European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday january 11,1990 the stars and stripes Page in turnaround ratio of Blacks in South rises by fhe Washington Post Washington reversing one of the major demographic trends in the nation s history the proportion of Black americans living in the South has in creased for the first time this Century according to a census Bureau report. As of 1988. According to the report which was is sued tuesday. 56 percent of the nation s 30 million Blacks resided in the South a gain of 2.8 million Over the 52 percent who lived in the Region in 1980. It was the first time since 1900 that the proportion has in creased and the census Bureau predicted that the trend will continue Well into the next the Region is defined by the census Bureau As the Core of the old confederacy Alabama. Arkansas North and South Carolina. Florida. Georgia Louisi Ana. Mississippi. Tennessee and Texas plus Dela Ware Maryland the District of Columbia Oklahoma Kentucky and West Virginia. In 1900. Fully 90 percent of the nation s Blacks lived in the South. For the next 80 years the exodus of Large numbers of Blacks from the Rural South for jobs in the Urban North continued unabated. A number of Southern researchers have said the migration is reversing As a result of changing racial attitudes and a booming regional Economy but the new report is the first time the Bureau has documented the extent of the change. University of California anthropologist Carol b. Stack who has studied the trend said tuesday she thinks that it will become an Avalanche in the 1990s" As an increasing number of Blacks move to the South to make a difference for the lives of Black Folk Back Home she said Man Blacks Are going to the South because it does not count As much if you can make it As an Urban lawyer in the while the South s minority population grew significantly Between 1980 and 1988, the census Bureau report said thai the percentage of Blacks living in the Northeast dropped from 19 percent to 17 percent. It was the Only Region to record a significant decline of Blacks the census Bureau said. The Bureau s report a statistical snapshot of the nation s Black population in March 1988. Further documented the deteriorating economic prospects faced by Many Blacks in the last decade. The number of Blacks below the poverty line had increased to 30 per cent of All families in 1987, compared to 28 percent in 1979. The report said. Alaska s redoubt Volcano sends Forth a plume of smoke and Ash monday. Experts upgrade seismic network As Alaska Volcano quiets Down Anchorage Alaska a scientists used the telltale increase in earthquake activity that i the comparative quiet tuesday to install new Seis Mic devices on the flanks of redoubt Volcano a Day after the Mountain jetted Ash and steam eight Miles into the atmosphere. The Mountain remained Active but there were no significant eruptions after monday s blasts. The Ash plume turned Daylight to darkness and blanketed parts of the nearby Kenai Peninsula with up to three quarters of an Inch of Ash. Schools were closed because of the eruption in Washington state scientists monitoring mount St. Helens detected Little seismic activity tuesday but said they re not ready to declare the Volcano has returned to its slumber after it belched Ash and steam Over the weekend. Mount redoubt s latest eruption occurred with Little warning. Scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory said their most sensitive Monitor was damaged in a violent eruption last week so they May have missed the in or Nalcy previous eruptions. The Monitor was repaired tuesday. Unlike previous eruptions there was no dome built up Over the eruptive vent prior to monday s blasts. That prompted scientists to warn that similar violent eruptions could continue to occur without warning. The Volcano 115 Miles Southwest of Anchorage had been dormant More than two decades before the latest sequence of eruptions began dec. 13. No injuries or deaths were reported in the 1960s and 1970s, or in the 1989-90 blasts. Monday s Ash plume mostly missed the major population concentrations around Kenai and Homer but the grit was heavy enough Foi officials to close schools tuesday in Kenai. Soldona. Nikiski and Sterling. Air travel and Holiday mail have been snarled by the almost continuous eruptions. Old senators decide not to lust fade away by . Apple or. Washington not Strom Thurmond of South Carolina is 87 years old. Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island is 71. Democrat Howell Heflin of Alabama is 68 and Mark o. Hatfield of Oregon is 67. But All four arc seeking re election to the Senate this year. They arc following in the footsteps of Many of their Silver haired forefathers who chose to keep running almost for Ever or so it seemed. The lure of Power and prominence kept Theodore Francis Green of Rhode Island on Capitol Hill until he was 93 Carl Hayden of Arizona finally retired at 91 and Ernest Grunning of Alaska kept at it until he lost a primary when he was 81. If incumbents run whatever their age they usually win. Since 1934 there have been Only three elections in which either party suffered a net loss of As Many As 10 scats. On the average three incumbents out of four seeking re election since world War ii have won. And the percentage is increasing. As a result the open scats created by retirements have become the Best opportunities for change in the Senate. In 1988, for example six senators re tired and three of those scats changed parties. But this year Only three of the 34 senators up for election have announced they arc quilting. The retirees Are Republican Gordon j. Humphrey of new Hampshire who is 49 William l. Armstrong of Colorado a 52-year-old Republican and James a. Mcclure 65, a Republican from Idaho. Humphrey made his plans known with the comment two terms is plenty serving in Congress should t be a Ca Armstrong feels much the same Way. As for Mcc lure he finds the Senate a less satisfying place than he once did. Describing it As an instrument of response not an Mcclure instrument of leadership the Idaho iconoclast said con Gress has become a school of wet Finger politics dependent upon which Way the winds of Public opinion polls arc blow ing. Hatfield and Thurmond both republicans had been considered possibilities for retirement but now that they have decided to run again both Are consid ered Island Democrat Pell toyed with the notion of stepping Down too but he faces a much More difficult fight against rep. Claudine Schneider a 42 car old Republican. It is considered just barely conceivable by some political experts that there might be one More retire ment this year. Republican sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina who six years ago at the age of 62 Defeated former gov. James b. Hunt or. In the most expensive Campaign in Senate history has nut yet disclosed his plans. Although Helms is running radio commercials they Are not explicitly tied to a 1990 Campaign and he did not file for re Clicc lion along with other state republicans. But even a Surprise from Pell Helms would mean Only four open scats this fall and that Means less than aver age scope for change in the Senate s cur rent partisan lineup which favors the democrats 55 to 45. The chances of the republicans Tak ing control appear to be minimal. Indeed it is the Republican party that will suffer most from the three retire ments announced to Date. It s not that democratic prospects Are very Good in any of the three states involved. New Hampshire and Idaho arc two of the three or four most Republican Stales in the country and the party s nominees will be heavily favored in both no mat Ter who they Are. Even in Colorado which has a stronger two party tradition and a Strong democratic Junior senator in Timothy e. Wirth a Republican Victory seems prob Able. Rep. Hank Brown a talented Republican member of the House Way s and Means committee has scared off potentially Strong democratic rivals such As former gov. Richard Lamm and fellow reps. Patricia Schroeder. David e. Skaggs and Ben nigh horse Camp Bell. Still Armstrong. Mcclure and Humphrey arc Senate conserva Tives who have had an important Impact on their party s views. Mcclure for example was responsible for persuading then president Reagan to abandon adherence to the in Ratinck strategic arms limitation treaty and Humphrey has been a steadfast supporter of the rebel forces in Afghanistan. They will not be replaced quickly or easily and if their feisty ally. Helms were to go As Well the conservative forces would be seriously depleted which is one Good reason the North carolinian will probably choose to run again
