontinental Bang
Opera companies of all sizes and
ages chattered to life across the country
last week like firecrackers on a
string. Manhattan’s two companies
faced off across Lincoln Center Plaza
with year-old productions: the Metropolitan
with its comfy, old-fashioned
Traviata and the New York City Opera
with Beni Montresor’s fairy-tale setting
of The Magic Flute. In neither
case was the performance on much
more than a ho-hum level; in fact, Spanish
Soprano Montserrat Caballe’s first
Met Violetta seemed an almost deliberate
throwback to the bad old days
when singers were meant to be heard
but not seen.
Both companies held back on real
novelty until later in the week, and
here the New York City Opera moved
decidedly ahead. In an attempt to give
French opera more of a play, the Met
revived and refurbished Charles Gounod’s
hopelessly languid Romeo et Juliette—
an opera that only illustrates the
composer’s remarkable capacity for
turning great poetry into sentimental
salon entertainment. Furthermore, the
performance was sadly deficient in the
French accent, both in words and music.
Franco Corelli nearly strangled on
every attempt to produce the pure Gallic
B-flat, while all of Soprano Mirella
Freni’s undeniable charm was defeated
by the pallid music she was asked to
sing. New Director Paul-Emile Deiber
grouped his singers around Rolf Gerard’s
workaday sets in a series of static
tableaux that had little to do with
Shakespeare, Gounod, or anything in
that vast area in between.
Lights, Blais, Sets at Sea. The City
Opera’s new Coq d’Or offered a lot
more to see and hear. Designers Ming
Oho Lee and Jose Varona filled the
New York State Theater stage with a
zany array of colors and shapes, set off
from time to time by flickering strobe
lights and blats from offstage brass players.
Soprano Beverly Sills and Bass-
Baritone Norman Treigle curved their
pliant voices brilliantly around the sinuous
Rimsky-Korsakov melodies, and
the results restored to life a witty, fantastic
and unduly neglected score.
The West Coast’s two major companies
meanwhile survived a pair of
backstage cliffhangers and got their seasons
smoothly under way. The sets for
Seattle’s Otello had somehow got onto
the wrong ship from Italy, and were
put in place only 30 minutes before curtain
time. San Francisco Opera Soprano
Regine Crespin was forced out
of the first-night Gioconda with a throat
infection, and Substitute Leyla Gencer
(who in past Coast seasons has filled in
for Callas and Tebaldi) had to learn
one of opera’s crudest roles in less
than two weeks.
BEVERLY SILLS IN "COQ D'OR"
A masterpiece restored.
Sex, Horror, Fruit Punch. In Indianapolis,
where the short-lived Metropolitan
Opera National Company began
its career in 1965, Sarah Caldwell’s
new touring American National Company
made its debut before less-thanfull
but enthusiastic houses. As with
her own Opera Company of Boston,
Caldwell’s repertory and productions ingeniously
blend tradition and novelty:
a crisp and neatly paced opening-night
Falstaff, with British Baritone Peter
Glossop in the title role; and two widely
differentiated sex-and-horror shows,
Tosca and Lulu, mounted with a media
GENCER IN "LA GIOCONDA"
A cruelty absorbed.
melange of motion pictures, stage sets
and photomontage. Set up with a $350,-
000 grant from the National Council
on the Arts, and with approximately
the same amount in the kitty from private
donations, Caldwell’s company is
now only about halfway along to meeting
its first year’s budget, but that is
some distance, at least.
And in Kansas City, the small, struggling,
ten-year-old Lyric Theater was
guided by Director Russell Patterson
through an attractive and agreeable
opening-night Masked Ball in a refurbished
movie theater, and plied its 825
loyal patrons with free fruit punch during
intermission. Patterson’s company
imports no stars, grows its own from inside
the ranks and scrapes along from
year to year on a near-subsistence level.
It, too, is a valid and important part
of the American operatic explosion.
ORCHESTRAS
Bucharest Battle
On paper, it looked like a shoo-in
for the East. The Moscow Philharmonic,
one of Europe’s best, had come to Bucharest
to play in the triennial Georges
Enesco Festival with a repertory of surefire,
splashy Russian music. On hand
as challenger was the parvenu Los Angeles
Philharmonic on a State Department-
sponsored visit. To stack the cards
even further, festival officials told Conductor
Zubin Mehta that he must remove
the scheduled Tchaikovsky Fourth
from his program; Russian music, Mehta
was informed, belonged to Russian
orchestras. With concerts by the two ensembles
scheduled only 24 hours apart,
observers watched for signs of Rumanian
cultural partisanship.
The signs came. The mercurial Rumanians,
whose Latin origins may have
instilled a certain coolness toward Slavic
influences, swept the box office clean
of tickets for the Californians’ two concerts.
The black market became so brisk
that scalpers were buying from each
other, and at one concert, 600 crashers
forced their way in. The next night the
Russians played; there were enough
empty spaces in the hall to drive a tractor
around in, and the crowd dwindled
further at intermission. It wasn’t that
Conductor Kiril Kondrashin had given
a poor concert; it was just that the exuberance
of Mehta, his orchestra, and
Negro Pianist Andre Watts’s performance
of a Liszt concerto were a hard
act to follow.
Cheers, floral tributes and demands
for encores greeted the Angelenos’ two
concerts, not the least because Mehta
had complimented the audiences by conducting
one of Enesco’s Rumanian
Rhapsodies from memory, while Kondrashin
had used a printed score. At
the top, anyway, the fray was friendly.
The two conductors met, joked, and
talked about politics. Said the vanquished
Kondrashin to the victorious
Mehta after the Californians’ debut:
“Maestro, it was beautiful.”
48 TIME, SEPTEMBER 29, 1967
GUEST SPEAKERS
Business Meeting January 8, 1981
WILLIAM (BOB) BAILEY
Director
Nevada Economic Development
Company (NEDCo)
ERMA O'NEAL
Executive Director
Poor People Pulling Together
BOOKER T. EVANS, ESQ.
Chief Deputy
Clark County District Attorney
TERRY WILLIAMS
ROBERT S. GARRETT
President
Adorian Enterprises
(Business Consultants)
District Director
Small Business Administration
Las Vegas District
ROBERT FIELDEN
Vice-President
Jack Miller & Associates (Architects)
''4’42-5'0-7/ u
75 6 7 MA'MA <khSaJl. ^l/i-l/l/.^
gr-m - 64^'2'75'2 whs
64L-4L 4S- #’«
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Equal Rights Commission State ok Nevada
MEMORANDUM
Date:
October 6, 1978
For:
Mrs. Mabel Hoggard
From:
Jesse D. Scott
□
Immediate action.
□
Review and return with comments.
□
Draft reply for my signature and return original material.
□
Reply directly with copy to Chairman of the Commission.
For your information.
□
Circulate.
File.
COMMENTS:
6957
STATE OF NEVADA Equal Rights Commission
EXECUTIVE CENTER 1515 EAST TROPICANA AVENUE. SUITE 590
LAS VEGAS. NEVADA 89158
TELEPHONE (702) 355-0104
Drench Office! 11 35 Terminal way, Reno, Nevada 89 502 Telephone (702) 784-G355
October 5, 1978
Reverend Willie Davis, Pastor
Second Baptist Church 500 Madison Avenue Las Vegas, Nevada 89106
Dear Reverend Davis:
On behalf of the Planning and Education Committees of the Westside Federal Credit Union, I want to take this opportunity to thank you personally, and Second Baptist Church, for allowing the facilities of the Education Building to be made available to the Committee when it held its educational and informational seminar on Saturday, September 30, 1978. Your agreement to allow us to hold this seminar in the facilities of Second Baptist Church has further demonstrated your sensitivity and concern for the economic well-being of the membership of Second Baptist Church, particularly, and for those that live in the community generally.
There were more than fifty people in attendance, representing a cross section of economic^ religiousHsocial and political aspects of the greater Las Vegas Valley. It was a grand success, and judging from the responses on the evaluation sheets, everyone was thoroughly informed and enjoyed participating in the seminar.
Mrs. Mabel Hoggard, Chairperson of ourrEducation Committee, wants me to extend to you a personal thank you.
Si ncerely,
Jesse D. Scott Program Director
Westside Federal Credit Union
JDS/ec
NEVADA EQUAL RIGHTS COMMISSION LAS VEGAS AND RENO
AMENDED STATISTICAL REPORT
PREPARED FOR
QUARTERLY COMMISSION MEETING
MARCH 16, 1978
INDEX
PAGE
1.
Glossary of terms used in this report.
2.
Total cases handled during the period December 1, 1977, thru February 28, 1978.
3.
Annual breakdown of complaints handled.
4.
Geographical breakdown of current complaints.
5.
Jurisdictional breakdown of current complaints.
6.
Breakdown of closures (according to manner of closing).
7.
Breakdown of awards and settlements (according to year filed and jurisdiction) .
8.
Disposition of complaints handled by investigators.
9.
Present status of open complaints (according to assigned investigators).
10.
Informal assistance given.
GLOSSARY
CARRY-OVER COMPLAINTS:
Complaints filed prior to December 1, 1977.
CONCILIATION:
An agreement between Complainant and Respondent pursuant to an investigatory finding of P.C.
CLOSURE WITH PREJUDICE:
Complaint may not be re-opened.
CLOSURE WITHOUT PREJUDICE:
Complaint may be re-opened.
CURRENT COMPLAINTS: Complaints filed December?.!,1.19777-.-thru. February 28, 1978.
ESTIMATED ACCRUED BENEFITS:
An estimate of benefits accruable to Complainant for one full calendar year from date of PDS, Conciliation or Court award, which would have been lost without sucessful efforts
of NERC.
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE:
Lack of evidence in initial Complaint Intake to substantiate a valid claim.
INVESTIGATIVE REPORT:
Outline of E.O. Representative’s complete investigation
(IRO)
concluding with recommendation and reason thereof, for P.C. or N.P.C.
JURISDICTION: Protected classes - Race and Color, National Origin, Religion,
Age, Sex, Visual or Physical Handicap, in the areas of Employment, Housing or Public Accommodation.
MEDIATION: An informal meeting with Complainant and Respondent, pursuant
to a Non-Evidentiary Meeting, in which a finding of N.P.C. and settlement is attempted.
NON-EVIDENTIARY MEETING: A non-binding meeting between NERC and Respondent, the (NEM) purpose of which is to reach a P.D.S. Also known as an
Informal Hearing.
NO PROBABLE CAUSE: Finding of insufficient evidence to support Complainant’s
(N.P.C.) allegation of violation of Nevada Revised Statutes.
NOTIFICATION LETTER:
Letter from NERC to Complainant and Respondent, notifying
(NL)
them of receipt of a complaint of violation of Nevada Revised Statutes.
PRE-DETERMINATION SETTLEMENT:
(P.D.S.)
A settlement between Complainant and Respondent prior to investigation.
PRE-INVESTIGATION PLAN:
An outlined plan of investigation submitted by the E. 0.
(P.I.P.)
Representative prior to investigation.
PROBABLE CAUSE:
Investigatory finding of sufficient evidence to support
(P.C.)
Complainant’s allegation of violation of Nevada Revised Statutes.
-1-
GLOSSARY (continued)
efforts of NERC.
PUBLIC HEARING:
A hearing in District Court, pursuant to P.O. finding,
where there has been no conciliation.
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION:
A letter requesting information regarding a complaint.
(R.I.)
May be sent to either Complainant or Respondent.
REQUEST FOR REMEDY:
Complainant’s request for action needed to remedy discriminatory act.
SILENT COMPLAINANT:
Complainant who cannot be located through any and all
UNCOOPERATIVE COMPLAINANT:
Complainant who refuses to respond to R.I., or cooperate with NERC investigatory procedures.
WITHDRAWAL:
Complainant’s request to withdraw complaint.
TOTAL COMPLAINTS HANDLED
DECEMBER 1, 1977, thru FEBRUARY 28, 1978
TOTAL
LAS VEGAS RENO
- HANDLED
CARRY-OVER (1973 thru November 30, 1977) 361 125
W
CURRENT
(December 1, 1977, thru
February 28, 1978) 42 33
75
TOTAL 403 158
561
-2-
ANNUAL BREAKDOWN OF COMPLAINTS HANDLED
DECEMBER 1, 1977, thru FEBRUARY 28, 1978
YEAR AND OFFICE FILED
TOTAL HANDLED
TOTAL
CLOSED
REMAINING -
OPEN ■-
1973 - Las Vegas
12
12
0
Reno
0
0
0
TOTAL
12
12
0
1974 - Las Vegas *
24
12
12
Reno
1
1
0
TOTAL
25
13
12
1975 - Las Vegas *
36
10
26
Reno*
8
2
6
TOTAL
44
12
32
1976 - Las Vegas
138
26
112
Reno*
32
14
18
TOTAL
170
40
130
1977 - Las Vegas
165
27
138
Reno
88
30
58
TOTAL
253
57
196
1978 - Las Vegas
28
0
28
Reno
29
2
27
TOTAL
57
2
55
GRAND TOTAL
561
136
425
* The total remaining open
cases for these
years ark
i part of Commission Charges
pending.
-3-
GEOGRAPHICAL BREAKDOWN OF
CURRENT
COMPLAINTS
OFFICE WHERE FILED
NUMBER
PERCENT OF
PERCENT OF'TOTAL
THIS OFFICE
FILED
LAS VEGAS
Henderson
3
7.0%
4.0%
Las Vegas
35
83.0
46.7
N. Las Vegas
4
10.0
5.3
42
100.0
56.0
RENO
Carson City
1
3.0
1.3
Incline Village
1
3.0
1.3
Lovelock
1
3.0
1.3
Reno
21
64.0
28.0
Sparks
6
18.0
8.0
Stateline
1
3.0
1.3
Tonopah
1
3.0
1.3
Yerington
1
3.0
1.3
33
100.0
43.8
*
GRAND
TOTAL 75
99.8%
^Failure to total 100.0% due to rounding off.
THIS QUARTER
JURISDICTIONAL BREAKDOWN
OF CURRENT COMPLAINTS
JURISDICTION
LAS VEGAS
RENO
TOTAL
NUMBER
PERCENT
NUMBER
PERCENT
NUMBER
PERCENT
RACE AND COLOR
23
48.0%
11
30.5%
34
40.0%
Employment
21
44.0
5
13.9
26
31.0
Housing
1
2.0
2
5.5
3
4.0
Public Accommoda.
1
2.0
4
11.1
5
6.0
SEX
13
27.0
11
30.5
24
29.0
Employment
13
27.0
10
27.8
23
27.0
Housing
0
0.0
1
2.7
1
1.0
Public Accommoda.
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
AGE
6
13.0
2
5.5
8
10.0
Employment
6
13.0
2
5.5
8
10.0
Housing
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
Public Accommoda.
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
PHYSICAL & VISUAL
1
2.0
6
16.7
7
8.0
HANDICAP
Employment
1
2.0
6
16.7
7
8.0
Housing
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
Public Accommoda.
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
NATIONAL ORIGIN/
2
4.0
5
13.9
7
8.0
ANCESTRY
Employment
2
4.0
5
13.9
7
18.0
Housing
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
Public Accommoda.
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
RELIGIOUS CREED
3
6.0
1
2.8
4
5.0
Employment
3
6.0
1
2.8
4
5.0
Housing
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
Public Accommoda.
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
TOTAL**
48
100.00
36
99.9
84
100.0
** This total includes charges filed with multiple allegations, so the total does not equal the total number of complaints filed during this quarter.
^Percentage of total (84).
~5-
DECEMBER 1, .1977 .Thru FEBRUARY 28, 1978
COMPLAINTS CLOSED ACCORDING
MANNER OF CLOSURE
1973
1974
TO MANNER CLOSED
1977
1978
PERCENT
OF 136
CLOSED
1975
1976
L.V.
RENO
L.V.
RENO
L.V.
RENO
L.V.
RENO
L.V.
RENO
L.V.
RENO
No. Juris.
1
4
2
5.1%
Insuff. evid.
11
7
1
1
2
1
4
6
24.3
Silent Compl.
1
1
2
1
1
4
2
5
12.5
Uncoop.
Compl.
1
2
2.2
Withdrawal
4
1
2
4
5
4
2
16.2
Concil.
—
PDS
3
2
3.7
Mediation
3
2.2
Def. to
EEOC
1
4
1
1
1
5.9
NPC
2
19
3
8
3
25.7
PC
1
1
1.5
With Prej.
1
0.7
TOTAL
12
0
12
1
10
3
26
14
27
29
0
2
100.0
-6-
AWARDS AND SETTLEMENTS
DECEMBER 1, 1977, thru FEBRUARY 28, 1978
year and office
CONCILIATION
PRE-DETERMINATION
EST. ACC.
BENEFITS
]
FILED
SETTLEMENT
JURIS.
1974
0
0
H
» 0
1975
0
0
-
0
1976
0
0
-
0
1977
Las Vegas
1 - $400.00
(R&C) 2-1
transfer(N/0)
0
as equal
pay 1
promoted(R&C)
Reno
0
2-1
Promoted(N/0)
$1,768.00*
1
Transfer(Sex)
0.00
TOTAL
1 - $400.00
2
$1,768.00
*Promoted - Increase in salary of $68.00 bi-weekly = $1,768.00 Estimated Accrued Benefits.
_-7—
*
DISPOSITION OF COMPLAINTS HANDLED BY INVESTIGATORS
INVEST.
ASSIGNED
CLOSED
AS OF FEBRUARY 28, 1978
NO
JURIS
INS.
EVID.
SIL.
COMPL.
WITH
DRAW
UNCOOP. COMPL.
INVEST.
CLOSED
OPEN
CORLETT
48
12
1
5
1
6
0
0
36
JACKSON
46
6
0
3
1
2
0
0
40
LUM
73
18
1
4
0
2
0
11
55
MILLISOR
82
21
0
4
1
1
0
15
61
SANCHEZ
43
10
1
5
0
0
0
4
33
SANDERS
94
20
1
5
3
0
0
11
74
TOTAL
386
87
4
26
6
11
0
41
299
UNASSIGNED (pending public hearing)
17
40.3
17
316
GARRA
43
16
0
1
2
3
2
6
27
THOMPSON
69
17
3
1
3
5
0
1
52
SOLI
40
16
0
4
5
3
1
3
24
_
__
__
_ ■
—
—
TOTAL
152
49
3
6
10
11
3
10
103
UNASSIGNED (pending public hearing or Comm. Chg,
6
158
.)
__6
109
GRAND TOTAL
561
136
7
32
16
22
3
51
425
-8-
PRESENT STATUS OF OPEN COMPLAINTS
ACCORDING TO ASSIGNED INVESTIGATOR
INVESTIGATOR
NEM
PRE-PLAN
INTERROG. LETTER
PENDING-
PDS
PENDING
PUB. HEAR._____
LAS VEGAS
I. Corlett
10
14
8
0
2
2. Jackson
7
14
9
0
0
3. Lum
18
30
14
0
0
4. Millisor
9
28
22
0
0
5. Sanchez
5
16
12
0
0
6. Sanders
15
47
25
0
0
TOTAL
64
149
130
0
2
RENO
I. Garra
3
14
13
4
1
2. Soli
8
9
0
0
0
3. Thompson
25
10
0
0
0
TOTAL
36
: 33
13
4
1
GRAND TOTAL
100
182
143
4
3
COMMISSI ON EH 5
STATE OF NEVADA
Commission on Equal rights of citizens
STATE OFFICE BUILDING
213 E. BONANZA ROAD • P.O. BOX 791
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 89101
TELEPHONE (702) 335’0104
BRANCH OFFICE: 560 MILL STREET * RENO, NEVADA 89502
TELEPHONE (702) 734-5355
The purpose of these statutory requests by
the Nevada Equal Rights Commission is for the Nevada
Legislature to provide investigative powers equivalent
to those of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission.
The Nevada Equal Rights Commission needs
this power to process complaints in such a manner as to
make it unnecessary for the United States Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission to come to Nevada.
JDS/ra
Executive Director
ROBERT ARCH I E
Chairman
RAYMOND ANDERSON
JERRY HOLLOWAY
adolpm salazar
VIRGINIA MALLIN
Executive Director
NEVADA EQUAL RIGHTS COMMISSION
MEMO
Date:
May 25, 1976
For:
Department of Administration z
From:
Jesse D. Scott, Executive Director.-
Subject:
Bill Drafts for 1977 Legislative Session
«• W. w
Enclosed are ths proposed Bill Drafts as requested by Governor Mike 0*Callaghan.
The Bills have bean
are as follows:
arranged in order of priority and
PRIORITY I
TabT---------
PRIORITY II
TabTT
PRIORITY III wts—y~yy.......
JlAB IIa
PRIORITY IV
Tab“T?---------
COMMISSION ON
EQUAL RIGHTS vGeneral Provisions)
EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES
233.
060
(4)
Relief
233.
060
(9)
Relief
2 33.
075
Injunctive Relief
233.
060
(8)
Injunctive Relief
233.
070
(1)
Confidentiality
651.090(1.c) 651.120
Civil Actions
Civil Actions
613.410 613.410 613.411 613.410 613.430
(4)
(5)
(3)
Relief
Relief
Injunctive Relief Injunctive Relief Complainant’s Rig:
FAIR HOUSING
118.110
(a.
thru g, ) See draf-
PUBLIC A
>C COMMO DAT 10 NS
651.110
(5)
Relief
651.110
(4)
Relief
651.110
(3)
Relief
651.111
Injunctive Relief
651.090
(3)
Civil Actions
The affected sections reflected in TAB V.
of the Nevada Revised
Statutes
ar
JDS/EM/ra
NEVADA FIRST
Nevada should be given the opportunity to solve its own alleged discrimination complaints first rather than waiting to receive Federal intervention. However, we know that only Nevadans can provide this opportunity.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act allows Nevada 60 days from the date of complaint origin to solve its alleged discrimination complaints filed with the Equal Employment Commission.
The Nevada Equal Rights Commission, the official State agency, needs an increase in its funding, staff personnel, as well as the authority to make the Complainants "whole," i.e., give remedy, where probable cause is found after a public or private hearing.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission states the reason it will not give full investigative jurisdiction to the Nevada Equal Rights Commission in Commissioner Raymond Telles’ charge against 19 Las Vegas Strip Hotels and four affiliated unions is because NERC does not have statutory authority to give backpay as well as other remedy to make the Complainants whole where probable cause is found.
The Nevada Equal Rights Commission needs the authority to enforce its orders after a hearing so that it will become more effective in a manner similar to other State Boards and Commissions: namely, Taxicab Authority, Tax Commission, and the Gaming Commission.
The NERC needs your support in acquiring the aforementioned sanctions so that it can perform under statue during the 60 days before federal
agencies come
to Nevada to enforce federal law.
Affected Statute
Proposed Change
«%> «» «S» .Ml, <1U
233.060 (10)
Have the power to make such rules and regulations,, not inconsistent with law, as it finds expedient to carry into executionthe powers and duties conferred upon it by this chapter*
Purpose
This was previously number 9.
Necessary because of the inclusion of new subparagraph 8.
CITATIONS
Albermarle Paper Company vs. Moody, et al
Blacks, present and former employees,of the paper company filed charges of discrimination against the company and a union. Major issues in the case were the plant’s seniority system, its program of employment testing and backpay. A District Court found that Blacks had been "locked into lower paying job classifications." However, it refused to order backpay, and also refused to impose or limit Albermarle’s testing program. Case was appealed by the attorneys for the Blacks on the issues of backpay and testing. The Court of Appeals reversed the District Court’s judgment.
Albermarle and the union appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Appeals Court and the case was remanded to the District Court for proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court's decision.
Griggs vs. Duke Power Company
A decision by the Supreme Court in this case held that it was illegal for an employer to use a test of an educational requirement which screens out a higher percentage of Blacks than Whites; the burden of proof shifts to the employer to prove that the requirement bears a "demonstrable relationship to successful performance of the jobs for which it was used."
The court also said that the EEOC’s guidelines on employee selection procedures implements the intent of Congress. The guidelines outline the basic standard for test validation and define the term "test" to include all hiring, promotion and placement criteria as well as the normal
paper-and-pencil written tests.
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EEOC vs. American Telephone & Telegraph Company
On January 18, 1973, the EEOC, AT&T and the Department of Labor signed a Memorandum of-Agreement which was designed to-bring AT&T’ s long lines department and its 24 operating companies into compliance with their affirmative action obligations under Executive Order 11249 and Title VII.
The agreement had a one-time payment of approximately $15 million to some 15,000 female and minority employees whom EEOC alleged were injured by AT&T’s illegal discriminatory practices. Wage adjustments and a new promotion pay policy increased wages for women, minorities and other employees by $23 million per year. The agreement also called for an acceptable affirmative action program, upgrading and transfer plan, job < briefs and qualifications which would constitute a "bonafide seniority or merit system" within the meaning of Title VII.
Franks vs. Bowman Transportation Company
An Atlanta-based motor carrier had maintained a policy of refusing to hire Blacks as over-the-road (OTR) drivers and had refused to promote those in menial jobs to OTR positions. In 1972, a District Court had ordered a halt to the discriminatory practices and ordered the company to actively recruit Blacks for OTR positions. However, the court declined to order backpay or retroactive seniority for Blacks who had previously applied for OTR jobs. A Court of Appeals reversed the backpay decision but upheld the seniority portion of the ruling. The Supreme Court later ruled that victims of proven hiring discrimination are entitled to seniority dating from the employers refusal to hire them because of race discrimination. The high court’s decision applied to those who sought jobs and were turned
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down because of race and were subsequently hired by the same employer. These employees are entitled not only to the job applied for, but to the fringe benefits -and other seniority priviledges.-
Steel Industries Consent Degree
A suit was filed by the Department of Labor and EEOC against ten (10) steel companies and a union. The companies and the union were charged with violating Executive Order 11246 which prohibits discrimination by Federal Contractors, and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Suit charged the companies with following the policy of hiring and assigning employees on basis of race, color, sex and national origin, with women and minorities being assigned lower paying jobs with the least opportunity for advancement. Suit also said the companies engaged in such other discriminatory practices as requiring more stringent qualifications for women and minority employees and failing to provide training and opportunities for advancement to supervisory positions.
The steel union’s contracts with the companies were said to deprive minorities and women employees of the opportunities to compete with White men for better paying jobs. Suit also charged that these contracts established seniority systems based on length of service in occupations, lines of progression and departments from which the minority workers and females had been excluded or had only limited access.
The consent decrees, approved by a U.S. District Judge, included:
Backpay: An amount in excess of $30 million was to be distributed to 34,499 Black and Spanish-surnamed male employees hired for production and maintenance jobs before 1968, and to 5,599 women employees now, and to
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minority and women employees who retired during the past two years.
Goals and Timetables: Goals and timetables were established to increase the number of minority and female workers in those categories where they- had been under-utilized.
Seniority Rights: All future promotions, step-ups, demotions, lay offs, recalls, and other practices affected by seniority will be determined by length of service at each plant rather than in a specific unit, department or plant.
Transfer Rights and Earnings Protection: Employees are authorized to transfer to other jobs on a plant-wide basis. If an employee transfers to a lower paying job in order to take advantage of greater opportunities for advancement, the employee will retain his or her present wage rate.
Test Validation: Hiring tests will be validated under EEOC guidelines on employment selection procedures.
Continuing Review: A committee will be established at each plant to assure that the terms of settlement are implemented. Committees will also provide continuous review of companies’ compliance with decree.
Johnson vs. Pike Corp of America
An employer discharged a Black employee for several garnishments of wages. A company rule required employees to conduct their personal finances in such a way as to avoid garnishments. A District Court in California said that the company rule amounted to unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, even though the policy was adopted in good faith with no intent to discriminate and was racially neutral on its face and objectively applied. Since the proportion of racial minorities among the group of
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people who have had their wages garnished is significantly higher than the proportion of racial minorities in the general population, the employer’s rule had the effect of discriminating against members of minority groups. The.Court also said that the employer’s policy of discharging employees for excessive garnishments of their wages could not be justified on the grounds of inconvenience, annoyance, or even extra expenses to the employer since such matters were not related to the ability of the employee to carry out his assigned duties effectively and efficiently.
The Court concluded by stating that an employer is not relieved of the unlawful-consequences of maintaining a policy of discharging employees for excessive garnishments of their wages, resulting in a disparate effect on minority group members, on the grounds that the provisions of the Federal Consumer Protection Act allows the discharge of an employee whose wages have been garnisheed more than once for one debt. Reading the two laws together allows a conclusion that Congress has not.forbidden the discharge of an employee, whose wages have been garnished several times, except where such discharge is the result of discrimination against an
employee on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
BUDGET
CURRENT
BUDGET AND PERSONNEL
PROPOSED INCREASES
Present budget — $250,000.00
Seven (7) Equal Opportunity Representatives Statewide
Two (2) part time attorneys
No accountant
No statistician
No compliance officer
Figrit (R) clerical_
Estimated NERC needs a budget of $500,000.00
Twelve (12) Equal Opportunity Representatives Statewide needed
Two (2) full time attorneys needed
One (1) accountant needed
One (1) statistician needed
Two (2) compliance officers needed
Twelve (12) clerical needed.
"One class action suit in Federal Court could cost one Respondent in Nevada millions of dollars."
CITATIONS
Moody vs. Albermarle Paper Company
EEOC vs. Duke Power Company
Franks vs. Bowman Transportation Company
EEOC vs. Nine (9) Steel Companies
EEOC vs. American Telephone S Telegraph Company
Johnson vs. Pike Company
The above citations deal with issues of seniority, hiring, transfer, promotion, testing, selection, placement, affirmative action, and backpay (among other issues).