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Police cited Baker, 77, with 4th degree assault, punishable by up to one year in prison and a $5,000 fine, according to police spokesperson Jan Power. "He reached up and put his hand behind my neck and jerked forward," alleges Kendra Schmitt, 21. "It gave me whiplash." Schmitt says the attack left her with a bruised, strained neck that's given her daily migraines and pain that she's tried to treat with medications. She says the injury has cost her big medical bills for doctor and physical therapist visits and a $1,000 MRI scan. Schmitt says she's uninsured and the coffee shop doesn't have workers' compensation insurance. Baker did not return a call requesting comment. Schmitt says Baker and his wife walked into the Coffee Corner shop at 28th Avenue and Oak Street in south Eugene at around 11 am March 22. Baker ordered his usual coffee and toast and also asked to buy a pre-paid coffee card. Baker asked to pay for the coffee and toast in cash and for the coffee card on his credit card. Schmitt says after she mistakenly confused which items should be charged to the credit card, Baker "got pretty agitated." Schmitt says she offered to correct the bill, but before she could, Baker grabbed her neck. "I was in shock," she says. "She was in tears, frantic, it really scared her," says co-worker Laura Sanfilipo, 18. Schmitt says after she corrected the bill, Baker sat down to drink his coffee but later came back to apologize. Sanfilipo and Schmitt say Baker said he was sorry and then added, "'I don't know what possessed me.'" Schmitt says she thanked him for the apology buy told Baker that what he did to her was not OK. Sanfilipo says Schmitt complained of pain in her neck after the attack. Schmitt says she called the police the next day and reported the incident. She says she didn't call right away because she was in shock and thought the shop manager might have called the police. Power says the police report indicates that Baker told police "he put his hand on the back of her neck to get her attention." Schmitt says Baker jerked her needlessly. "He was the only one there, he had my attention. He didn't need to grab me." Schmitt says police found bruises on her neck and photographed them. The R-G covered the alleged assault six days later in a six-inch inside digest brief. Schmitt says the article, which mentioned Baker's work fund-raising for the library but didn't interview the victim, was "leaning" in Baker's favor. The case is now in the hands of District Attorney Doug Harcleroad, who did not return a call requesting comment. Schmitt says Harcleroad personally called her the week after the incident and asked for details of the incident. But Assistant District Attorney Kamala Shugar says Baker isn't getting any preferential treatment from the DA. Shugar says Baker has hired a defense attorney and private investigator. "I have worked pretty hard to make sure our investigation is at least as good as theirs is," Shugar says. Schmitt's mother Gina Lawrence Keele and step-father Larry Keele say they're concerned that the DA hasn't yet arraigned Baker and formerly charged him with assault. Schmitt's parents say they've also grown concerned about Baker's private investigators calling the family at home and asking questions of co-workers at the coffee shop. "There's a lot of pre-arraignment haranguing going on, they keep delaying it, trying to get it to be simple harassment," says Larry Keele. "It just stinks." "I'm appalled at how the whole thing is being handled," says Gina Lawrence Keele. "The person shouldn't be getting special treatment because of who they are." "I feel like they're trying to sweep it under the rug," Schmitt says. "He [Baker] may have some friends higher up." After EW called the DA asking about Schmitt's concerns, Shugar and Harcleroad met with Schmitt this week for one and a half hours to explain the delay in prosecution. Schmitt says the DA has asked Baker to see a psychiatrist to determine his mental state before the DA decides whether to charge Baker with assault or harassment, a lesser crime. Schmitt now says she feels reassured that the case is moving forward.
"I think they're doing a good job," she says. She says the DA told her
that Baker has 10 days to see a psychiatrist before the decision is made on what
he will be charged with.
Saying "somebody's got to do it," former Congressman Charles O. Porter of Eugene is leading a national crusade to impeach five Supreme Court justices for their actions to cut off vote tabulations in Florida's presidential election. The five justices include Chief Justice Rehnquist and Associate Justices Scalia, O'Connor, Thomas and Kennedy. "So far as I can discover," says Porter, "this is the first organized effort to advocate impeachment of five justices, but before many months go by I predict that there will be aroused committees in every state of the union." Porter is chair pro tem of the new Committee to Restore Gore/Lieberman. The announcement of the new panel was made to an enthusiastic crowd at the April 19 meeting of the Lane County Democratic Central Committee at Harris Hall. "They gave me three standing ovations," he says. Porter is accusing the justices of "egregiously bad behavior, high crimes and misdemeanors," and wants the nation to have its "day in court to clear the air for justice and against tyranny." Porter says the evidence shows that the five justices approved terminating the Florida vote count before the legal votes had all been counted. "Their lame explanation is that it may be thought unfair but the 'law' required it, made it 'necessary.' That does not compute. People who buy that explanation, in my opinion, are either profoundly corrupt or easily misled or both." He says he is taking this action to address anger, bitterness and resignation over the election and to show citizens that they are not helpless in fighting injustice, even when that injustice is at the highest court in the land. It's not right, he says, "for people to sit back and relax and say we can't do anything about it now." Porter is not sure how far his campaign will go. "The least we can accomplish is to make more Democrats come out and vote next year. The most we can hope for is that the five will resign." --TJT Record
Tree Sit Activists have spent 1,100 days, including three winters, occupying the canopy 200 feet off the ground to save 96 acres of rare, low-elevation old-growth forest near Eugene. The Forest Service sold the ancient forest for cutting in 1998, but the occupation has prevented the local Zip-O lumber company from felling the giants. That gave the Oregon Natural Resources Council time to successfully sue to force the Forest Service to survey for red tree voles at the site. The voles are a prime food source and key indicator species for the endangered spotted owl. Forest Service biologists found 20 active vole nests and tree sitters found an additional 20, says Kelly Townsend of Cascadia Forest Defenders. Townsend says Forest Service policies require a 10-acre buffer around each of the active nests. But with George Bush in the White House, Townsend says the Forest Service is showing signs of trying to evade the buffer requirement. "They're going to throw out the buffers," he says. "The policy is changing really rapidly now." To save the trees, Townsend is putting out a call for re-enforcements at the tree-sit. To get involved, call 684-8977 (www.pickaxe.org). --AP Women's
Wares The project has been enormously successful. This year, the money went to El Mono Pintado, a center that teaches and trains homeless children in the arts and languages, and to Melil, an organization that works with indigenous communities to strengthen their own development processes. Local jeweler Hannah Goldrich became involved in the project several years ago and now goes to Chiapas to purchase the wares of women who sell on the streets. She buys from the poorest women and searches out items that Kleban thinks will be popular in Eugene. She recently returned with a new line of merchandise that is available at Greater Goods. In addition to traditional woven mats, the women make macrame belts, bracelets, wool and ceramic animal dolls in vibrant colors and a charming new line of product: little Zapatistas dolls inspired by the uprising in 1994. "Joannie has quietly done so much for these women and children,"
says Goldrich. Robo-Librarian In other new library news, library supporters have raised almost $5 million for the construction project. Grassroots fund-raising is picking up with 50 local schools planning read-a-thons, book exchanges and coin collections to raise money. City staff say the new library is on schedule for opening in the
winter of 2002-2003. Walk
for Justice Goals of the WFJ are to bring national attention and support to the Oregon farmworkers' struggle for justice and the right to bargain collectively. Organizers say they also hope to increase pressure to bring the grower organization NORPAC to the table; to create a march focused on faith and justice; to bring together farmworker advocates with farmworkers in the tradition of Cesar Chavez; and to construct an inclusive coalition of labor, faith and community members to be a force for justice now and in the years ahead. For more information contact the WFJ Coalition: 607-8097 or e-mail wfjustice@mail.co
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Maj Rafferty