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SWAT Shot Family, police dispute what happened when a cop shot a cop. By Alan Pittman The Eugene Police Department says that a SWAT operation near Creswell in February that resulted in the near fatal shooting of police Sgt. Jay Shadwick by a SWAT sniper went off by the book. The sniper mistook Shadwick for a threatening armed suspect and shot him through the chest in a manner that was "reasonable," "competent," "appropriate" and "conforms with department policy," an EPD internal review concluded. But members of a family the police have described as the "hostages" they were trying to save complain that the police were behaving far from reasonably and appropriately that night. "They were like little kids playing with guns, that's what it looked like," says Barbara Layng, 70. "I was scared of them more than anything else." "I think they went about it totally the wrong way," says another family member who asked not to be named. The police could have sent in a single patrol car to resolve the situation, the person says. The SWAT team members "were in such a panic and hurry. ... They were just too over-reacted, too strung out." EPD spokeswoman Pam Alejandre denied the "allegations" of the family members. County Sheriff's Sgt. Matt Keetle of the joint Lane County-Eugene SWAT team also said the two dozen officers at the scene did nothing wrong. Here's what happened according to family members. Family and friends were having a small get-together of about a dozen people at a rural home. After an altercation, Mike Stoll called police to complain that Robbie Harris, his cousin, had shot him in the leg and then left the house with a hunting rifle. Police and family members described the injury as a minor graze. Harris's sister Wendy, who lives down the road, says she came to the house to find out what was going on after she heard her brother had shot Stoll. She says she brought her young children because she didn't have a baby sitter. Wendy wasn't afraid her brother Robbie would harm anyone, she says. "If I'd felt unsafe, my children would have never come here." I walked in and "he [Stoll] was drinking a beer," Wendy says. She says the wound looked like a scrape and did not bleed. Wendy and other family members say they listened on a scanner as police went to the wrong house, about three miles away. "We waited three hours for them to arrive," she says. Layng, who is Robbie's grandmother, says she began cleaning her house and making coffee to prepare for the police arriving. Eugene police say there were 12 people in the house including six children. When the police arrived they phoned and told everyone to get down on the floor. SWAT officers burst in shouting and waving assault rifles, Wendy says. "We were scared to death, screaming and crying." At one point, Wendy says a helmeted SWAT officer aimed a "machine gun" at her 22-month-old son, Cole. "He's got the gun pointed, his finger on the trigger, and he's shaking," she says. "It would have only taken a flinch of a hair and he would have pulled the trigger and shot somebody," says an unnamed family member. The joint SWAT team appeared to be composed of two units that weren't working well together, family members say. At one point a commanding officer yelled at team members moving in front of the house to hurry up and get out of the way because they were in a firing danger zone, they say. Later, family members say they heard one rifle shot followed by four to five other shots that sounded like a machine gun. On the scanner they heard an officer say, "I shot the suspect." But then confusion ensued as it turned out an officer walking around the side of the house was shot by another officer. Wendy and other family members say they can't understand how it happened. There was no fog and visibility was good that night. Through the windows, they could clearly see the officers running around outside. It was at night, but the shot officer was standing under a bright yard light. In their camouflage and big helmets, the SWAT officers didn't look anything like Robbie Harris, they say. The family watched out the windows as officers loaded the wounded SWAT member into an ambulance that pulled up in the driveway. Wendy and the unnamed family member say they heard more automatic weapon fire and saw shots hitting the ambulance. "You could see the sparks of the ricochets hitting the ambulance," the unnamed family member says. Over the scanner, they heard, "the suspect is shooting the ambulance" and then orders for it to drive away. Police deny the ambulance was hit. Wendy says an officer later went outside to call for her brother. "Robby, Robby, come out. We just want to talk to you," she says she heard. Then she heard the officer say into his radio, "if you see a kill shot, take it." Layng says she's glad her grandson stayed hidden. "They would have shot him," she says. Robbie Harris surrendered to police the next day without incident.
Wendy says the police at first wanted him to drive himself into town to get arrested.
But Wendy says they agreed to come get him when family members reminded them that
the police had slashed the tires on all their cars the previous night so Robbie couldn't
escape.
About 200 demonstrators gathered outside The Register-Guard on a blustery May Day to protest the Baker family's fight against the Eugene Newspaper Guild union representing the paper's employees. For the last two years, the Bakers and the union have been unable to reach agreement on a contract with reporters, advertising and circulation staff at the R-G. The union says the Bakers have brought in a union-busting Tennessee lawyer, Michael Zinser, and want to convert family-wage jobs into part-time positions, reduce workplace rights, fight improvements in medical insurance, eliminate union jobs, rollback grievance procedures, and forbid employees from striking. Lance Robertson, an R-G reporter and the lead negotiator for the Guild, told the crowd that the union recently offered the Bakers 30 contract concessions in exchange for a pay raise for all union members. "They called us clueless," Robertson said. Robertson says the Bakers have lost nine unfair labor practices decisions from federal officials during the labor dispute. "And they call us clueless." As protesters waved signs reading "Stop Corporate Greed," "Boycott the R-G" and other slogans, labor leaders called on the crowd to yell loud enough for Publisher Tony Baker to hear, "Zinser go Home!" The cry echoed off the blank walls of the Guard building. At the locked front door, one of several Pinkerton security guards says Baker isn't in the building. "Nobody inside wants to comment," he said. --AP Hyundai
Breaking Up After the death of its founder Chung Ju Yung in March, the Hyundai empire is "withering," plagued by dropping profits, nepotism, scandal and the feuding of the dead patriarch's six sons over control of the Hyundai empire, The New York Times reported last week. Favorite son Chung Mong Hun ran Hyundai Electronics, the subsidiary that built the Eugene factory, for 28 years in a "losing competition" with Korea's Samsung Electronics, the Times reported. But last year, Hun stepped down amid concerns of mismanagement and nepotism in the struggling company. Hyundai Electronics has since begun to financially separate from Hyundai and recently renamed itself Hynix Semiconductor, in an attempt to distance itself from Hyundai's problems. But the new Hynix will have its own problems. Hynix struggles under a huge debt load and sharply falling prices for the computer memory (DRAM) chips it sells, according to industry news reports and Hynix press releases. Hynix is more than $5.5 billion in debt. Last month the company reported a $353 million loss for its first quarter, blaming a drastic drop in DRAM prices due to oversupply and the biggest slump in computer sales in more than a decade. In February, Hynix missed a $53 million debt payment to Citibank for the Eugene factory. Standard and Poor's downgraded its ratings on Hyundai debt, saying the missed payment was "symptomatic of serious liquidity shortages." The company denied that it is in jeopardy of bankruptcy and in March borrowed money from Korean banks to meet the payment. Two weeks ago, a trio of Hyundai group companies, led by Hyundai's ship-building unit, stepped in to provide a $1.2 billion guarantee that they would buy unsold Hynix chips. A few days later, Hynix announced plans to borrow $1.3 billion more to buy out the Hyundai conglomerate's 20 percent stake in the company. Hynix also asked creditors to give it up to a year extension on repaying earlier loans. To raise cash, Hynix has been struggling to sell off cellular phone and other subsidiaries not part of its core DRAM business. With DRAM prices at or below the costs of production, Hynix may scale back production. Hynix told Electronic Buyers News in March that, contrary to Asian press reports, it won't close one or two chip factories, but the company said it may begin operating its plants below capacity. --AP
The Dalai Lama will come to Portland for the Pathways to Peace Festival, May 13-15, which will raise funds and community awareness for a Tibetan Studies and World Peace Center in Portland, the first of its kind in North America. The Center's purpose is to preserve the Tibetan culture while teaching the larger community lessons and examples of compassionate existence, a precept of Buddhism. Tibetans consider the Dalai Lama to be the manifestation of Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of compassion. In Buddhist terminology, Bodhisattvas are heroic beings who have chosen the path to enlightenment in order to benefit all beings. The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in Dharamsala, India, since the unsuccessful revolt of the Tibetans against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. He frequently travels around the world offering his message of tolerance, mutual respect and compassion. He has received the 1989 Nobel Prize for Peace, among other awards. Several people in Eugene are involved in the planning of the Dalai Lama's visit and of the festival. Three of eight volunteer drivers to transport his entourage are from Eugene. Also, Mr. Formal, a local formalwear shop, has donated uniforms for all of the drivers to wear. The schedule of events for the festival is as follows: * Welcoming celebration from 12:30-5:30 pm Sunday, May 13 at Pioneer Courthouse. * Amala Peace Walk at noon Sunday, May 13. Starts at Lincoln High School and ends up at Pioneer Square in time to welcome the Dalai Lama. * "Generating a Good Heart and Awakening the Mind," 9311 am Monday and Tuesday, May 14-15 at University of Portland. This two-day teaching is sold out. * Educating the Heart Youth Summit, 3-4 pm Monday, May 14 at Memorial Coliseum. * A Human Approach to World Peace Community Luncheon, noon-1:30 pm Tuesday, May 15 at the Downtown Hilton Hotel. * "An Evening with the Dalai Lama," begins at 5:30 pm Tuesday, May 15 at Memorial Coliseum, sold out. For more information on activities, or to make a donation to the center or to cover expenses of the Dalai Lama's visit, contact Pathways to Peace at (503) 222-7172; www.nwtca.org -- AS Tour
de BRT The four-mile ride will stop at each planned bus station along the route, beginning at the northwest entrance to LTD's downtown bus station, traveling down Franklin Boulevard, and ending at LTD's downtown Springfield station. "LTD has proposed a downscaled and inadequate solution," says Rob Zako of FoE. "As currently proposed, it would damage neighborhoods and environmental quality, and it would fail to improve transit service. It's worse than no project at all." -- TJT
Jensen says border patrol and immigration officers were on alert in an effort to restrict participation in the protests. "Flying into Montreal, I caught the eye of one ambitious officer Preston," says Jensen. "I told him I was there on business and showed him my press pass. He wasn't impressed. He took my passport, wallet and plane ticket and searched every pouch and pocket of my luggage and photo equipment." Jensen says the officer found nothing unusual, but was still unconvinced. "He ran a search of my police record. What he returned with was not a record of offenses I have been convicted of, but everything I have ever been charged with. "He began to question me about a DWI I got back in 1977. I told Mr. Preston that really wasn't necessary, that I quit drinking years ago and haven't been arrested for anything in at least 15 years." Jensen says the officer persisted and shifted the questioning to some other charges that had been dropped. "He told me I would have to see a judge to be released, probably some time Friday. This was Tuesday." Jensen says Canadian immigration had his FBI file and he overheard one officer tell U.S. customs that he was an anarchist. "I may have been an anarchist back in '77 but wouldn't have known it. Today, anarchism wouldn't work for me," he says. With the help of an attorney, Jensen was released in time to make it to the demonstrations to photograph a city under siege. "The battle raged from Friday afternoon 'til late Friday night," says Jensen. "It resumed the next morning and continued through the massive police crackdown just before dawn Sunday morning." More than 400 people were arrested, he says.
The insert included reports of abortion and negative first-time sexual experiences; two articles condemning rape victims for having abortions; and a feature interview with supermodel Kim Alexis, who says, "Men, love your wives as you love yourselves, and women, submit to your husbands." The insert is currently circulating in college newspapers around the country. Emerald Advertising Director Becky Merchant says the ODE states in their advertising policy they reserve the right to accept or reject any advertising at any time, but so far the only controversial ad they've rejected was one negating the Holocaust. In the April 17 issue, the ODE ran a full-page ad arguing that the U.S. government should not grant African-Americans compensation for slavery and discrimination. "I was uncertain with the reparations ad, because I knew the reaction that it had gotten on other campuses," says Merchant. "I ended up satisfied after the debate we had with students & I was still uncomfortable because I knew I would be taking the calls, but I was glad to see the students say that they weren't going to stifle anyone's free speech." But the line between free speech and discrimination can be a narrow one. So how can the difference be measured? Merchant wonders herself. After the mild public response to the insertion of the "lovematters.com" supplement, she says, "Over the years I've anticipated having to field phone calls, and it almost worries me that there weren't very many responses, because I have to think, 'Are people not questioning anything anymore?'" --Quail Dawning A
Break in the Link On Tuesday, May 8, from 7 to 9:30 pm in the Churchill High School Cafeteria, youth, parents, teachers, city officials and anyone interested will gather to air their concerns in a facilitated setting. Process-oriented town meetings on racism and other topics have been held in the past, where those with differing viewpoints were free to express their opinions and be heard by those with different ideas. On the topic of school violence, it's hard to imagine anyone having an opposing view, but because the topic is so laden with emotion, says facilitator Gary Reiss, the meeting will offer an opportunity to let out some strong feelings. "So many young people come into the therapist's office frightened and this gives an opportunity to air those feelings," says Reiss. He adds that town meetings aren't just for controversial topics, but for larger ones, such as violence, that needs the cooperation of the entire community to heal it. "Any time a major problem is facing the community, it can come together and work on it," says Reiss. "Schools are doing a lot to address the issue but it's so huge that it's going to take more than schools." Reiss's research shows that in about 75 percent of school violence cases, a significant number of people knew it was coming. "Somehow the community isn't being able to act," he says. "There's a break in the link somewhere." School violence doesn't just mean shootings. Daily violence occurs in the form of verbal and physical harassment. Statistics show that 60 to 70 percent of school aged kids have felt harassed at school in the last six months. Often, violence in the home is carried over to schools. And teen suicide numbers are on the rise. "It takes a community to raise a child and to stop school violence," says Reiss. "Without making changes in the whole system, you can't really stop it." Two weeks after the May 8 Town Meeting, a follow-up meeting to focus on practical steps to take will be held with school personnel. -- AS
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Jim Boettcher