1978 La Voz de Aztlan

              Chihuahua Tortilleria   Inc.
Mexican Cultural Center Moves Ahead
By Dianne Soils
Chihuahua Tortilleria's proposed cultural center moved
closer to reality yesterday with
Fresno City Council's 4-2 decision to reconsider a west Fresno
property sale.
Both the Chihuahua Tortilleria
and the State Center Community
College District (SCCCD) want
to buy the property on the northwest corner of Fresno and fE'
streets. The SCCCD plan to
build an adult training center on
the site.
The city council, acting as
the Redevelopment Agency, has
referred the matter to the courts
for a decision.
Plans for the $3 million Mexican cultural center include a
restaurant, curio shops, a delicatessen    and a self-tour tor
tilleria factory. The shops will
encircle a garden-plaza.
Chihuahua Tortilleria co-owner
Frank Villegas said Spanish-
speaking TV channel 21 and radio
station KGST have expressed an
interest in building studios in
conjunction with the center.
Villegas and his attorney,
Stanton Levy, informed the council the project would genrate
$100,000 in tax revenue, pro- -..
vide job opportunities and enhance the community's image of
west Fresno.
Villegas said Chihuahua Tortilleria has matched SCCCD's
$195,681 offer for the property
and offered to reimburse SCCCD
for their architectural expenses
should the college district lose
the case.
Mayor Dan Whitehurst and
councilman   Elvin  Bell recom-
(Contlnued on p.2)
Chicano Initiative
Mechista priorities ■■   Volpp plan,elections, IRA
CSUF'S MEChA enters the
spring semester wlhh plans to
take the Initiative on Issues pertaining to minorities.
President Juan Mendoza said
Chicano priorities include academic vice-president Louis
Volpp's re-organizatlon plan, the
upcoming student elections and
recruitment.
Another issue which MEChA
had become Involved last semester was the Instructionally Related Activities contract controversy. However, the recent
action by the CSUC Board of
Trustees to raise student fees
on behalf of IRA funding dilutes
the issue somewhat.
"We'll wait to see how Baxter and the Senate react now,"
said Mendoza.
Mendoza offered some comments to La Voz on the eve
of MEChA's first meeting of the
semester last Thursday. The
nine- year- old organization
meets every Thursday at 12:30
in the upstairs cafeteria.
"We have to keep an eye on
the administration regarding the
reorganization plan," said Mendoza. "MEChA will have to take
• the initiative if La Raza Studies
gets in danger."
The term "reorganization"
has been used by the administration recently in efforts to face
budget cuts as a result of declining enrollment. One suggestion submitted calls for an
"interdisciplinary school" which
would embody certain university
academic programs such as La
Raza Studies.
LRS and MEChA feel such a a
move would be contrary to the
intent of the program and would
violate the university's commitment to improving higher education as it regards Chicanos.
MEChistas would like to see LRS'
departmentalized. In the spring
of 1975, minorities occupied Baxter's office for 5 days and 5
nights to demonstrate their concern for the program.
"La Raza Studies' importance
is hard to put into words," said
Mendoza. "It's like having a
second job. The administration
can't just do anything It wants
with it."
Mendoza said MEChA will also
play "an important role" in the
student elections coming up. He
-said one of the organization's
heavier concerns has been in student government.
Rachel Mendoza,, an unsuccessful candidate last year but
an active student this year, represented Chicano involvement
last semester.
Native America
n-lnd
"She  kept    us    Informed    on
everything coming down in with
the     senate,"    said Mendoza.
"With  her,   we  kept  on top of
the Senate.    We didn't intend to
let anything go by."
Overall, Mendoza felt MEChA
made several significant accom-
Continued on Page 2
ian Issue
Spurs Cross-Country March
Native Americans across the
United States are joining together for a march that will start
Feb. 11 in Sacramento and end
in the Nation's capitol.
The March, dubbed, "The
Longest Walk" by its organizers is to focus national attention on the American Indian
Movement's opposition to anti-
Indian legislation in the U,S.
Congress.
California supporters will gather for a morning pipe cere
mony on Alcatraz Island cara-
vaning to Sacramento where a
2 o'clock p.m. rally will launch
the journey.
During the Walk, which will
go through the middle of the
United States, workshops will
be held at ■ '-select locations
dealing with the legislation.
Many people, Indians and non-
Indians alike, are expected to
join the march at many points
along its path.
Dennis Banks, AIM leader,.
Historic UFW Boycotts End
The boycott that made national waves and caused millions
of Americans to stop eating
grapes, lettuce and drinking Gallo
wine has come to an end.
At least that is the word from
Cesar Chavez whose United
Farmworkers Union used the
boycott as a tool that at first
gained the union recognition from
stubborn growers, then began
to win the union some contracts,
and ultimately help establish the
first Agricultural Labor Relations Law in the state.
Chavez announced the end of
the boycott Tuesday morning
after the UFW Executive Board
voted to end the boycotts of
non-UFW table grapes, head or
iceberg lettuce and Gallo wines
"in the spirit of cautious optimism,"
But Cesar said the economic
boycott would not be put to rest.
"the farmworker boycott will
now be focused on the labels of
growers who refuse to negotiate
in  good faith even after their
workers vote for the UFW in
secret ballot elections," he said.
The boycott became the muscle
of the union in the 1960's and
later the inspiration of the Chicano movement as farmworkers
rose  up  against  the  powerfuL
agri-business interests that had
successfully, and quite often violently,    squashed    farmworker
union efforts in the past 100 years.
In addition to joining picket
lines at stores throughout the
nation, students brought the boycott to the university campuses.
At CSUF, union supporters were
instrumental in getting the uni
versity to purchase union label
products, particularly lettuce,
and in boycotting the food services when the' university did
not oblige.
The boycotts were successful
in bringing the likes of the Di-
giorgios (grapes), the Gallos
(wine), the Salinas lettuce growers and their compliant judges
who issued injunctions that broke
some UFW strikes, and the
Teamsters to their knees. From
there, the labor relation law
developed and grew, guaranteeing
farms the right to union elections.
The UFW signed more than
100 contracts with growers since
the ALRA began in the fall of
1975, said Chavez. This attributed to union's decision to call
off the boycotts.
will lead the march only to the
California/Nevada line because
an extradition controversy pending. (GOV. Brown has refused
to extradite him to South Dakota,
which seeks to prosecute Banks.)
From there, Vern Bellecourt,
National Director on charge of
international affairs, will lead
the march.
Supplies are urgently needed
to assist those marching to reach
their Washington, DC, goal by
mid-July. Donations are being
accepted at "Longest Walk" coordinating center, located atEMQ
University, P.O. Box 409, Davis,
CA  95616 (916) 758-0470 ext. 46.
EOP
Forms Due
Applications are now being accepted for. the Educational
Opportunity Program at California State University in the Fall
1978 semester.
Students interested in learning
more about the Educational
Opportunity Program are encouraged to contact the EOP
office in the Joyal Administration
Building on North Maple Avenue,
487-1021-