Free Republic

Neighbors call tactics in drug raid militaristic By REBECCA NOLAN The Register-Guard The sound of heavy machinery, exploding grenades and blaring announcements cracked the early morning silence. Neighbors looked out their windows Oct. 17 to see an armored truck rolling down the street. They saw at least 45 officers armed with shotguns and assault rifles entering a trio of houses, standing guard at alleyways and blocking traffic lanes. Officers wouldn't explain to startled residents what was going on. Police pulled four people - including a nude woman and another woman wearing only underpants and a T-shirt - from their beds...

November 30, 2002 Medical marijuana laws working well, report says By The Associated Press WASHINGTON - Law enforcement officials in four of the states that allow medical use of marijuana say the laws have had minimal impact on crimefighting, although they at times complicate prosecution of drug cases, a congressional report said Friday. The report by the General Accounting Office said that only a small fraction of the people in Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska used marijuana for medical purposes. The results in California, the fourth state studied, were limited to only four counties and no statewide data were available. Some...

Victim's son fights killer's release By REBECCA NOLAN The Register-Guard Randy Smith was 6 years old when his father, a Lane County sheriff's deputy, was gunned down during a traffic stop on Delta Highway. Now 43 and a police officer himself, Smith is fighting to keep one of his father's killers in prison. The Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision is considering whether to release Wilfred Marion Gray, now 68, from the state prison in Salem. He has lived within the confines of those stark walls since Dec. 16, 1965, the day he was sentenced in Lane County Circuit...

Portland considers nude dance restrictions 11/20/02 HENRY STERN Portland is looking at new zoning options for sexually oriented businesses after an Oregon Court of Appeals ruling that would allow local restrictions on nude dancers.The city appears to be the first local government in Oregon that's preparing its options in case the Oct. 30 Appeals Court ruling stands, according to officials with statewide municipal and county organizations. In that ruling, a divided Appeals Court said nude dancing is not protected expression under the Oregon Constitution. The case arose from an ordinance in the Eastern Oregon town of Nyssa that prohibited dancers...

Food labeling backers retrench By TIM CHRISTIE The Register-Guard Steven Druker, a leading activist against genetically modified foods, traveled to Oregon this fall to campaign for the state ballot measure that would have required labeling of such foods. But he now says the nature of the Measure 27 debate obscured the real issue: His contention that genetically modified foods pose unique health risks and are on the market in violation of federal law. "The issue of labeling is secondary," said Druker, executive director of the Alliance for Bio-Integrity, based in Iowa. "If the facts had been reported that the FDA's...

Police tie pair to two crimes in Tacoma By PEGGY ANDERSEN The Associated Press TACOMA - Two suspects charged in the rash of recent East Coast sniper attacks were linked by authorities Monday to the murder of a Tacoma woman last winter, and a shooting at a synagogue. Tacoma Police Chief David Brame said John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, are suspects in the killing of 21-year-old Keenya Cook. She was shot in the face Feb. 16 when she opened the door at the house where she lived. Brame said a man contacted the FBI last week...

Duped Dads Men Fight Centuries-Old Paternity Laws By Geraldine Sealey Oct. 2 — "Is it yours? If not, you still have to pay!" That statement, plastered on a New Jersey billboard above a picture of a visibly pregnant woman, is enough to make many male motorists slow down in rush hour traffic. Patrick McCarthy, president of New Jersey Citizens Against Paternity Fraud, the group sponsoring nine of these billboards across the state, says he's just trying to prevent the victimization of other men. Three years ago, McCarthy found out he was not the biological father of his then-15-year-old daughter. Though...

Girls attack Muni bus driver BY RICHARD BYRNE REILLY Of The Examiner Staff Six teenage girls upset that a Muni driver ordered them off the bus at the end of the route so he could take a break wound up attacking him and spraying him in the eyes with pepper spray. "It's a weird case for sure," said Officer Larry Bertrand, one of the first cops to respond to the scene in Potrero Hill. Driver Phillip Taylor was halfway through his shift Wednesday night when he decided to take a break at the end of the bus route, which is...