3 Students Shot Near Portland, OR High School.

Yep. Crime might be slightly more in some of the outlying areas but even then, it's still really not that much. If I told you how many police officers were on duty at night in this part of the metro area (as a hint it's a lot less than 10), I'm not sure whether you'd laugh, cry or be horrified. That kind of temperate nature, however, also makes this and what the others have done so bloody shocking. Then again, having a low crime city that has a problem with a shooting isn't unprecedented. Newton was that way, too, but unlike Newton, our population is much bigger. That means, statistically speaking, we have more people that might fly off the handle and shoot into crowds.




Oh we still have our moments. Back in 2011, about 10,000 people took to the streets for Occupy. A month or so later, it was like any other city in terms of response. My city botched it just as much as the others in terms of Occupy. Oddly enough though, the protests here about the indictments and etc have gone very smoothly. Minimal arrests (pepper spray was used), no tear gas, and no rubber bullets. The mayor, Charlie Hales, has actually been doing very good in his response to the protesting and, in turn, the protests here have been pretty darn peaceful. Funny how that works, eh?

www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/12/mayor_charlie_hales_says_fergu.html#incart_story_package

We're far from perfect though and maybe Hale's response is because we already had protesters descend on City Hall with torches and pitchforks. Yeah, they really were armed with torches and pitchforks. See here:

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/14/portland-homelessness-illegal_n_4790205.html

Portland is weird and Portlanders like to keep it that way. Heck, our water isn't even fluoridated. It's not perfect and like you, I go a little bonkers with some of what I see and I plunk right in the political middle. I'm sure though, you'd be entertained as there is always something peculiar to consider in Portland. lol...