A8 The BulleTin • Friday, July 2, 2021
Trump
Cooler
Continued from A7
Continued from A7
He was photographed walk-
ing into a building that houses
both the criminal courts and
the Manhattan district attor-
ney’s office around 6:20 a.m.
Thursday. He was led into
court in the afternoon with his
hands cuffed behind his back.
Weisselberg’s lawyers, Mary
Mulligan and Bryan Skarla-
tos, said in a statement before
his appearance that the execu-
tive would “fight these charges
in court.” Skarlatos later said
Dunne’s remarks were mislead-
ing in regard to his client.
Weisselberg was ordered to
surrender his passport after
prosecutors called him a flight
risk with access to private jets
for foreign travel. He was re-
leased without bail, however,
and left the courthouse with-
out commenting to assembled
reporters.
A lieutenant to generations
of Trumps, Weisselberg has in-
timate knowledge of the former
president’s business dealings and
the case could give prosecutors
the means to pressure him into
cooperating with an ongoing
probe into other aspects of the
company’s business.
So far, though, there’s no
sign that the man regarded by
Trump’s daughter Ivanka as a
“fiercely loyal” deputy who’s
“stood alongside my father and
our family” for decades will
suddenly turn on them.
In a statement Thursday, the
Trump Organization defended
Weisselberg, saying the 48-year
employee was being used by
Manhattan District Attorney
Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office as “a
pawn in a scorched-earth at-
tempt to harm the former pres-
ident.”
“This is not justice; this is
politics,” the Trump Organiza-
tion said, arguing that neither
the IRS nor any other district
attorney would ever think of
bringing such charges over em-
ployee benefits.
Trump, a Republican,
did not respond to report-
ers’ shouted questions about
the case as he visited Texas
on Wednesday. Earlier in the
week, he blasted New York
prosecutors as “rude, nasty,
and totally biased” and said his
company’s actions were “stan-
dard practice throughout the
U.S. business community, and
in no way a crime.”
In court, Trump Organiza-
tion lawyer Alan Futerfas said
Dunne’s remarks sounded like
a “press release,” but didn’t
comment further.
Vance declined to comment
on the case as he arrived at the
courthouse Thursday, saying
only “See you all at 2:15” — a
reference to Weisselberg’s ex-
pected arraignment time.
Now, there’s a stuff-toting
machine that doubles as an
autonomous cooler designed
to follow you around the pool
or backyard with a dozen
cans of beer.
The Dutch brewing com-
pany Heineken recently un-
veiled the “Beer Outdoor
Transporter” — a branding
concept cooler that uses mo-
tion sensors to trail behind
its owner. The company
launched an online raffle on
Thursday for people who
want to own one.
While it can’t apply your
sunscreen, blow off the sand
from the beach or cook your
Independence Day hot dogs,
it seemingly solves one issue.
“Nobody loves lugging
around like a giant cooler and
sweating in the 100-degree
heat,” said Joshua Egan, brand
director at Heineken USA. It
was built around a “charming”
AI personality and was shown
this summer to mark the na-
tion’s return to semi-normalcy
after gatherings last summer
were discouraged due to the
coronavirus. It was also un-
veiled to draw attention to the
brand’s new beer can design,
as the beverage category faces
increasing competition from
hard seltzers.
It doesn’t have to house
Heineken products. The robot
is constructed to tote around
ice, so you could seemingly
use any beverage you’d want to
keep cold.
The robot looks like a mix
between WALL-E, the ani-
mated waste-collecting droid
from Pixar films, and a tra-
ditional green garbage truck.
John Minchillo/AP
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. arrives Thursday at New York State supreme court in New York.
Vance, who leaves office at
the end of the year, has been
conducting a wide-ranging
investigation into a variety of
matters involving Trump and
the Trump Organization, such
as hush-money payments paid
to women on Trump’s behalf
and truthfulness in property
valuations and tax assessments,
among other matters.
Vance fought a long battle to
get Trump’s tax records and has
been subpoenaing documents
and interviewing company ex-
ecutives and other Trump in-
siders.
James assigned two lawyers
from her office to work with
Vance’s team on the criminal
probe while continuing her
own civil investigation.
Weisselberg, an intensely
private man who lived for years
in a modest home on Long Is-
land, came under scrutiny of
Vance’s investigators, in part,
because of questions about his
son’s use of a Trump apartment
at little or no cost.
Barry Weisselberg, who
managed a Trump-operated
ice rink in Central Park, testi-
fied in a 2018 divorce deposi-
tion that the Trump Parc East
apartment was a “corporate
apartment, so we didn’t have
rent.”
Barry’s ex-wife, Jen Weis-
selberg, has been cooperating
with both inquiries and given
investigators reams of tax re-
cords and other documents.
In March, she told The New
Yorker that some compensa-
tion for Trump Organization
executives came in the form
of apartments and other items
and that “only a small part of
your salary is reported.”
The Trump Organization
is the business entity through
which the former president
manages his many entrepre-
neurial affairs, including his in-
vestments in office towers, ho-
tels and golf courses, his many
“This is not justice; this
is politics,” the Trump
Organization said, arguing
that neither the IRS nor
any other district attorney
would ever think of bringing
such charges over employee
benefits.
marketing deals and his tele-
vision pursuits. Trump’s sons
Donald Jr. and Eric have been
in charge of the company’s day-
to-day operations since he be-
came president.
James Repetti, a tax lawyer
and professor at Boston Col-
lege Law School, said a com-
pany like the Trump Organi-
zation would generally have a
responsibility to withhold taxes
not just on salary, but other
forms of compensation — like
the use of an apartment or au-
tomobile.
Such perks wouldn’t be con-
sidered taxable income if they
were required as a condition
of employment, Repetti said,
such as providing an apart-
ment for the convenience of an
employee who is required to be
at the office or worksite at odd
or frequent hours, or allowing
the use of a car for business
purposes.
Another prominent New
York City real estate figure, the
late Leona Helmsley, was con-
victed of tax fraud in a federal
case that arose from her com-
pany paying to remodel her
home without her reporting
that as income.
The Trump Organization
case involves possible viola-
tions of New York state tax
laws.
“The IRS routinely looks
for abuse of fringe benefits
when auditing closely held
businesses,” Repetti said. “The
temptation for the business is
that it claims a tax deduction
for the expense, while the re-
cipient does not report it in
income.”
Michael Cohen, the for-
mer Trump lawyer who’s been
cooperating with Vance’s in-
vestigation, wrote in his book
“Disloyal,” that Trump and
Weisselberg were “past masters
at allocating expenses that re-
lated to non-business matters
and finding a way to categorize
them so they weren’t taxed.”
Weisselberg first started
working for Trump’s real es-
tate-developer father, Fred, af-
ter answering a newspaper ad
for a staff accountant in 1973,
working his way up.
Keeping a low profile —
aside from a 2004 appearance
as a guest judge on Trump’s
reality TV show “The Appren-
tice” — Weisselberg was barely
mentioned in news articles be-
fore Trump started running for
president and questions arose
about the boss’ finances and
charity.
Cohen said Weisselberg
was the one who decided how
to secretly reimburse him for
a $130,000 payment to porn
actress Stormy Daniels. The
finance chief made headlines
again when it was revealed that
his signature appeared on one
of the reimbursement checks.
Barbara Res, who oversaw
the construction of Manhat-
tan’s Trump Tower, says she
was surprised to learn about
the seemingly large role Weis-
selberg has played in Trump’s
business. She recalls him years
ago just collecting rent, paying
bills and doing Trump’s taxes.
“He was the chief accoun-
tant, but he wasn’t in the in-
ner circle. He would come in
with his head down, ‘Yes, Mr.
Trump. No, Mr. Trump,’” Res
said. “He’s the only person I
knew who would call him Mr.
Trump. Now he’s a big shot.”
Astoria
Continued from A7
“It’s great to see the kids at
the top throwing off airplanes
again,” Pynes said. “You can
hear the adults, too ... It feels
great to be getting back to
normal.”
The “airplanes” are the
balsa wood gliders sold for
a dollar each in the gift shop
next to the Column. Thou-
sands of gliders are sold each
year.
Shawn and Lorrie Taylor
were two of the many peo-
ple who made the trip up
Coxcomb Hill since the Col-
umn’s reopening. The cou-
ple moved to Astoria last
year, but hadn’t been inside
and atop the monument in
It’s about knee-high, sits on
six wheels and can talk to its
owner. “Down here! I’m the
cooler with wheels,” the droid
can say.
In the front is a touch screen
and a series of cameras and
sensors to help it avoid ob-
stacles. At the rear, there’s a
cooler backpack, branded with
Heineken’s logo. The com-
pany won’t reveal how many
it’s making, only that it worked
with a series of third parties
over the past several months to
get it built. Winners will be an-
nounced within the next week,
and the product will ship
from Los Angeles soon after. It
hasn’t mentioned plans to sell
the robot beyond that.
The new beer robot serves
a similar purpose to one al-
ready on the market, and an-
other that took the internet
by storm. Gita, a two-wheel
robotic vehicle by Piaggio
Fast Forward, carries up to
40 pounds of cargo around
big cities today. It’s expensive,
costing $3,250, but it’s the first
consumer robot in the U.S.
with such functionality. In
April, a YouTuber gave Boston
Dynamics’ robotic dog Spot
the ability to pee beer into a
red cup. A video of the project
went viral, reaching more than
100 million views.
Heineken’s robot can’t do
that. But it seems to be capa-
ble of rolling through grass,
over boardwalks and on con-
crete with ease. It doesn’t
have legs, so it can’t travel
smoothly up staircases. That
means, depending on where
you’re going, you may still
need to pick it up. And it’s
kind of heavy, weighing 70
pounds before you add the
ice or drinks.
over two decades. When
they heard about the reopen-
ing, they came back to get
a view from the top. This
time, Shawn Taylor brought a
glider to throw off the view-
ing deck.
“The view is just stunning,”
Taylor said while glancing out
at the peaks in the distance.
Pynes and Van Dusen
pointed to the history and
significance the Column
brings to Astoria, and are
grateful that it is reopened to
the hundreds of thousands of
visitors it draws every year.
“The Astoria Column is
our logo,” Van Dusen said.
“It is a wonderful piece of art,
along with a nice monument
and a beautiful story. We just
hope everyone can enjoy it.”
OBITUARY
D ONALD L EONARD L EE F REITAS
Darigold
Continued from A7
“It’s a deeper commitment
from the state’s largest co-op
to dairy in Washington State,”
said Dan Wood, executive di-
rector of the Washington State
Dairy Federation. “A couple
hundred direct jobs, another
thousand support jobs, which
is major economic develop-
ment. It just underscores how
important dairy is to the state
economy.”
The federation wasn’t in-
volved in the process, Wood
said. The organization knew a
plant would be somewhere in
central or southeast Washing-
ton, but learned the location at
the same time as the public.
Port commissioners ap-
proved the sale of roughly 150
acres of the Reimann Indus-
trial Center to Darigold during
a special commission meeting
Thursday.
Darigold intends to bring
the new facility online in the
fall of 2023, according to a port
press release.
Darigold expects to process
up to 8 million pounds of milk
per day in the new facility, said
Tafline Laylin, leader of sus-
tainability communications
and social engagement for the
company. The operation will
produce specialized products
that can’t be made in any of the
company’s other plants.
More than 50% of the fa-
cility’s finished product is in-
tended for export, with an em-
phasis on the Pacific Rim.
Darigold will deploy anaer-
obic digestion technology as
part of the on-site wastewater
treatment strategy and use the
Located in Downtown Bend
is Central Oregon’s foremost wine
bar/shop. It features:
Wine by the glass,
Premium selection of wine,
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Tues-Thurs 11-6:30
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141 NW Minnesota Ave 541.410.1470
extracted methane as a natural
gas substitute, reducing fossil
fuel use, according to a com-
pany press release. This will be
complemented by machinery
that enables heat and energy
recovery and reuse.
In addition, the new infra-
structure is designed to accom-
modate future electric vehicles,
including a potential conver-
sion of Dairgold’s large fleet of
semi-trucks — further reduc-
ing greenhouse gas emissions
associated with transportation,
the company says.
Barbara Marie Simp-
son of Bend, OR
Leroy Wesley Twiggs
of Bend, OR
Nov 20, 1938 - June 23,
2021
Arrangements:
Niswonger-Reynolds
Funeral Home is honored
to serve the family. 541-
382-2471 Please visit the
online registry for the fam-
ily at www.niswonger-reyn-
olds.com
Services:
A family gathering will be
held at a later date
Contributions may be
made to:
Susan G. Koman Founda-
tion or Humane Society of
Central Oregon 61170 SE
27th St, Bend, OR 97702.
September 22, 1935 - June
12, 2021
Arrangements:
Autumn Funerals-Red-
mond is honored to serve
the family. 541-504-9485.
Condolences may be con-
veyed to the family at www.
autumnfunerals.net
Services:
Racetrack Friends,local
friends and family: we are
going to have a get-togeth-
er at the Twiggs Ranch
on Sun., July 18th. Please
stop by between 10am-
4pm if you have time for a
visit.
Briona L. Stafford
of Bend, OR
Sylvia Sanchez
Delgadillo
of La Pine, OR
April 12, 1989 - June 15,
2021
Arrangements:
Autumn Funerals, Bend
541-318-0842
www.autumnfunerals.net
Services:
A Celebration of Life
service will be announced
at a later date
November 16, 1933 - June
27, 2021
Arrangements:
Baird Memorial Chapel
of La Pine is honored to
serve the Delgadillo family.
Please visit our website,
www.bairdfh.com, to share
condolences and sign the
online guestbook.
OBITUARY DEADLINE
Call to ask about our deadlines.
Monday - Friday, 10am - 3pm.
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When submitting, please include your name, address and contact number.
Phone: 541-385-5809 • Email: obits@bendbulletin.com
March 7, 1930 - June 23, 2021
Donald Freitas was born in
Selma, California to Antone
and Mary (Souza) Freitas. He
grew up in the Fresno farm
area as one of 7 boys. He
claimed he had to learn to
eat fast just to survive!
Don worked at a food
processing plant in Lemoore,
California. He married his
fi rst wife Bett y and they
had a son, Edward Anthony
Freitas, and a daughter,
Donna Badashi.
Don married Theola Hunter Grimshaw in 1980, reti red,
and moved to Bend in 1985. He and Theola, his wife of
40 years, enjoyed many happy years in Central Oregon
fi shing, traveling in their motor home, and golfi ng at both
Bend Golf Club and Quail Run Golf Course where they
were members for many years.
Donald was preceded in death by his parents and 5 of his
brothers (Clarence, Raymond, Joe, Tony, & Frank Freitas).
Don is survived by his loving wife Theola, brother John
Freitas, son Ed (Lori) Freitas, daughter Donna (William)
Badashi and 5 grandchildren. Theola’s family will also
miss Don’s smile and dry sense of humor. They include
Theola’s son, Edward (Jackie) Grimshaw, granddaughter
Sheri (Josh) Yeargin, and triplet grandchildren William,
Drew, and Allie Yeargin.
At Don’s request, no services will be held. He will be
interred at Deschutes Memorial Gardens here in Bend,
Oregon. Arrangements were made by Baird Funeral
Home of Bend. Please visit their website www.bairdfh .
com to share condolences and sign the online guest
book.
The family requests that contributi ons be made to
the charity of your choice in Don’s memory.