Letter to the Mayor - RESPONSE

Last week I sent out an email to the Mayor's office in which I nicely yet sternly asked for some answers that have been bugging me in terms of the vile protests that continue to bother sane people in Portland.
Here is the response I recieved just today:


Thank you for emailing Mayor Potter about the weekly Schumacher Furs protest. Mayor Potter has asked me to respond on his behalf.

The protesters have not been arrested because most of them have not broken the law. Most of the protesters are conducting themselves legally under State free speech laws, and it is not unlawful to demonstrate - nor it is unlawful to use foul language in public, distasteful as it may be. When police have observed the protesters breaking the law, the police do arrest them and the District Attorney has obtained convictions. The police are also monitoring each protest - sometimes explicitly, sometimes without the protesters' knowledge. It is pertinent to point out that employees of Schumachers have been reported to yell obscenities at the protesters and Mr. Schumacher himself at one time posted photographs of the protesters stating that "All Protesters Should Be Beaten, Strangled, Skinned Alive, Anally Electrocuted." You can read more about Schumacher's approach to the protesters here: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=37673&category=22101 - but the important point is that we believe these tactics have served to embolden the protesters and strengthen their resolve, rather than discourage them. If they had not been engaged in this way, it is likely that the protests should have abated by now (note: Schumacher's is the only retail business that sells furs that receives weekly protests).

Representatives from our office (including myself), other members of City Council, the Portland Police, and the Portland Business Alliance have all provided advice to Mr. Schumacher to abate the protests. He has recently complied with many of the suggestions made. Our police officers will continue to monitor the protests and make arrests when appropriate.

Thank you, again, for your concern.

Sincerely,
Jeremy Van Keuren, Public Advocate
Office of Mayor Tom Potter
Portland, Oregon
503-823-4125
jvankeuren@ci.portland.or.us

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now, I know what some of you are probably saying out there: "It's one thing to criticize the protestors and use my trademark wit and verbage on them...but I wouldn't DARE use the same tactics on the MAYOR OF PORTLAND...would I?"

In the words of one of my favorite former WWF wrestlers:
HELL YEAH!!!

Ok, first, I must say I'm actually suprised to get something outside of the automated replies I usually got when I was emailing PETA. It's nice to get something that ISN'T as fake as the normal crap.
Now, having gotten that out of the way, here is my PUBLIC response (and yes, there is a link to my blog on ALL my emails. I make NO attempts to hide what I'm saying and I never censor my thoughts in order to be less offensive to those who may be reading my thoughts, isn't that right Ricky Retard?)

Ok, first this "protesters have not been arrested because most of them have not broken the law. Most of the protesters are conducting themselves legally under State free speech laws, and it is not unlawful to demonstrate - nor it is unlawful to use foul language in public, distasteful as it may be" So this means as long as you are PROTESTING, a woman can walk around WITHOUT A SHIRT ON, you can display signs of animals supposedly being tortured and a general pain in the ass because you have that right.
You can also get in the faces of anyone who happens to disagree with you, you can scream in their face and call them all sorts of names as long as you are PROTESTING.
HOWEVER, if you are being shouted at, you are NOT allowed to simply puch the screaming veg-freak out of your path or YOU will be arrested.

NEXT!
"It is pertinent to point out that employees of Schumachers have been reported to yell obscenities at the protesters "
I've stopped by this store MANY times in the past months and have NEVER seen this happen. WHEN has this happened? I'm sure it has, I wouldn't blame Gregg or Linda or any of their employees for wanting to tell these foul mouthed cretins what they think. But the fact is and this Jeremy Van Keuren, Public Advocate guy has admitted there is NO SOLID PROOF of this happening. he says "employees of Schumachers have been reported" There is miles of footage of the protesters screaming vile things at people who arent even customers but just happen to be walking by! And what about the crap written on the sidewalks? Do I need to put together a collection of just the few I've collected? It's one thing to call names, Mr. Van Keuren, but to WRITE on the sidewalk that someone 'tortures their pets' and are 'murderers' is something more than just nothing.
And I know for a fact these people HAVE broken the laws, FEDERAL laws, and Mr. Matty Rossell has a recored for this sort of crap.

NEXT!
"...and Mr. Schumacher himself at one time posted photographs of the protesters stating that "All Protesters Should Be Beaten, Strangled, Skinned Alive, Anally Electrocuted." So what? You say it's alright for these people to scream, swear and insult anyone they want! It's not breaking any laws. So, what, Mr. Schumacher isn't allowed to make a simple joke? What about the picture of the protester dropping trou and mooning the store? Or was that just an enlarged copy of Matt Rossell's high school picture? Like it matters, they are both full of the same thing.
I've never seen this sign but I have to admit I love it. If I can get a copy of it maybe I'll post it here and ask my readers if after being on the recieving end of all this bullshit for almost a year, would you not want to do something just like that? Hell yes you would and I wouldn't blame you!
Mr. Schumacher also puts up a sign every Saturday advertising his PROTEST SALE. Is there a problem with that? It's say it's much better than the people out front who wear shirts saying "I (heart) Hunting Accidents"
I firmly believe the only accidents here are the ones protesting and I'm not talking hunting accidents. Daddy should have pulled out.

NEXT!
"can read more about Schumacher's approach to the protesters here: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=37673&category=22101 "
The Portland Mercury is one of those worthless left-leaning tabloid rags that is more interested in stroking their own ego than reporting anything of use to anyone. That is if you can find an article buried deep in the millions of advertisments they have.

NEXT!
"...but the important point is that we believe these tactics have served to embolden the protesters and strengthen their resolve, rather than discourage them. If they had not been engaged in this way, it is likely that the protests should have abated by now"
If they had not stood up for themselves who would have? Sure as hell not the City of Portland! So they put up a sign or 2, I know of no more than 2 signs now and that is nothing compared to the crap they get thrown at them every Saturday. These protests won't abate, they will only get worse until YOU, the city, stand up and tell them enough, they made their point now shut up OR the Schumacher's give in and let these kooks win. I don't see either thing happening soon so I guess the City will just have to deal with future letters and Mr. Potter is going to have to deal with many voters going against him next time around.

NEXT!
"(note: Schumacher's is the only retail business that sells furs that receives weekly protests)."
Note: You obviously aren't paying attention. All you need to do is look at their sad little website and you'll see this:
"Lots of literature and posters are available from the IDA office so if you’d like to visit Schumacher’s or any of the fur stores in Portland (i.e. Meier & Frank, Nordstrom’s, Nicholas Ungar Furs, Saks 5th Avenue) on your own or with a friend anytime you can, just let us know (call 503-249-9996) and we’ll set you up! Every minute we’re out there makes a difference. A limited number of bloody fur coats and animal costumes are available."

It may be the only one they are terrorizing now but they aren't the only target of these nutjobs. That's all I need to say about that. This guy obviously isn't into research like I am and I'm hardly putting effort into finding out about these nuts.

NEXT!
"Representatives from our office (including myself), other members of City Council, the Portland Police, and the Portland Business Alliance have all provided advice to Mr. Schumacher to abate the protests." closing on Saturday? Moving out of downtown Portland? Removing all references to FUR from the window of a FURSTORE? These are some of the suggestions I've heard. THEY ARE STUPID.

NEXT!
"Thank you, again, for your concern."
Yeah, it's nice to know the city takes time to reply to emails. It really is, like I said I'm suprised about this and kudos for the response I know they are busy up there coming up with new ways to tax the people and protect the terrorists. THIS IS MY CONCERN, this is my way of telling you people in City Hall that I'm sick of this and you need to to something about it!

Perhaps it needs to be handled by THE PEOPLE.

UGH