Skip to main contentHere at the giant, flaming, all-seeing eye known as the Rogue Desk, there was no shortage of halflings upon whom to affix our searing gaze this year.
There was the Irish radio host who suffered acute kidney failure in July after WW questioned her accent's authenticity. There was the omnipresent phone company unable to stop a flood of junk mail to reader Karen Stolzberg (though last month's inquiry's from WW stemmed the tide somewhat). And of course, there was the easy target of our professional (technically) basketball squad (see page 14). There was also a bunch of dense stuff about the Legislature and utilities that you probably skimmed. Without further ado, here are our top rogues of '03:
5. Gary Shafer (March 12)
It's one thing to support our troops, but quite another to go berserk on a bunch of peaceniks. When about 20 students at the University of Portland staged an impromptu demonstration on campus in March with drums and homemade banners, campus cop Gary Shafer went nuts, yelling at the students to "shut up" and wrestling away their drumsticks. The kicker was the set of photos taken by alert student Molly Malone depicting an enraged Shafer struggling with a student to stuff a banner into a garbage can. Shafer was later fired.
4. ACORN (Nov. 12)
Thanks to the "voter advocacy" efforts of this community action crew, a group of Portlanders large enough to populate a small town didn't get to vote in the November elections. ACORN reps turned in the 2,040 completed voter registration cards they had gathered well after the county's deadline, forcing the would-be voters to warm the electoral bench.
3. Comcast (May 7)
What's the best way to form and exploit a monopoly? Ask cable goliath Comcast, which issued the following ultimatum to customers just six months after buying out AT&T Broadband to become the only cable Internet provider in Portland: Buy cable television from us or we jack your monthly Internet bill by $10. They call it a "loyal customer" perk for people who buy both.
2. Jammin 95.5 (Feb. 26, April 30, May 21)
Three Rogue nominations in four months...we thought it was an unattainable goal, but the Playhouse crew at Jammin brought roguery to new levels in 2003. First, they interviewed a mentally disabled woman at a bus stop, making fun of her in the cruelest ways imaginable. Next, they brought a fan they call "Special Jen" to a strip club and egged her into dropping her pants. Finally, they posted pictures of a man being decapitated in a sex act on their website, which attracts plenty of teenage traffic.
1. The Laurelhurst dog killer (July 16)
The Rogue Desk has no idea what possessed someone to plant poisoned dog treats all over Laurelhurst Park. We don't have a clue how killing 14 dogs (including Tess, WW production manager Shawna McKeown's 6-year-old Labrador) could be motivated by anything other than evil. But we do know this: If cops ever find the killer, we hope he or she has body armor or a passport to Turkmenistan, because there is a city full of dog lovers waiting with bared teeth.
WWeek 2015