HATE CRIME
<< West Linn family said they feel targeted by a racial slur written on a neighbor’s house.
The family who feels like the racist language written on a house on Sunset Avenue is directed towards them tells FOX 12 not enough is being done to keep them safe.
The Channel family said they’ve lived in West Linn for decades.
“We’ve been there almost 22 years now, coming up on the new year,” Andre Channel said. “We love West Linn. Have some great friends.”
But they said they’ve been having issues with one particular neighbor for several years.
“We’ve been calling the police because of just escalating behavior. The screaming day in and day out,” Channel said. “The breaking her own windows.”
Andre spoke with FOX 12 while traveling outside of the country. He said he received a disturbing call from another neighbor on Christmas day.
“He was like hey, just want to let you know, your neighbor wrote the n-word all across their house,” Channel said. “This is the crossing the line for me, this is new.”
West Linn Police said they responded to this bias incident, and said they painted over the racist language.
The Channel family said they feel targeted and hope police can do more to help.
“When you’re telling us someone is a danger to themselves,” Channel said. “Now you’re telling us that they are also a danger to others.”
So far, they said they haven’t seen any result from investigators.
“It seems like we keep getting the run around in regards to there’s a process to this, a process to that,” Channel said. “My daughters shouldn’t have to be at home wondering what’s going to happen next.”
But Channel said through it all he tries to remain positive and said it won’t ruin his love for his neighborhood.
“I’m not going to let one person force me out of a neighborhood in a city that I love,” Channel said. “We should be able to come home and feel safe, period.”
West Linn Police said the investigation is ongoing and ask anyone with information to contact police. They said the Oregon Department of Justice has also been notified.>>
<<After a racist slur was discovered on a West Linn home on Christmas Day, neighbors tell KOIN 6 News they watched the homeowner paint the slur herself.
The Channel family, who live next door, is Black and told KOIN 6 News they feel targeted by the incident. The family also says the same neighbor called their son by the same slur earlier in December.
Additionally, a neighbor — who only wanted to share his first name, Jason — told KOIN 6 News he watched the homeowner paint the slur on the house on Christmas.
Neighbors say police are called several times a month, and sometimes several times a week, to the house as they hear screaming, see random people staying in the yard of the house and watched as the homeowner broke windows and damaged the home.
“This person is crying out for help, evidently. And the police have told us many times that she’s a danger to herself, and that she’s also a danger now to others. It’s been escalating. There’s been some response, but there’s no solution,” neighbor Andre Channel said.
Jason, told KOIN 6 News “the cops have been here pretty much two or three times a week for the past two months? Three months? They’re doing all they can do about it, but we all know the system is broken.”
Despite, Jason’s feelings that law enforcement’s options are limited, The Channel family feels there is more the department can do. WLPD says they did respond to the first call as it came in, but the Channel family says the slur was not removed at that time. They say they had neighbors “bombard” the police department to get the slur covered up.
With the homeowner’s permission, police have spray painted over the slur.
West Linn police told KOIN 6 News they are familiar with the address and the person who lives there.
Police said they’ve spoken to the homeowner and neighbors, and say they are investigating the incident as a bias crime and refer people to Oregon’s Bias Response Hotline at (844) 924-BIAS (2427). >>
SHOOTINGS
<<An Estacada man is in the hospital after being shot by a Clackamas County deputy, according to the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office.
The district attorney’s office says deputies responded to a domestic disturbance with a firearm in the 2100 block of South Jubb Road on the evening of Dec. 22. Arriving deputies were able to safely remove the family from the home and began communicating with the suspect, identified as 53-year-old Jason Lee Savage.
Savage eventually exited the home with a handgun and refused to cooperate with commands to drop the weapon, the district attorney’s office says. Savage was then shot and taken to a local hospital.
According to the district attorney’s office, Savage is expected to survive.
The deputy involved in the incident was identified by the district attorney’s office as Deputy Isaac Bailey.>>
<<The Portland Police Bureau has elected not to discipline officers involved in a pair of high-profile police shootings last year, abiding by recommendations made by its disciplinary advisory committee, the Police Review Board, this spring.
Officer Zachary DeLong used “deescalation techniques” and “had no other option” than to kill Robert Delgado, 46, in Lents Park in April, the committee concluded. Delgado, suffering from a mental health crisis, had an orange-tipped fake handgun, and pointed it at police as they approached.
Michael Townsend, who was killed by Officer Curtis Brown, “posed the threat of inflicting serious physical injury and a substantial risk of death when [he] came at the officers with a sharp tool,” the committee wrote. The bureau released surveillance footage shortly after the shooting of 40-year-old Townsend advancing toward a retreating Brown with a screwdriver. Brown “acted in accordance with the training,” the committee noted.
Townsend’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, criticizing the sending of armed police responders instead of an unarmed mental health team like Portland Street Response. Townsend had called 911 after contemplating suicide.
All seven members of the committee, a majority of whom are employees of the bureau, agreed DeLong’s and Brown’s actions were “in policy.” Grand juries have previously declined to indict either officer on criminal charges.
The committee, which reviews all uses of deadly force, published its reasoning last week. The summaries, posted to the bureau’s website, have been scrubbed of names. But WW was able to identify the officers and
victims based on the date and location of the incidents. Portland Copwatch first reported the release of the report earlier today.>>
<<The committee declined to recommend disciplining the officers, but did issue recommendations stemming from the shootings and their aftermath.
Another officer shot Townsend with a “less lethal” weapon while he was on the ground, and officers didn’t immediately give medical aid because “no shield [was] available for protection.” A member of the committee said the delayed care was a “tragedy.” Later in the report, a member says, “it does not look good when the public witnesses an officer shooting at a downed suspect.”
The committee “recommended the bureau explore practical ways to supply ballistic shields to more officers.”
In the wake of Townsend’s killing, a crowd of people confronted the officers. “Violent protesters threatened the integrity of the scene,” the committee noted. “Currently, members are uncertain what force options, tools, and tactics are available, lawful, and within policy in such situations.” It recommended the bureau’s policies be updated to “incorporate recent legislative changes and court rulings.”
The bureau accepted all of the committee’s recommendations related to the two shootings.>>
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
<<A former sergeant with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office is facing new domestic violence charges less than a year after charges that he strangled his wife were dismissed.
Micah Hibpshman, 47, of Oregon City was arraigned Tuesday in Clackamas County Circuit Court on charges of strangulation and fourth-degree assault in the presence of a child, felonies>>
<<The latest charges resemble another alleged incident in 2021, but involve a different victim. Prosecutors dismissed last year’s case due to a lack of cooperation from the first victim, Hibpsham’s wife.
An indictment signed Dec. 20 accuses Hibpshman of strangling an 18-year-old family member in the presence of a child in Clackamas County on June 12, 2021.
Hibpshman turned himself in Tuesday morning after being served a warrant. He was released from custody later that day after posting 10% of his $40,000 bail amount, Clackamas County Deputy District Attorney Chris Owen said.
Habpshman was ordered to wear a GPS monitoring device and not to contact the alleged victim, court records show.>>
<<Hibpschman is unemployed, according to an affidavit. His employment with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office ended April 4, agency spokesperson John Wildhaber said in an email Wednesday to The Oregonian/OregonLive. Wildhaber did not say why Hipbshman’s employment ended.>>
<<Hibpshman worked for the sheriff’s office for 14 years and earned a salary of just over $102,000.>>
FIGHT THE POWER? INFRASTRUCTURE
<<A fourth electrical substation was vandalized late on Christmas Day in Washington state, leaving homes in Kapowsin and Graham temporarily without power, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
By 7 a.m. Monday, more than 10,500 Puget Sound Energy customers were without electricity across the region, KOMO-TV reported.
The suspects broke into a fenced area and vandalized equipment, causing a fire, officials said. The fire was extinguished and power was later restored, but no suspects are in custody, officials said.
The attacks come as federal officials are warning that the U.S. power grid needs better security to prevent domestic terrorism and after a large outage in North Carolina earlier this month that took days to repair.
The first substation was vandalized at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday, followed by a second substation, according to Tacoma Public Utilities. The outages affected about 7,300 customers in an area southeast of Tacoma.
Just before noon, the utility had restored power to all but 2,700 customers whose power was estimated to be restored at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Meanwhile, just before noon, Puget Sound Energy reported vandalism that had happened at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday caused a power outage at one of its substations. The nearly 7,700 customers who lost power had it restored by 5 a.m., Puget Sound spokesperson Andrew Padula said. The company is investigating, along with authorities, and declined to comment further, according to Padula.
In all four cases, the sheriff’s office says someone forced their way into the fenced area surrounding the substations and damaged equipment to cause a power outage.
Power stations have been hit in Washington and Oregon in the last month.
Portland General Electric, the Bonneville Power Administration, Cowlitz County Public Utility District and Puget Sound Energy confirmed six separate attacks on electrical substations in Washington and Oregon in the previous weeks, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting and KUOW-FM in Seattle.>>
HOMELESSNESS
<<The city of Bend announced plans Wednesday to sweep a large outdoor camp on North Hunnell Road in March, the latest action in an effort to limit camping in Central Oregon’s largest city.
City Manager Eric King said the removal has long been planned due to construction projects in the area. Deschutes County has a goal to expand Hunnell Road next spring, and King said moving residents of the camp will ensure their safety as construction gets underway.
“(Construction is) the main driver, but there’s also public health and safety issues as well,” King said.
A city-led assessment conducted this fall stated there had been eight fires and 40 medical calls at the site in 2022. The city also noted the number of parked vehicles that violate city ordinances.
Unlike other camps in Bend, most people at the Hunnell Road site appeared to be camping in either recreational vehicles or small cars. >>
<<The planned sweep is the latest in a series of crackdowns on outdoor camping within city limits. The Bend City Council had said in January it would seek to stop sweeping camps as it focuses on creating more shelter beds.
So far, however, that hasn’t been the case. Officials removed camps on Second Street near downtown three separate times in 2022. The latest removal happened in October, when city staff vacated tents before sunrise, as temperatures were below freezing.
The City Council also narrowly approved restrictions in November that limit where and when people can camp on city property. The code, which goes into effect in March, requires people to move campsites at least 600 feet every 24 hours.
The council was heavily divided on the code change, approving it by a 4-3 vote.>>
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/12/28/bend-plans-sweep-illegal-camping-hunnel-road/
MIC
OPB profile:
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/12/29/mic-crenshaw-portland-hip-hop-creator-art-activism/