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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 2020)
T he C olumbia P ress June 12, 2020 Wyden co-sponsors accountability bill A bill designed to hold po- lice more accountable and change the culture of law en- forcement is making its way through Congress. The Justice in Policing Act of 2020 is co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and supported by 166 represen- tatives and 35 senators. “This bill is a comprehen- sive blueprint for reforming our country’s broken polic- ing system, holding law en- forcement accountable and enhancing transparency,” Wyden said. “(It) takes a vi- tal first step toward account- ability, and I am all in with pressing forward to achieve this legislation’s urgently needed refocus of resources and policies.” The bill would: • Prohibit federal, state, and local law enforcement from racial, religious and discriminatory profiling, and mandates training on racial, religious, and dis- criminatory profiling. • Ban chokeholds, carotid holds and no-knock war- rants at the federal level and limit the transfer of mili- tary-grade equipment to state and local law enforce- ment. • Mandate the use of dash and body cameras for feder- al officers and require state and local law enforcement to use existing federal funds to ensure the use of police body cameras. Warrenton’s officers are equipped with body cameras. • Establish a misconduct registry for officers fired un- der misconduct charges. 3 Black Lives Matter movement comes to town A group of 100 people – some of them bused in – brought the Black Lives Mat- ter movement to Warrenton on June 5. Alejandra Lopez, 16, a War- renton High School student, organized the Warrenton protest. She set up a GoFund- Me account to fund more protests in the county. About $1,200 had been raised by Wednesday after- noon. In Warrenton, the group stood and chanted in front of City Hall and spread out through downtown. Many local residents joined the group. A second, less peaceful pro- test was held the next day in Astoria, which drew counter- protesters. At least a half-dozen Black About 100 people protested racism and police brutality in front of City Hall on Friday, June 5. Lives Matter protests have been held in the region. Addi- tional protests are planned in downtown Astoria on Tues- days and Saturdays through June. Old letter provides peek at problematic past B y C indy y ingst The Columbia Press A letter written with heavy racial undertones by a city of- ficial in 1925 shows that War- renton has some sins in its not-too-distant past. The letter is written by City Auditor Sidney Campbell to an out-of-town property owner, George E. Crawford. Similar to today’s code-en- forcement actions, the let- ter is an attempt to start the cleanup of property near downtown that included a rundown shack. “This shack is owned by a Fin (sic) by the name of John Passo and he is nothing but a bootlegger,” the letter states. “He has made himself so ob- noxious that the people living over in that part of town have asked to have him deported.” The letter proceeds to talk about all the bums and drunks that like to hang out there and describes the shack as a “hog pen and disgrace to your property.” The property owner writes back, giving the city “permis- sion to burn the shack -- rats, feathers and all.” Should the city decide to “hang” the Finn, “kindly let me in on it,” Crawford writes in his response. Warrenton City Manager Linda Engbretson said she found the letter years ago while going through files and gave a copy to historian Diane Collier, who passed it along to The Columbia Press. “I had a good laugh, and actually have it framed in my office,” Engbretson said. Even today, Warrenton’s city charter names the city manager as the town’s audi- tor. “It’s absolutely not politi- cally correct today, but times have changed,” Engbretson said. “There’s a lot more red tape these days. No one would write a letter such as this to- day, I would hope,” she said. “We move forward with em- pathy and understanding, and often outreach for re- sources. … Things were sim- pler back then, but not bet- ter.” Phillip Shoop, a retired commercial fisherman, bought the two-lot proper- ty on Birch Court in 1978, a good 50 years after the letter was written. He and his wife, Judy, now live on one lot and the other is occupied by a group home. “I think that’s kind of cool, kind of funny,” Judy Shoop said after hearing about her property’s shady past. Her husband was born and raised in Astoria. “Phil’s been on this block here since 1978.”