This is a KGW News special edition. Welcome
to a special edition of KGW New.
We begin tonight with controvery
surrounding Newport's mayor.
He's accused of posting homophoc
and racist memes in a Facebook group,
angering locals.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Blair Best. On Saturday,
more than 100 people protested outside City
Hall demanding Mayor Dean Sawyer resign.
Thomas Schultz joins us now in
Thomas What's the Latest Blair?
This all stems from reporting by
Oregon Public Broadcasting showg
racist meme Sawyer made in a pre
law enforcement Facebook group.
The post go all the way back to6
and now city councilors are joig
residences calls on Sawyer to resign.
I felt betrayed. Newport
City Councilor CM Hall joined
more than 100 Newport residents
outside City Hall Saturday.
Urging Mayor Dean Sawyer to res.
He has to go. He just has to go.
We can't let this stand.
Reporting from Oregon Public Broadcasting
revealed Sawyer posted racist,
sexist and homophobic memes in a private
law enforcement Facebook group for years.
When I saw the images, I was
sickened and disgusted. And hurt
city officials sent us dozens
of controversial Facebook
posts Sawyer made. What
these memes did was once again, target me,
target people who look like me.
Target my LGBTQ friends.
Target my trans friends.
On the Facebook group homepage,
it says you must show your law enforcement
ID badge to be admitted into the group.
The group has almost 40,000 members. This
is what's been going on in
all of our communities. Sawyer
didn't respond to repeated intew
requests, but he did tell OPB tt
the Post quote don't reflect whI
am and what I do on a daily bas.
They were stupid. They were juvenile.
But community members say Sawyer's response
isn't good enough. It's not an
apology. You can't continue
to post and post and post
in a socalled private.
39,000 member Facebook group
and and not believe those posts
In a statement, the Lincoln Couy
Board of Commissioners say theye
disturbed and saddened by the p,
Lincoln County Sheriff Curtis Landers wrote
in a Facebook post quote the Sheriff's
Office condemns any form of rac,
homophobia or discriminatory behavior,
Newport Police Chief Jason Malloy wrote.
Sawyer's post quote do not reflect the
views of the Newport Police Department.
Sawyer was a Newport police officer for 30
years before being elected mayor in 2018.
We can't live under a mayor,
our highest elected official in
our community, who harbors these
kinds of of belief systems.
I mean, this is who he is
now. City officials say they're tasked
with restoring faith in local government.
We have to clean up his mess, ae
have to rebuild the public's tr.
There will be a meeting at 4:00 o'clock
Monday afternoon for city councs
and residents to discuss the po.
Hall says she plans to urge Sawyer to resign.
So far, she says he's been adamt
that he will stay on as Mayor. r
Thomas, thank you.
Well, in Portland's gun violenc,
police are investigating a deady
crash as well as a shooting.
It happened last night by
SE 102nd in Washington.
Police say two cars crashed.
A passenger in one of them died.
One of the drivers was
also shot at some point.
It's not clear exactly how that happened,
but police say they believe the
shooting was not at the crash s.
No arrests so far,
and anyone with information
should contact Portland police.
Well, now to an update
on wildfires in Oregon.
Evacuation orders remain
surrounding the Boulder fire.
It started yesterday southeast of Mount
Hood near Boulder Lake Trailhea.
The latest estimate puts
it at about 100 acres.
Nearby campgrounds and recreatil
areas were evacuated yesterday.
The fire is burning in a heavily
forested area and on steep slop.
The Tunnel 5 fire,
burning on the Washington side f
the Columbia River in the Gorge,
is now 65% contained.
It's burned nearly 600 acres in
the past week near White Salmon.
As firefighters make progress,
evacuation orders in the area
have been downgraded.
They're now at a level one,
which means people in the area
should be ready to go if needed,
but they don't need to leave just yet.
Let's bring in meteorologist Joe Ranieri.
And Joe,
you're tracking fire weather
conditions across the state her.
Yeah, we don't have the the fire, you know,
any red flag warnings here in the metro area.
But you travel east a little bit
throughout parts of the Columbia River
Gorge and the red flag warning s
going to be up talking more about that
wildfire Blair that's burning at near
southeast or southeast of Mount Hood.
You can kind of see that smoke
and haze as we take a live look.
This is looking S to toward the
Three Sisters area and the Mount
Jefferson area throughout the Central
Oregon Cascades for the next co.
Couple of days throughout the mountains,
a slight chance see some thunderstorms
develop late tonight and into
tomorrow morning near government camp
and then heading into Tuesday ad
Wednesday is going to be sunny d
warm with kind of breezy condits
at times tonight and into tomor.
And that's why that fire danger is going
to be pretty strong throughout parts of the
Columbia River Gorge and near Mount Hood.
The smoke and haze the next couple of days,
again this is showing the ground level will
be really pushing off to the east side.
So if you're going to be spendig
any time maybe throughout the Et
End of the Columbia River Gorge,
that's where that smoke and haze will be.
Here the next couple of days ag,
that red flag warning is in
effect until tomorrow night.
Would also have a heat advisory
through parts of Hermiston and
throughout Eastern Oregon.
Daytime highs tomorrow could
be approaching 100 degrees.
I'll talk more about what we can
expect to see here locally overe
next few days in just a few min.
All right, Joe, thanks for that update.
Well to the Oregon coast now,
where the US Coast Guard had to
rescue a stranded man this week.
Officials say an 18 year old got stuck
on proposal rock near Nescawan Beach.
A helicopter crew was able to rh
him and he has minor injuries.
Crews also responded to a
second person from the shore.
They had reportedly gone into te
water to try and help the man.
Well, in national news,
nine people were shot in downton
Cleveland early this morning.
Police say the shooter fired
into a group and ran.
They have not been caught
and nobody was killed.
Police have not identified A sut
but are offering a $5000 reward.
Thank the Lord no one died from
last night's mass shooting.
But it was a tragic and sad day
and nonetheless and truly shows
the massive gun problem we have,
not just in Cleveland,
not just in Ohio,
but across this nation.
The victims are all between
23 and 28 years old.
Police haven't released information yet
on what may have prompted the shooting.
Well, President Biden landed in Europe today,
kicking off a five day trip.
He's starting the his.
He's starting his visit in Londn
and the president plans to meeth
King Charles the 3rd and will tn
head to the NATO summit in Lithuania.
Mr. Biden's final stop is in
Helsinki to celebrate Finland ae
newest member of NATO in Chicag.
One person is dead and more than
a dozen are hurt in a bus crash.
A wrong way driver slammed into
the bus head on this morning.
One passenger on the bus died.
The driver of the other car,
as well as another passenger,
are also in critical condition.
Police don't have information
yet on why the driver was going
in the wrong direction.