Officers’ pepper spray use
approved by citizen group
■ The City of Eugene Police
Commission voted in favor
of recommendations for
the use of pepper spray
By Aaron K. Breniman
Oregon Daily Emerald
Though critics think the use of
pepper spray is dangerous and
should be banned, the Police Com
mission continues to endorse it as a
means of ensuring compliance with
officer orders.
The City of Eugene Police Com
mission, a citizen advisory group
that advises the City Council, voted
Thursday to approve recommenda
tions presented by the Police Com
mission Use of Force Committee re
garding the use of Oleoresin Cap
sicum aerosol spray, commonly
known as pepper spray.
“With the changing tools of law
enforcement, you don’t have to be a
[6-foot-6-inch], 200 pound male to
do this job,” said Steve Swensen,
special operations captain for the
Eugene Police Department. “We
need to make sure it is as safe as we
can for the people out there and the
officers. If you don’t want to be
pepper sprayed, don’t fight — com
ply-”
The recommendations state that
the spray should not be used puni
tively and will not be used in in
stances of passive resistance, which
the committee defined as “non
compliance with an officer’s orders
unaccompanied by any active or
physical resistance,” such as when
a protester lies limp on the ground.
However, if the protester was hold
ing on to a tree to avoid arrest, that
would classify the resistance as
‘static.’
Originally used by U.S. Postal
Service letter carriers, pepper spray
used by the EPD has come under
fire in recent years from critics who
say its use is mrwarranted and ex
cessive.
Most of the incidents that have
drawn criticism from the public
have involved political protesters.
Turn to Police, page 10
University alumnus opens the
Coolest Shop in West Eugene
■Garth Marriott’s store
offers a variety of goods
from motorized scooters
to Transformer T-shirts
By Chris Ryan
for the Emerald
Entrepreneur Garth Marriott
was looking for a place to expand
his online pop culture retail store
and an opportunity to interact
face-to-face with his customers.
The 25-year-old University alum
nus found the perfect location to
set up shop — his hometown of
Eugene — and he now offers the
latest in “cool” stuff.
Coolest Shop, located at 970 W.
7th Ave., opened in late April and
sells the latest clothing, gadgets
and sports items. The inventory
covers everything from Trans
formers T-shirts to motorized
scooters.
“Most of this stuff isn’t found
in Eugene,” Marriott said. “And
every week we try to get in new
stuff.”
Coolest Shop carries more than
100 different items in the store,
but just one of each item. The re
sult is a store that is open and
roomy yet densely packed with a
variety of content.
Though Coolest Shop opened
rather recently, Marriott’s busi
ness started online in May 2000.
Marriott, who is editor in chief of
Elixir Magazine, said he got the
idea for Coolest Shop from the
magazine’s “Coolest Stuff” issue.
Elixir magazine started six
years ago at the University, and
now prints 15,000 copies and can
be found in all 50 states and in 10
different countries.
“It’s still Elixir magazine, but
at the same time, we’re trying to
do anything we can to make
Elixir function as a promotional
tool for Coolest Shop,” Marriott
said.
In turn, his associates at Elixir
help him select the products that
Coolest Shop carries.
“We sit around Garth’s office
and try on samples of clothes,”
said Chad Boutin, Elixir’s photog
raphy editor. “We, as a collabora
tive effort, give our opinions.”
With the launching of Coolest
Shop, Marriott said one of his
goals is to create a place where he
can pick and choose from many
distributors so that only his fa
vorite items will be sold. He said
that as a child he was never able
to find a single store that he was
Jon House Emerald
Owner Garth Marriott opened the Coolest Shop on 970 W. 7th Ave. in April after almost
a year of running his business exclusively online.
happy with, so he created his
own.
He uses his connections with
companies that provided slides
and clothing samples for the
“Coolest Stuff” issue of Elixir to
get products for the store, he said.
Though the online store has
been successful, Marriott chise to
open up a store in Eugene not
only to meet his customers, but
also so he could get feedback on
products first-hand and display
the free samples that were accu
mulating in his office.
Marriott graduated from the
University in 1997 with a major
in fine arts and a minor in busi
ness. After spending a few years
managing Elixir and getting
Coolest Shop off the ground, Mar
riott has returned to the Universi
ty to take a business class.
Marriott keeps Coolest Shop
open from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Mon
day through Wednesday and
noon to 7 p.m. Thursday through
Sunday. Now that Coolest Shop
has opened, Marriott is working
hard on bringing people in,
though he has yet to do any ad
vertising, he said. The store gets
* * » <
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*~,i
Jon House Emerald
Marriott is also editor in chief of Elixir
Magazine, which cross-promotes the
clothes featured at the Coolest Shop.
about 10 to 20 customers a day,
but Marriott said he expects that
number to increase as the busi
ness stays around longer.
Marriott said a good idea is
only part of what it takes to run a
successful business, it also re
quires planning. “I feel like I’m
on the verge of having a prof
itable business,” he said.
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