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East Oregonian
STABBINGS: The Pacific Northwest has a long
and violent history of white supremacist activities
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plea. He has been appointed
public defenders. Lane Borg,
head of the local public
defender agency, said the
office was “saddened by this
tragedy” but urged people to
let the justice system take its
course.
In the probable cause
affidavit, prosecutors said
video feeds in the back of a
patrol car captured Christian
saying after his arrest that he
had stabbed three people in
the neck. His court-appointed
attorney, Gregory Scholl, did
not immediately return a call
for comment.
The deaths stunned the
city, but also underscored
nervousness about recent
events, including a series
of apparent hate crimes in
the region and contentious
public rallies that have drawn
national attention.
The Pacific Northwest has
a long and violent history of
white supremacist and other
racist activities, despite its
more recent reputation for
being one of the nation’s most
socially liberal regions.
“The idea that Portland
is so liberal supersedes this
dark, hidden secret about
racism,” said Karen Gibson,
a professor of urban studies at
Portland State University.
Many of the early settlers
to Oregon were from
Southern states and brought
with them negative attitudes
about blacks, Gibson said.
Only about 6 percent of the
Portland population is black,
while more than 70 percent is
non-Hispanic white, statistics
show.
Some residents said
President Donald Trump
has caused those racist
demons to stir again with his
administration’s travel ban,
his promise to build a wall
along the border with Mexico
and his crackdown on illegal
immigration.
Since Trump’s election,
Portland has led all major
metropolitan areas in reported
hate crimes, Mayor Ted
Wheeler’s office said.
“I don’t have that feeling
like it can’t happen here —
the way people talk about
Portland — because we’ve
got racism. We’ve got all
kinds of things,” said Murr
Brewster, who came to see a
memorial at the city’s transit
center.
“It’s everywhere and the
trouble is, it’s getting more
and more prevalent.”
The lone man to survive
Friday’s stabbings says
he’s having a difficult time
processing what happened.
Micah Fletcher told KGW-TV
that he’s focusing on trying to
get better.
“I’m healing,” Fletcher
told the station. He was
released from the hospital
Monday and attended the
AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus
Flowers, candles and chalk tributes are seen on Tuesday covering a memorial to
two men who were fatally stabbed after shielding two young women from an anti-
Muslim tirade on a Portland light-rail train.
“The idea that
Portland is so liber-
al supersedes this
dark, hidden secret
about racism.”
— Karen Gibson,
professor of urban studies
at Portland State University
Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP, Pool
Micah Fletcher, a victim of a stabbing attack on a
light rail train that left two dead, watches as suspect
Jeremy Christian is arraigned in Multnomah County
Circuit Court in Portland, Tuesday.
hearing, where a scar on his
neck was visible.
On Tuesday, Wheeler reit-
erated his call to organizers
of a June 4 rally to cancel,
saying he fears it could
further enflame tensions. The
event organized by the group
Patriot Prayer is billed on its
Facebook page as a Trump
Free Speech Rally in “one of
the most liberal areas of the
West Coast.” Several count-
er-protests are planned.
Christian attended a
similar rally in late April
wearing an American flag
around his neck and carrying
a baseball bat. Police confis-
cated the bat, and he was then
caught on camera clashing
with counter-protesters.
Wheeler has also asked the
federal government to cancel
a June 10 rally that targets
Sharia law out of fears it
could create unrest.
“These kinds of rallies
... are typically people who
come from elsewhere and
hold rallies here because we
are a deep blue city. They are
intending to be provocative,”
Wheeler said Tuesday in a
phone interview with The AP.
“I’m going to do my best to
keep the peace here.”
Joey Gibson, the rally’s
organizer, condemned Chris-
tian in a phone interview with
The AP and said he would not
tolerate any Nazi presence at
the upcoming event.
He acknowledged that
Christian had shown up at a
Patriot Prayer rally on April
29 with a baseball bat and
had made the Nazi salute. But
Gibson said he hurled insults
at rally organizers as well as
counter-protesters.
“He
came
yelling
at everyone, cussing at
everyone. He threatened me
and tons of people,” Gibson
said. “We told him, ‘You gotta
get out of here.’”
The stabbings cap a series
of unsettling events in recent
months in and around Port-
land.
Earlier this year, orga-
nizers of a small community
parade affiliated with the
city’s famous Rose Festival
canceled the celebration
over fears of violence after
protesters said the local
Republican Party had plans
to allow a “neo-Nazi hate
group” to march with them.
Local GOP leaders denied the
charges.
In the suburb of Troutdale,
an Iranian refugee found his
home painted with racist
graffiti and death threats. And
in Gresham, another eastern
suburb, prosecutors charged
a man with a hate crime after
police said he chased down
a black teenager with his car
after a fight and struck him,
killing him.
For years, Portland was the
home base for Volksfront, a
now-defunct white separatist
organization founded in 1994,
according to the Southern
Poverty Law Center, which
tracks hate groups.
“There have been skin-
heads in that region forever,”
said Heidi Beirich, spokes-
woman for the law center.
One of the most infamous
attacks in Portland’s racial
history occurred in November
1988, when an Ethiopian
immigrant was beaten to
death by three white suprema-
cists in front of his apartment.
Mulugeta Seraw was a
student who came to the
United States to attend
college. The members of
the California-based White
Aryan Resistance killed him
with a baseball bat.
The Southern Poverty
Law Center and the Anti-Def-
amation League won a
multimillion-dollar civil case
in 1990 against the White
Aryan Resistance on behalf of
his family, and the damages
crippled the organization.
PENDLETON: New Pendleton Veterinary Clinic
expected to be competed by the end of 2017
Continued from 1A
more space than its current
715 N.W. Dorion Ave.
location could provide. Ruth
Pratt said they gutted the
new building to better suit
a dental office, which will
feature new equipment when
it opens June 5.
Rather than move her
entire business, Speakeasy
Salon owner Katie Jones is
only moving half of it next
door.
A combination hair salon
and retail store, Jones said
she jumped at the chance
to take over the 1004 S.W.
Court Ave. building after
New York Richie’s moved to
the St. George Plaza.
Jones said she has under-
taken extensive renovations
to transform the former
pizza parlor into Speakeasy
Clothing Co., a fashion
boutique that will take the
place of the retail section at
the salon.
In addition the inventory
they’re already offering,
Jones said the dedicated
space allows Speakeasy to
offer an expanded children’s
clothing selection and mens-
wear, a niche she wants to fill
due to the impending closure
of J.C. Penney.
The clothing store will
also feature a coffeeshop,
Sweet Irene’s Coffee, owned
by Jones’ friend Heidi
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
BRIEFLY
UN chief urges
action on climate
change as Trump
debates
NEW YORK (AP) —
U.N. Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres made
an impassioned appeal
Tuesday for the world to
intensify action to combat
climate change and imple-
ment the Paris Agreement
to limit carbon emissions
as President Donald Trump
debates whether the U.S.
will withdraw from the
accord.
Guterres never
mentioned the American
leader by name in his
speech at New York
University’s Stern School
of Business, his first major
address on climate change
since taking the reins of the
United Nations on Jan. 1.
But he said in response to a
question afterward that the
United Nations believes “it
would be important for the
U.S. not to leave the Paris
agreement.”
Even if Trump
withdraws, Guterres said,
“it’s very important for
U.S. society as a whole
— the cities, the states, the
companies, the businesses
— to remain engaged.”
Trump, who was
critical of the deal during
his campaign for the
presidency, is expected to
make an announcement
this week on whether the
United States will remain a
party to the climate accord
that his predecessor, Barack
Obama, strongly supported
and signed.
Nearly 200 nations
agreed in 2015 to
voluntarily reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.
As of Tuesday, 147 nations
had ratified the Paris
Agreement, representing
more than 82 percent of
global emissions, the U.N.
chief said.
Police: Man
with fake gun
in custody at
Orlando airport
ORLANDO, Fla.
(AP) — A former Marine
who was armed with a fake
gun attempted a “suicide by
cop” Tuesday night during
a nearly three-hour standoff
with police at the Orlando
International Airport,
authorities said.
No one was hurt and
no shots were ever fired,
but the standoff caused
confusion and anxiety
among travelers who were
uncertain about what was
going on. Part of the airport
was evacuated as hundreds
of officers stormed the
area, some with their guns
drawn.
Michael Wayne
Pettigrew, 26, was in
“mental distress” when
police surrounded him at
the rental car area of the
airport, authorities said. He
pointed what looked like
a real gun at officers and
himself, authorities said.
“Our negotiators did a
phenomenal job of talking
with the subject for about
two hours and finally
got him to peacefully
surrender,” Orlando Police
Chief John Mina said.
He was being held for a
mental evaluation and faces
aggravated assault charges.
Men probing
Ivanka Trump
brands in China
arrested, missing
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Some merchandise has already been moved into the new store as remodeling work
continues at the Speakeasy Clothing Co. on Tuesday in Pendleton.
Thompson. Opening June
1, Jones said the coffee shop
will have a drive thru and a
walk-up window. The rest
of the store will open June
14, creating more space at
the salon, which will then be
able to offer more booths and
a tanning bed.
While Speakeasy and
Pratt bought existing build-
ings to expand their square
footage, Pendleton Veteri-
nary Clinic decided to build
from the ground up.
Braving sporadic storm
showers, clinic owner Fiona
Hillenbrand, veterinary staff
and the Pendleton Chamber
of Commerce ambassadors
donned hard hats and took
up shovels to break ground
on the new clinic Tuesday.
The $1 million project
will replace the existing
clinic at 1901 S.W. Court
with a new, 5,000-square-
foot facility on Southwest
Emigrant Avenue, between
Papa Murphy’s and First
Community Credit Union.
A new program still being
developed by the Pendleton
Development Commission
could contribute $100,000
toward the construction.
Hillenbrand has said the
new clinic will support addi-
tional jobs and new services
like pet daycare, luxury
boarding, obedience classes
and acupuncture.
The new clinic is expected
to be completed by the end
of 2017.
SHANGHAI (AP) — A
man investigating working
conditions at a Chinese
company that produces
Ivanka Trump-brand shoes
has been arrested and two
others are missing, the
arrested man’s wife and
an advocacy group said
Tuesday.
Hua Haifeng was
accused of illegal surveil-
lance, according to his wife,
Deng Guilian, who said the
police called her Tuesday
afternoon. Deng said the
caller told her she didn’t
need to know the details,
only that she would not
be able to see, speak with
or receive money from
her husband, the family’s
breadwinner.
China Labor Watch
Executive Director Li
Qiang said he lost contact
with Hua Haifeng and the
other two men, Li Zhao
and Su Heng, over the
weekend. By Tuesday, after
dozens of unanswered calls,
he had concluded: “They
must be held either by the
factory or the police to be
unreachable.”
China Labor Watch, a
New York-based nonprofit,
was planning to publish a
report next month alleging
low pay, excessive overtime
and the possible misuse of
student interns. It is unclear
whether the undercover
investigative methods used
by the advocacy group are
legal in China.
For 17 years, China
Labor Watch has investi-
gated working conditions
at suppliers to some of
the world’s best-known
companies, but Li said
his work has never before
attracted this level of
scrutiny from China’s state
security apparatus.
Pentagon declares
success for key
test of missile
defense
WASHINGTON (AP)
— The Pentagon scored an
important success Tuesday
in a test of its oft-criticized
missile defense program,
destroying a mock warhead
over the Pacific Ocean with
an interceptor that is key
to protecting U.S. territory
from a North Korean
attack.
Vice Adm. Jim Syring,
director of the Pentagon
agency in charge of
developing the missile
defense system, called the
test result “an incredible
accomplishment” and a
critical milestone for a
program hampered by
setbacks over the years.
“This system is vitally
important to the defense of
our homeland, and this test
demonstrates that we have
a capable, credible deterrent
against a very real threat,”
Syring said in a written
statement announcing the
test result.
Despite the success, the
$244 million test didn’t
confirm that under wartime
conditions the U.S. could
intercept an intercontinen-
tal-range missile fired by
North Korea. Pyongyang
is understood to be moving
closer to the capability of
putting a nuclear warhead
on such an ICBM and
could develop decoys
sophisticated enough to
trick an interceptor into
missing the real warhead.
Syring’s agency sounded
a note of caution.
Heated
immigration
debate led to Texas
lawmakers’ scuffle
AUSTIN, Texas
(AP) — A Hispanic Texas
lawmaker who a Repub-
lican colleague threatened
to shoot “in self-defense”
after the Democrat pushed
him said Tuesday that the
altercation was a boiling
point in a session where
minority members were
powerless to stop conserva-
tive legislation they say is
discriminatory.
Tensions erupted on the
floor of the Texas House
of Representatives on
Monday when Republican
state Rep. Matt Rinaldi told
Democrats he called U.S.
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents about
demonstrators in the gallery
holding signs that read “I
am illegal and here to stay.”
Hundreds of
immigrant-rights activists
— many of whom were
Hispanic — had jammed
the state Capitol on the
final day before the Texas
Legislature adjourned until
2019. Some came from as
far as Arizona to protest a
“sanctuary city” crackdown
that will allow police
starting September to ask
people during routine stops
whether they’re in the U.S.
legally.
Democratic state Rep.
Poncho Nevarez did not
deny pushing Rinaldi, who
wrote on Facebook that he
told Nevarez after being
threatened that “I would
shoot him in self-defense.”
Nevarez said he was “sick
of” the attitudes toward
Hispanics in the Legislature
and was taking a stand.