Aprii 4, 2001
Page A2
(Ttyi ^Jortlanò (fìbemier
i Police News/Vancouver
Portland Police Want SERT Team to be Reinstated
Rank and file say C h ief K roeker’s Suspension o f SERT Team Was a M istake
(A P )- Portland police officers want
to reinstate the departm ent’s 2 8-mem
ber tactical team , saying they are in
jeopardy w ithout it
C h ief M ark K roeker tem porarily
disbanded the Special Em ergency
Reaction Team last week for an inter
nal investigation into allegations that
the team inappropriately hazed its
new members.
The W ashington County s h e n f f s
office and O regon State Police will
step in to handle em ergencies in Port
land, but leaders o f the 950-m em ber
Weather
Inside-A
Suprêmes to Rule on
Medical Marijuana....A4
Ex-Con Gets Second
Chance.....................A6
Tips for Last Minute Tax
Filers......................... A6
Metro-
Friday
Today
Partly Cloudy
Rain
54°F High
Through lite
Weekend
43°F Low
Saturday
Showers
56°F High
54°F High
43°F Low
42°F Low
Thursday! Scattered Showers
58°F High
Kids Enjoy Jammin' •
Block Party..............BI
Mike Dunleavy Jr.
Helps Duke win
NCAA.................... B3
El Observador.......B4
Portland P olice A ssociation called
the c h ie f s m ove to suspend SER T
officers a m istake.
T hey are concerned that W ash
ington C ounty and state p olice offic
ers are not familiar with Portland build
ings and that their response tim e to
Sunday
Showers
57°F High
6T F Low
45°F Low
Thought for the Week
I f there is anything we wish to change in the child, we
should fir s t examine it and see whether it is not som ething that
could be better changed in ourselves.
—C arl Jung
T h is W e e k
in History
April 4 , 1968 civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot
to death in M emphis, Tenn.
April 5, 1951 Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg were sentenced to death
for conspiring to com m it espionage
for the Soviet Union.
April6 , 1909 explorers Robert E.
France, at age 91.
AprU 9 , 1865 Confederate Gen.
Robert E . Lee surrendered his army
to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at
Appomattox Court H ouse in V ir
ginia.
AprU 10,1947 Brooklyn D odg
ers president Branch Rickey an
nounced he had purchased the con
tract o f Jackie Robinson from the
M ontreal Royals.
Peary and M atthew A. Henson be
came the first men to reach the North
Pole. The claim, disputed by skep
tics, was upheld in 1989 by the Navi
gation Foundation.
A pril 7,1862 Union forces led by
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the
Confederates at the battle o f Shiloh
in Tennessee.
A pril 8,1973 artist Pablo Picasso
died at his home near M ougins,
How Long Does It
Take You
to
What is
To Work?
To S ch o o l?
Wou|d
a New Bridge,
N ew Lanes,
Y o u r N e ig h b o o r h o o d ?
Your Business?
Lt. R ich H ild reth o f W ash in g to n
C o u n t y ’s T a c tic a l N e g o tia tio n
T eam sa id his o ffic ers w o u ld be
ab le to resp o n d to a P o rtlan d e m e r
g en cy w ith o u t tro u b le.
W a sh in g to n C o u n ty w o u ld be
c a lle d first, and state p o lic e S W A T
w o u ld b e a backup.
L ast y ear, S E R T resp o n d ed to 55
c a lls — 32 h ig h -risk search w a r
ra n ts, 13 h o sta g e situ atio n s an d 10
d ig n ita ry p ro te c tio n d etails.
K ro e k e r said the in v e stig a tio n
co u ld la st six w eeks. It stem m ed
from an E qual E m ploym ent O p p o r
tu n ity C o m m issio n co m p lain t filed
sh o rtly afte r the te a m ’s o nly w om an
o fficer resigned from SER T in Janu
ary. In v e stig a to rs are re p o rted ly
in v e s tig a tin g h az in g a lle g a tio n s
th at m ay h av e in clu d ed strip te a se
acts. P o rtlan d p o lice said th ey have
k n o w n S E R T o ffic ers to en g a g e in
so -ca lle d in itiatio n rites to p ro m o te
c o h e s iv e n e s s .
T h o s e r ite s h a v e r e p o r te d ly
ran g e d from h av in g new m em b ers
clea n an d ca rry eq u ip m en t, sing
s o n g s a n d w e a r s illy h a ts o r
w o m e n ’s c lo th in g , to h av in g o ffic
e r s ’ c h e sts o r arm s ta tto o e d w ith
th e te a m ’s m asco t, a bat.
Investigators D on’t Know How Girl Died
T he death o f a 14-year-old ru n
aw ay w hose b o d y w as d isco v ered
last w eek is still a m y stery afte r an
au to p sy failed to d e te rm in e the
cau se o f death.
T he b o d y o f W h itn ey G reen es
w a s fo u n d on th e p a tio o f h e r
m o th e r’s V an co u v er apartm ent.
G re en e s’ head w as b lo o d y and
b ru ised , b ut the au to p sy found no
sk u ll fra ctu res th at co u ld c a u se
death.
B lood an d tissu e sam p les w ill b e
sent to the W a sh in g to n S tate Patrol
C rim e L ab o rato ry fo r to x ic o lo g y
te sts.
T h o se resu lts sh o u ld b e k n o w n
in six to eig h t w eeks.
Youth Worker Charged With Sex Abuse
(A P )-Ja m es Earl Pepperling, a 39-
year-old m an w ho once w orked with
m entally and em otionally disabled
children has been charged with sexu
ally abusing and sodom izing a 2'/j-
year-old boy, police said.
P epperling is accused o f m olest
ing the son o f fam ily friends in their
hom e betw een A ugust and Febru
ary, said Sgt. Scott Ryon o f the W ash
ington C ounty S h e riffs O ffice. Po
lice believe there m ay be m ore vic
tims.
In June, Pepperling w as convicted
ofhaving sex with a 21 -year-old m en
tally disabled M olalla woman. U nder
a plea bargain, he w as sentenced to
90 days in jail and five y ea rs’ proba-
James Earl Pepperling
tion after pleading guilty to second-
degree sexual abuse. “H e did w hat he
had to do to have sex w ith her,” said
Bill Sawyer, Pepperling’s Clackam as
C ounty probation officer.
“ S he c o u ld n ’t m a k e h e r o w n
choices because o f h er d isability.” In
1995, Pepperling supervised troubled
youths on the night shift at the St.
M ary’s H om e for Boys in B eaverton.
Since then, records show he has
w orked in the C lackam as E ducation
Service District and at G ladstone High
School, M cLoughlin M iddle School,
In za R. W o o d M id d le S c h o o l,
L e w e llin g E le m e n ta r y S c h o o l,
H allinan E lem en tary S ch o o l and
N inety-O ne E lem entary School.
Abortion Doctor’s Suspected Killer Arrested
G e t
CostingYou?
an em ergency w ill be too long.
“O u r m em bers feel it’s a safety
issue,” said O fficer Leo Painton, sec
retary-treasurer o f the police union.
“O ur officers count on the SER T
team. They w ork with and trust these
officers. T h e y ’re not g o in g to have
the sam e level o f co n fid e n ce in a
team th e y ’re n ot fam iliar w ith .”
K ro e k er said the situ atio n is n ot
“ id e a l,” b u , has full co n fid e n ce in
W ash in g to n C o u n ty ’s 3 3 -m em b er
T actical N eg o tiatio n T eam and the
3 0 -m em b er O reg o n S tate P o lice
S p e c ia l W e a p o n s a n d T a c tic a l
Team.
More Transit
Or Light Rail
Help?
(A P)-BU FFA LO ,N .Y .— The man
suspected o f killing abortion doctor
Barnett Slepian in a 1998 sniper attack
has been arrested in France.
Jam es Kopp, 46, was one o f the
F B I’s m ost w anted fugitives.
The 52-year-old Slepian, ju st back
from synagogue, was heating soup in
his suburban A m herst hom e in O cto
ber 1998 when he was gunned down
w ith a single shot through a window.
Kopp, o f S t Albans, V l , became the
subject o f an international manhunt
the following month.
Nicknam ed the “Atom ic Dog” in
anti-abortion circles, Kopp had been
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I
arrested in several states since 1990 for
protesting abortion. His car was spot
ted in Slepian’s neighborhood in the
weeks before the shooting, and was
found abandoned at Newark Interna
tional A irport in Decem ber 1998, au
thorities said.
He was formally charged the follow
ing M ay in state and federal com
plaints with second-degree murder and
with violating the Freedom o f Access
to Clinic Entrances Act by using deadly
force against an abortion doctor.
Both charges carry a penalty o f up
to life in prison. The federal charge also
carries a fine o f up to $250,000.
Investigators said at the tim e that
the discovery o f a scope-equipped
ri fie buried near theSlepianhom ea few
months after the shooting represented
am ajorbreakthrough. Slepian was shot
w itharifle.
Kopp also had been linked, through
DNA testing, to a strand o f hair found
near where the sniper fired, law en
forcement sources have said.
M arilyn Buckham , director ofB uf-
falo G YN W omenservices, told WTVB-
TV that the arrest will give som e clo
sure for the staff and Slepian’s family,
calling him “our doctor and our friend
and our colleague.”