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SHERIFFS TELL PAROLE BOARD OF MORE ROBERT KING CRIMES: Robert King, a man convicted of the contract killing of a Lake Oswego woman in 1984—and a string of other crimes in Washington—is up for parole. After the state parole board ruled King rehabilitated, WW published a cover story outlining King’s crimes and the board’s rationale (“The Redemption of Robert King,” Jan. 11). On Feb. 16, the board will conduct a final hearing to determine if King is safe to release. This time, it’ll have new evidence, including a pair of letters submitted last month to the board from two sheriffs in Etowah County, Ala., where King grew up and his family continues to live. “I sternly believe he is a danger to society,” writes Sheriff Jonathon Horton, who says he’s a “longtime friend” of the King family. “Bobby’s family members do not want him here,” he explains. Former Sheriff Todd Entrekin gives a reason why. “Late in the year of 1996 or the early part of 1997, Robert ‘Bobby’ Haden King, Jr., sent a man to Etowah County to kill both his brother and father, causing the King family to live in constant fear,” he wrote. King was not prosecuted. His brother “refused to cooperate for fear of what Bobby would do to him,” Entrekin continues. King previously told the parole board that he would move in with his brother in Alabama when released. Lacking family support, he’s now offering the board more options, including staying in Multnomah County through the Central City Concern’s employment recovery program or moving to Tennessee to live with a longtime friend.
STALKING CASE BECOMES WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUIT: A civil stalking lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court took a tragic turn last week. Neither party in the lawsuit could appear for a routine hearing Feb. 6. That’s because the plaintiff is dead and the defendant is in jail, charged with his murder. WW has been following the case since September, when Kenneth Fandrich, 56, filed a $245,000 lawsuit against Steve Milner, 55, accusing him of stalking the Fandrich family for years following an affair between Milner and his wife—and saying police did little to stop it. On Jan. 31, Fandrich was found dead in his car in a parking garage on the Intel campus where he worked as a contractor. He was killed by “blunt trauma to the neck,” according to legal documents. Milner was arrested by Hillsboro police and charged with Fandrich’s murder. Meanwhile, the civil litigation continues. Fandrich’s attorney, Mike Fuller, and Grant Yoakum, the representative for his estate, have filed a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit and are on the hunt for Milner’s assets. Milner, a retired veterinary surgeon, owns an Oregon City animal hospital—and, it turns out, a pot farm. An LLC he controls filed an application to grow weed in Beavercreek. The P.O. box listed is the same as the one advertised on the website of Excolo Farms, which claims to be an Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission-licensed “Tier II Indoor Production Facility” producing “20-30 pounds of flower per month.” Milner’s business partner in the venture, David Wiek, declined to comment. Fuller tells WW that neighbors saw crime scene investigators out at the farm last week.
HOUSE DEMS SEEK STATEWIDE FLAVORED TOBACCO BAN: Oregon House Democrats are pushing a ban on sales of flavored tobacco products, taking a county fight to the state level after a circuit court judge blocked Washington County’s prohibition on the sales and opponents vowed to fight Multnomah County on the same grounds. House Bill 3090 would ban the sale of flavored vapes, chewing tobacco and menthol cigarettes. Supporters say their main target is vapes that come in flavors like Cotton Candy and Orange Soda that appeal to underage users. “Ending the sale of flavored tobacco and nicotine will protect kids from the evil genius of hiding the tarry, noxious taste of ignited tobacco,” says state Rep. Lisa Reynolds (D-Bethany), the bill’s chief sponsor. Richard Burke, executive director of lobbying group 21+ Tobacco and Vapor Retail Association of Oregon, railed against the bill, saying it would push flavored tobacco products into illegal, underground markets, where they could incite turf battles among rival gangs selling sketchy products. “We’re going to cede the market to criminals and social predators,” Burke said in an interview. “The products on the street are going to be far more dangerous. If I was a black marketeer, I would love this bill.”
PORTLAND BOY SCOUT DOCUMENTARY WINS AWARD: The Portland documentary film Leave No Trace won a duPont-Columbia Award on Feb. 6. The awards are given annually at Columbia University to recognize the best “audio and video reporting, in broadcast, documentary and online.” The film, which explores the hidden history of the Boy Scouts of America and BSA’s descent into bankruptcy because of sexual abuse, was directed by Portlander Irene Taylor and co-produced by Taylor, WW reporter Nigel Jaquiss, and Portlander Emily Singer Chapman. The film draws heavily on a groundbreaking lawsuit the Portland firm Crew Janci LLP won against the Scouts in 2010 in Multnomah County Circuit Court. That case led to the Oregon Supreme Court ordering the release of thousands of secret files detailing decades of sexual abuse in the Scouts. “The Oregon Supreme Court believed in transparency and has done more than the U.S. Congress to bring the BSA to task,” Taylor says. “I am gratified that survivors who appeared in the film traveled from around the country to join us in receiving this award.”
