Willamette Week, May 31, 2023 - Volume 49, Issue 29 - "The Good Doctor"

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WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 49, ISSUE 29

Sometimes the Willamette River flows north to south. 4

Multnomah County is reluctant to sanction criminal background checks on the residents of pod villages. 8

Pok Pok gave its last chicken wings to a ghost kitchen. 9

Oregon cannabis regulators invented a new standard for La Mota 10

A close friend of the fire chief allegedly mocked employees sharing their pronouns 12

Commissioner Rene Gonzalez says Portland Street Response has been infiltrated by police abolitionists 13

Kenny Fandrich claimed he was being stalked by the nicest man in town. 15

Prosecutors say Steven Milner bought tinted safety glasses

at Home Depot as a disguise. 18

Patrons of The Sounds of Afrolitical Movement can participate in a second line through the King neighborhood. 21

Kids in Willamina are getting free books thanks to Dolly Parton 21

Janken’s Pineapple Express is served in a smoke-filled cloche. 22

RingSide’s fancy pandemic parking lot patio is back for summer. 23

Need to call Mom? Smoke some Garlic Drip to get in a chatty mood first. 24

The age of sci-fi roadhouse music has arrived. 25

Sheep won’t save us from social media. 26

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There are garden-variety defeats, and then there are losses that linger in the memory. The Warriors blew a 3-1 lead. The Atlanta Falcons led the Super Bowl 28-3. And Measure 26-238, intended to tax capital gains to fund lawyers for tenants facing eviction, was rejected by 4 out of every 5 voters. That 80-20 defeat was the worst in 30 years of local ballot measures in Multnomah County, WW reported last week (“Dead on Arrival,” May 24). Here’s what our readers had to say:

GYMRAT, VIA WWEEK.COM: “I didn’t vote against this because I’m against any new taxes. I voted against it because of the

THE DEPROGRAMMER, VIA WWEEK.COM: “It was a badly drafted, ill-conceived proposition to transfer money from taxpayers to lawyers representing , we need to feel that our tax dollars will be spent wisely and will make a real impact on the problems they’re addressing. This result suggests that the majority have lost this confidence and judging by the tents and garbage littered all over the city, can you really

mistaken for a lack of empathy for homelessness or a disregard for social issues. Rather, it is a cry for a more reasoned, balanced approach to taxation and for the government to exercise fiscal responsibility. Evidently, it is also a reaction against perceived overreach into the pockets of taxpayers without the requisite accountability and efficiency in public expenditure.

Moreover, contrary to the assertions of the Eviction Representation for All campaign, this resounding “no” vote cannot simply be interpreted as a rejection of the proposed funding mechanism alone. Instead, it should be seen as a demand for the county to reevaluate its existing expenditure and to fund such initiatives through better budget management and spending efficiency.

Multnomah County, expressing ongoing, seemingly relentless tax hikes, coupled with a lack of accountability among our public WW, May 24]. The defeat of Measure wasn’t just a defeat of one ballot from taxpayers who are tired of bearing the burden of seemingly

As a voter, I implore our public officials to seriously consider this feedback from the electorate. Our rejection of excessive taxation should serve as an opportunity for introspection and change. A balanced and fair tax system, together with accountability and transparency in government expenditure, is not too much to ask for. Keep writing these stories. The tax base will continue to shrink as concerned voters are left with few options other than to leave.

David Newson

Northwest Portland

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words.

Submit to: P.O. Box 10770, Portland, OR 97296

Email: mzusman@wweek.com

telling you he’s a party animal because sometimes, when nobody’s home, he eats breakfast cereal for dinner.

y case, there are lots of reasons the river rises and falls. The most consequential is precipitation. The connection between long periods of heavy rain in the Portland area and a swelling Willamette is obvious (one hopes) to everyone, but it might not immediately occur to us that some of those “random” increases in flow could be the result of rain or snow farther upstream that never reached the Rose City.

weird? And does anything reverse its flow?

There is a pervasive belief among stupid people that all rivers (or most rivers, or most rivers in the Northern Hemisphere, or most American rivers—it depends on how stupid we’re talking about) flow north to south. A majority of American rivers do flow southward, but that’s just because rivers empty into oceans, and the U.S. has no ocean to its immediate north. (Unless you count Canada, ay, the Willamette is unlike other rivers. I suppose there’s a sense in which that makes us weird, but come on: If we can’t find better examples of Portland weirdness than the slightly unusual direction of our river, we should just hang it up and be Irvine. It’s like Mitt Romney

casionally the shadowy figures who control the river’s various dams will, for their own inscrutable reasons, release or withhold some extra water. This also affects the river’s level (call it the river’s “stage” if you want to sound like you know what you’re talking about), though not as much as precipitation.

Finally, even though Portland is some 85 miles inland of the Pacific, the tides cause a roughly 2-foot rise and fall in the Willamette’s level every day—though it would be a stretch to call the effect random. And even better for your final question (at which a lesser knowitologist than I might have sneered), when the river is low, this tidal push actually can, briefly, cause the current in the Portland-area Willamette to run gently north to south, making Portland—if only for a moment—normal.

Questions? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.

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Blais

SENATOR INTRODUCES ANTI-MOONLIGHTING

BILL: In the wake of Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s abrupt resignation earlier this month after WW revealed her $10,000-a-month consulting contract with an affiliate of the troubled cannabis company La Mota, state Sen. Mark Meek (D-Gladstone) introduced a bill May 31 that would remove similar temptation in the future. Senate Bill 1103 would make it illegal for any statewide elected official to work as a contractor, employee or controlling owner of an outside business while in office. The bill comes late in a session in which absent Senate Republicans make it likely that legislation still in the upper chamber will die due to a lack of quorum. But Meek says he felt strongly that he needed to make a point: “Top elected leaders should be 100% focused on working for the people—not outside special interests. Oregonians across the state deserve a government that is transparent, ethical, and responsive to their needs. SB 1103 delivers on that promise.”

TIRE PILE OWNER BLAMES ARSONIST FOR RUBBER FIRE: Chandos Mahon, the recycled-tire magnate whose three-story heap of shredded rubber has burst into flames three times in less than a week, says the blaze was caused by arson. The pile, at an old grain elevator just north of the Steel Bridge on the Willamette River, originally ignited May 25. “We experienced an unfortunate incident at our rubber export facility where a fire was deliberately started,” Mahon said in an email. Hot spots that survived Portland Fire & Rescue’s hoses likely reignited Monday and again Tuesday, which isn’t unusual for piles of perfect fuel like shredded tires, says fire bureau spokesman Rick Graves. But the bureau isn’t ready to call it arson just yet. The matter is under investigation, Graves says. Pressed for evidence that someone struck a match to the pile, Mahon didn’t reply to an email. Mahon owns the grain terminal with Beau Blixseth, son of Tim Blixseth, one of Oregon’s most notorious timber barons and founder of the Yellowstone Club, a private ski area in Montana (“Rubber Room,” WW, July 27, 2022). The two partners ship shredded tires by ship to Asia, where, ironically, they are burned as fuel.

ALBERTA ROSE THEATRE

OVERNIGHT

HOTLINE FAILS TO USE ONE-TIME

DOLLARS: The city of Portland’s 311 program helps route non-emergency calls made by Portlanders to various city services that aren’t related to police or fire. In recent years, the City Council has aimed to offload a higher number of non-emergency calls to the program to lessen the burden on 911 call-takers. Last year, the city allocated $521,000 in one-time dollars to staff an overnight shift at 311 for two years. But to date, the program hasn’t staffed the shift and has spent none of those dollars. In budget documents, the program cited “hiring difficulties,” a common problem, and offered a more startling excuse: “the need to manage public expectations regarding a service that may be discontinued after one year.” Office of Management & Finance spokeswoman Carrie Belding says the city doesn’t want to set “an expectation that [Portlanders] would reach a live-answer staff person overnight, and then discontinue overnight service and transfer many callers back to [the non-emergency] line.”

UFCW SEEDS HOLVEY RECALL: Most recall efforts in Oregon politics fail, in part because they often lack funding and organization. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 lacks neither. Oregon’s largest private sector union, with more than 30,000 members, UFCW can mobilize large numbers of people and write big checks. It announced in late May it would attempt to recall state Rep. Paul Holvey (D-Eugene), one of the state’s longest-serving lawmakers and strongest labor voices. The union is angry at Holvey, a former carpenters’ union official who chairs the House Business and Labor Committee, for allowing UFCW’s top priority this session to die in committee: House Bill 3183 would have facilitated unionization in the cannabis industry. UFCW has now committed $100,000 to fund signature gathering for Holvey’s recall. Holvey says UFCW is wasting it’s resources: “It’s quite surprising that UFCW Local 555 would take such retaliatory action over a bill that failed, especially a bill that most people with knowledge of labor law would agree is preempted by the National Labor Relations Act and federal law.”

7/20

•••••

WATERFRONT TIRE PILE FIRE

Handshake Deals

Good faith agreements for two safe rest villages are stalled over one thing: background checks.

BY JAKE MOORE jake@wweek.com

The city of Portland began operating its first safe rest village in Multnomah Village last summer. Four additional villages have since opened across the city.

Yet not one of them has finalized a good neighbor agreement. That’s a document signed by several parties—in this case the neighborhood association and other affected parties, the city, and the contractor overseeing the village—to establish mutual expectations. The agreement isn’t binding, but the document signals a good faith agreement that parties will come to the table if issues arise.

Before the first village opened, the city received strong pushback from neighborhoods where it aimed to build pod villages. A patch-

TRENDING

work of neighborhood associations made demands that the city implement various measures before opening the villages: conduct background checks, enforce no-camping rules around the perimeter, and require that site operators maintain the area around their site. The more amped neighbors feared the villages might attract drug use, violence, more tents and potentially even predators.

A year later, those fears haven’t come to pass, most neighbors will admit.

But one sticking point in particular is holding up two of the agreements: background checks of people wanting to stay at the villages. And the parties that won’t agree to such checks, neighbors say, are the Joint Office of Homeless Services and Multnomah County, which have historically opposed instituting any measure

Cover Your Assets

Portland and Oregon cops are seizing less property in busts.

Under Oregon law, cops may not only seize contraband and proceeds from a drug bust—but also the vehicle or real estate used to commit the crime.

The idea of civil forfeiture is to discourage drug trafficking and funnel profit from the illegal commerce into more worthy causes. Around half goes back to law enforcement agencies and the rest isused to fund college tuition for cops’ kids, diversion courts, and early childhood education. But critics have long lamented the practice. The American Civil Liberties Union accuses police of “making seizures motivated by profit rather than crime-fighting.”

The money adds up. In 2019, seizures brought in nearly $4 million

they perceive as a barrier for people living on the streets seeking help.

Bodo Heiliger, head of school at the International School of Portland, which is party to negotiations for a village downtown, says he would like the background checks to identify the most extreme felonies and crimes in order to protect the surrounding neighborhood.

“ We wanted to make sure that not only our community was safe, but also those in the village and surrounding,” Heiliger says.

The agreements in limbo are a signal that the county and city are still at odds over a basic tenet of sheltering Portland’s homeless population: Should there be any barriers to entry, or will such barriers mean those who need help the most won’t get it?

“Generally speaking, higher-barrier approaches to shelter can work when they’re part of the program model, like a recovery or sobriety shelter. But safe rest villages are designed as low-barrier shelters, and they’ve been able to directly accommodate people relocated from camp cleanups with a more immediate and services-focused option,” Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson tells WW. “To serve that population, targeted background checks would not be practical as a screening tool for entry.”

Below is the status of good neighbor agreements at the four villages currently in negotiations.

1. MULTNOMAH VILLAGE

This village was the first to open under the city’s model, in June 2022. Moses Ross, chair of the Multnomah Neighborhood Association, says it submitted what it hoped would be the final draft of an agreement to City Commissioner Dan Ryan’s office in the fall. Ryan’s office subsequently forwarded the document to Multnomah County to be signed.

Ross says his group has since had no updates from the county, leaving the agreement in limbo. The snagging point? Background checks.

“The SRV team was willing to work with us on that, but the sign-off on that high-barrier,

in Oregon. But it’s been dwindling since. By last year, it had fallen to $600,000, although that number may rise as law enforcement agencies submit updated data to the state.

Portland is no exception to the trend. In 2019, the Portland Police Bureau seized assets in 74 cases. Last year, the count was four.

And it’s not just COVID to blame, says the state Asset Forfeiture Oversight Advisory Committee, which publishes annual statistics highlighting the scope of the practice. Its 2022 report noting the drop came out in April, and pinned it partly on “various case law and statutory changes.”

Research director Kelly Officer of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission notes another possible cause: “We’ve seen a drop in drug crime prison intake cases starting with the onset of COVID.”

The committee has explicitly cited two case law changes in its recent annual reports. One is a 2019 decision by the Oregon Supreme Court, which ruled that a Beaverton police officer broke the rules by asking a driver during a traffic stop if he was carrying drugs.

A second was a 2019 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court noting that large forfeitures could be in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits “excessive fines” imposed as criminal punishment.

“ Forfeitures in Oregon that are disproportionate or excessive run the risk of being declared unconstitutional,” the committee noted in 2020. LUCAS MANFIELD.

low-barrier issue has to come from the Joint Office of Homeless Services,” Ross says.

2. QUEER AFFINITY

The Queer Affinity village along Southwest Naito Parkway lies near two schools: the International School of Portland and Bridges Middle School. Those schools pushed back ferociously prior to the village’s opening, but have since said it’s been without problems.

Much like the Multnomah Village, the sticking point for a good neighbor agreement has been background checks. Heiliger says the talks have stalled over the issue.

“All parties, apart from the county, have agreed to the terms,” Heiliger said. “We’ve been in agreement since I think the start of the school year.”

3. MENLO PARK

The Menlo Park village in East Portland’s Hazelwood neighborhood opened last fall, and its good neighbor agreement negotiations continue. Neighborhood association chair Arlene Kimura says the main sticking point has been who is responsible for the area surrounding the village.

“ When you are a homeowner, you are not responsible just for the building, but for the grounds and the street in front of your house and the sidewalk,” Kimura says. “That same set of duties should bound whoever the service provider is.”

Cultivate Initiatives says it is already helping keep the area clean and safe, but doesn’t want responsibility for everything that goes on outside its gates.

4. PENINSULA PARK

The recently opened Peninsula Park village in North Portland is currently in talks with the county, city and neighbors to craft a good neighbor agreement.

Thomas Karwaki, chair of the neighborhood association, hopes they’ll settle on one quickly. That’s because the neighbors are not asking for background checks.

OREGON FORFEITURE SEIZURES

YEAR TOTAL

2022 $606,165.00

2021 $1,058,368.00

2020 $1,730,581.00

2019 $3,621,101.00

NEW NEIGHBORS: Peninsula Park Safe Rest Village.

Source: Oregon Criminal Justice Commission

Broken Wing

A landmark restaurant spot still isn’t cooking.

HOUSE BILL 3086

Many Oregonians would agree that the state’s natural resources, including its streams, rivers and wildlife habitat, are among its greatest treasures. But there is sharp disagreement over whose vision for those resources should take precedence.

It’s a battle that erupted in the 1990s, when environmental policy shifted to favor habitat over harvest in Oregon’s forests, and it has only intensified as the state’s population has grown, mostly in urban and suburban areas. One of the places that opposing views come into conflict is the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, whose mission is “protecting and enhancing Oregon’s fish and wildlife, and the habitats they use.”

Current state law calls for the governor to appoint a seven-member commission: one at-large member from either side of the Cascades and one from each of the state’s congressional districts. Because redistricting in 2020 added a sixth congressional seat, the statute must be updated. Rather than giving a seat on the commission to the new district, a group of mostly rural lawmakers proposed a new basis for selection that would shift control away from the Willamette Valley.

CHIEF SPONSORS: Reps. Bobby Levy (R-Echo), Emerson Levy (D-Bend), Annessa Hartman (D-Gladstone) and Mark Owens (R-Crane), and Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Athena)

WHAT IT WOULD DO: Change the selection basis from congressional districts to “each of five regional river basin management areas in the state.” The governor would still select one member each from east and west of the Cascades. The change goes at the question of whether the state’s land, water and wildlife belong to all Oregonians or to the people in the areas where those resources are located.

ADDRESS: 3232 SE Division St.

YEARS BUILT: 1904

SQUARE FOOTAGE: 2,620 (two buildings)

MARKET VALUE: $1.78 million (two properties)

OWNER: 32 Division LLC, 3226 Division LLC

HOW LONG IT’S BEEN EMPTY: About 3 years

WHY IT’S EMPTY: COVID and the end of an empire

Prior to the pandemic, there were few better-known restaurants in Portland than Pok Pok, which, from its opening in 2005, popularized a brand of authentic Northern Thai food that won critical raves and, for a time, served as the base of an empire.

Chef-owner Andy Ricker expanded Pok Pok to six Portland locations and opened outposts in Brooklyn, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Ricker picked up a Michelin star, a James Beard Award and the adoration of critics along the way. He became a food-industry celebrity: A New York Times reporter followed him around Thailand, and WW put him on its cover (“Thai Hard,” Jan. 31, 2012).

Perhaps most famous for his fish-sauce chicken wings, Ricker won consistent praise for his insistence on deviating from standards. The New Yorker called his catfish stewed with fermented turmeric “so satisfyingly complete you could eat it every day.”

Ricker had begun closing Pok Pok locations before COVID-19 arrived—but the virus was the final stroke. After a brief foray into a delivery-only model, he closed up shop in June 2020. The ghost-kitchen company Reef took over the leases of Pok Pok’s two commissary kitchens and cut a deal to sell the chain’s remaining chicken wings and give the proceeds to charity. “Which they did, eventually,” Ricker tells WW

Although it helped define Division Street as a restaurant destination for locals and tourists alike, the original Pok Pok property, a shambolic mashup of two single-family homes in the heart of the street’s most popular stretch, has stood empty since June 2020, even as nearby restaurants,

bars and shops long ago roared back to life.

A little more than two years ago, on April 26, 2021, two limited liability companies, 32 Division LLC and 3226 Division LLC, managed by Sam Wampler, bought the two adjacent properties from Ricker for a combined $1.93 million.

Wampler says he spent about a year coming up with a plan for the properties, then eight months in the city permitting process. His hope for the property: a new food cart pod that would comprise 12 carts. “Parts of the existing houses would stay, and we plan to have more amenities than you would typically see,” Wampler says. (Ricker, the former owner, has moved to Thailand, he adds, and has no involvement in the project.)

Although he’s now finished with permitting, Wampler says it could be another year before he’s ready to welcome customers. “I haven’t done anything like this before,” he says, “so things are still a little up in the air.”

NIGEL JAQUISS.

Sophie Peel contributed reporting to this story. Every week, WW examines one mysteriously vacant property in the city of Portland, explains why it’s empty, and considers what might arrive there next. Send addresses to newstips@wweek.com.

PROBLEM IT SEEKS TO SOLVE: At the ODFW commission, critics from rural Oregon have regularly clashed with environmentalists over such issues as protecting marbled murrelets (a threatened seabird), coyote-killing contests, whether to allow sport hunting of wolves, and the prioritization of water over agriculture for wild fish habitat.

WHO SUPPORTS IT: A coalition of 25 organizations, including the Oregon Forest Industries Council, the Oregon Farm Bureau, the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, the Oregon Hunters Association, as well as the Eastern Oregon Counties Association. Those groups and other supporters don’t like representation by congressional district because those districts are drawn up by population, vesting most of the seats in the metro area and Willamette Valley where most of the state’s population resides. (Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District, in contrast, includes about two-thirds of the state’s land area but only about one-sixth of its population.)

In a joint letter to lawmakers, the bill’s supporters wrote that appointment by congressional district leaves “two-thirds of the state underrepresented within the commission structure yet containing a large portion of the state’s most necessary and impactful habitat and wildlife.”

WHO OPPOSES IT: A group of 16 conservation groups, including Oregon Wild and the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, say the bill “represents a concerning move away from proportional representation on state boards and commissions and toward politically motivated models that prioritize land and industry representation.” Many other state commissions rely on appointment by congressional district. “The congressional district model was instituted to ensure the public interest would, in fact, be represented equitably,” the groups wrote in joint testimony.

After three public hearings and two work sessions—a lot of committee time in the House—HB 3086 is currently in the House Rules Committee awaiting further action. NIGEL JAQUISS.

NIGEL JAQUISS

MATT D’ANNUNZIO

HOT STUFF: Pok Pok in 2009.

POK MARKED: The ghost of Pok Pok today.

Lawmakers want to give rural Oregon a megaphone in wildlife disputes.

BY SOPHIE PEEL speel@wweek.com

One of the central mysteries surrounding the ongoing saga of Aaron Mitchell and Rosa Cazares, co-founders of the cannabis dispensary chain La Mota, is why a state that prides itself on protecting small businesses allowed an aggressively expanding company to run roughshod over the rest of the industry.

Long before they placed Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan on their payroll, Mitchell and Cazares amassed what the state agency that regulates cannabis termed a “substantial compliance history”—another way of saying regulators suspected they weren’t consistently following the rules. As WW has previously documented, the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission appears to have been unwilling to clamp down on a chain that allegedly stiffed small vendors as it opened more than 30 dispensaries across the state and exhibited a “flagrant disregard” for the law, according to a letter the industry’s guild wrote this month to lawmakers.

“They’ve taken a hands-off approach to La Mota,” says cannabis lawyer Kevin Jacoby, who believes the massive 2018 Black Market Distribution case, in which Mitchell and Cazares settled a number of serious violations with the OLCC after a two-year legal battle, spooked the agency. “I think ever since then, the OLCC has determined that they’re just not going to take La Mota’s licenses, and actually allow them to accrue more licenses.”

Now, an examination by WW of hundreds of emails, documents and spreadsheets provided by the agency in response to nearly a dozen pub-

No Boundaries

The state agency that oversees cannabis had the tools to regulate La Mota, but records show it rarely did.

lic records requests shows how La Mota sped past regulators like a Mercedes-Benz passing a police cruiser with a flat tire.

What the records make clear is that the OLCC is a watchdog with ample authority but few teeth to pierce the hides of industry powerhouses like La Mota.

It’s an agency whose investigators are given immense discretion, but whose enforcement databases are so disjointed the agency can’t show the outcome of each investigation and where enforcement of the rules appears to vary depending on the size of the company.

And it’s an agency that allowed La Mota to expand unfettered, accruing millions of dollars in tax liens and racking up legal battles over unpaid bills, as the OLCC meanwhile cracked down on smaller businesses.

Here’s how that happened:

1. Investigators are given immense discretionary authority, but no clear written policies.

OLCC investigators, many of them former law enforcement officers, conduct inquiries into cannabis businesses after they receive a complaint or find something troubling during a random inspection.

Records provided by the OLCC show that since the end of 2018, various La Mota licenses have been the subject of 143 investigations, plus another 65 that were triggered by a notification of business changes by La Mota. Of the total, 111 ended in what the agency calls “verbal instructions”—that is, no penalty at all, merely a tutorial on how to fix the issue. Another 81 were closed with no action, which could mean,

among other things, that the complaint wasn’t substantiated.

The agency leaves the power of enforcement—or nonenforcement—entirely in the hands of individual investigators.

And WW has learned the agency has no clear written procedure or policy for when a case—particularly a serious one, such as sale to a minor or “dishonest conduct”—may be resolved with a verbal instruction instead of sending it to the enforcement division. “It’s so wishy-washy that it’s not even a standard,”

16 of La Mota’s cases since 2018 were sent to the hearings division. The OLCC could not verify the outcome in every one of those cases; staff blames this on a patchwork of databases that track violations.

The agency contends that the high number of verbal instructions to La Mota was consistent with aggregate data across all violations. That appears to be true in some cases. But data shows, for example, that 19% of all substantiated dishonest conduct cases went to the hearings division, wheras none of La Mota’s 12 cases of dishonest conduct made it to the hearings division. Similarly, none of La Mota’s six violations for packaging and labeling made it to the hearings division, but 20% of such violations across all licenses made it to the hearings division.

2. The agency appears to have made up a new standard for La Mota.

State law gives the OLCC authority to deny a new license if the agency determines an applicant “does not have a good record of compliance.”

Jacoby says of the language.

Investigations of La Mota licenses over the years have looked into such possible violations as sales to minors, dishonest conduct supplying adulterated cannabis products, and surveillance camera deficiencies.

An investigator may escalate any investigation to the agency’s hearings division, where the case may end in a civil penalty or a temporary suspension or cancellation of a license. But only

Does La Mota have such a record? If you squint. Records tracking one OLCC decision last summer to grant a new dispensary license to Mitchell and Cazares offer a glimpse into the agency’s process.

To weigh the couple’s new application, records show, agency staff put together documents looking at La Mota’s history of violations across its other licenses. A staffer concluded in a June 2022 memo that although the couple had an “extensive compliance violation history across their multiple licenses,” “in their

“It sounds to me like gobbledygook to justify a course of action that you may want to take for a reason that’s not a legal or policy reason.”

totality good cause is presumed to overcome denial in the instant application.”

Cannabis lawyers say that’s baloney.

“‘Presumed good cause’ is not a legal standard,” says Vince Sliwoski of the law firm Harris Bricken. “‘Good cause’ is a legal standard. Nobody ever presumes good cause. It sounds to me like gobbledygook to justify a course of action that you may want to take for a reason that’s not a legal or policy reason.”

The OLCC has to date not provided a clear explanation why the agency has never denied a new license to La Mota, despite what the agency’s own staff characterized as the company’s “extensive” compliance history.

“Although the Legislature has given us authority for specific aspects of cannabis regulation, we’re not always in the position to utilize all of that authority,” says OLCC spokesman Mark Pettinger. “Iterative changes to marijuana public policy…has meant the agency has had to shift its resources and focus based on what’s been the most pressing issue affecting the integrity of the whole of Oregon’s regulated cannabis system.”

La Mota has not responded to repeated inquiries from WW

3. While smaller businesses were shuttered for nonpayment of taxes, La Mota never had to surrender a license.

The OLCC has been unable to explain why it hasn’t penalized La Mota for years of tax liens.

As WW reported last month, state and federal tax authorities have issued more than $7 million in tax liens in recent years to Mitchell, Cazares and the companies they control.

Records provided by the OLCC show that on only two occasions has a La Mota licensee been subject to a tax-related investigation by the agency. Both of those cases, one in 2018 and the other in 2020, ended with verbal instructions.

M eanwhile, a number of smaller dispensaries have been forced to surrender their licenses because of unpaid taxes. The amounts owed , according to lien records, pale in comparison to what La Mota’s entities once owed.

Columbia River Herbals in The Dalles surrendered its license in 2019 for nonpayment of state taxes. While it’s unclear how much the shop owed at the time, a dispensary in April 2021 was issued a $5,280 fine for late tax payments, and records show the state had issued liens against the company totaling $88,000.

A man named Jeremy Wheeler was removed from a dispensary retail license by the OLCC in June 2021 due to his “poor record” of paying state taxes. Liens filed by the Oregon Department of Revenue show Wheeler was issued liens totaling $300,000.

The OLCC did not respond to an inquiry why it’s never penalized La Mota for its much larger tax liens, but Pettinger says the agency “has attempted to apply the same standard to all licensees.”

Records show the OLCC was keenly aware that Mitchell and Cazares faced trouble with tax authorities. Cazares told the agency as much in May 2018, when she wrote that the couple was being investigated by the IRS for “tax crimes.”

OLCC interim director Craig Prins, who spoke on the record about La Mota for the first time earlier this month, would not say whether he believes his agency has adequately regulated La Mota. Prins did say, “We need to do a better job of making sure folks are tax compliant.”

4. The system is skewed to favor big operations with deep pockets.

An enduring criticism of OLCC enforcement is that its penalty system is structurally weighted to favor businesses large enough to pay the fines.

That’s because the agency levies fines of equal size to mom-andpop operations as well as publicly traded corporations.

In October 2021, for instance, a small company called Luminous Botanicals was fined $100,000— the maximum allowed by the OLCC—for a labeling error on some of its cannabis tonics.

Owner Sally Alworth insisted it had been an honest mistake, and one that never would have endangered a consumer.

Meanwhile, just a year prior, Cura Partners, Oregon’s largest cannabis company at the time, was fined the same amount after the OLCC ruled it had knowingly mislabeled 186,000 vape cartridges, failing to disclose additives in its products.

That pattern—of larger companies paying fines with ease that would cripple smaller businesses—persists.

According to documents provided by the agency, civil penalties imposed on La Mota entities for investigations since 2018 that made it to the agency’s hearing division amount to little more than $34,000.

However, the OLCC could not verify that the fines had been collected in all cases, citing its disjointed tracking system.

BY NIGEL JAQUISS njaquiss@wweek.com

An incendiary legal notice filed against Portland Fire & Rescue Chief Sara Boone and the city of Portland offers a view inside the insular bureau at a time when it is under pressure to change the way it operates—and struggling to manage its budget.

The tort claim notice, a document that is the precursor to a lawsuit, was filed March 2 on behalf of Division Chief Tim Matthews and only recently obtained by WW

In it, Matthews alleges he disciplined a senior bureau officer and close friend of Chief Boone’s for belittling Portland Street Response employees over the use of personal pronouns—and the chief responded by sabotaging his career.

That would be explosive enough, but Matthews was overseeing the fire bureau’s high-

Flame War

A high-ranking whistleblower’s complaint lays bare issues at Portland Fire & Rescue.

est-profile initiative: Portland Street Response, which sends mental health first responders and medics to aid people in crisis. PSR staffers say Boone sidelined Matthews, the bureau’s highest-ranking champion for their work.

And Matthews alleges in his filing that Boone didn’t want Portlanders to know how unpopular the program was inside the fire bureau.

That claim takes on greater significance during budget season, when Portland Street Response’s budget is getting cut as Boone struggles with spiraling overtime costs for traditional firefighters.

Indeed, City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez, who oversees the fire bureau and has so far proven fiercely loyal to the firefighters who endorsed his election last year, is signaling that he’s open to sending Portland Street Response—a program developed by his prede-

cessor, Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty—to Multnomah County or a nonprofit contractor.

“The homelessness crisis has forced the city into a number of services it has not historically provided,” Gonzalez says. “We are evaluating the appropriate long-term place for PSR as a part of that work.”

In 2019, Hardesty named Boone Portland’s first Black female fire chief. In 2021, Boone placed Matthews, a former police officer, in charge of the bureau’s new Community Health Division, which included Portland Street Response. Matthews, who joined the fire bureau in 2005, was a protégé of Boone’s. Before he went on leave in December, Matthews often acted as Boone’s designated stand-in when she was unavailable. That was before everything blew up.

In March 2022, Matthews alleges, Deputy

Chief Lisa Reslock, whom the tort claim notice calls a “close friend” of Boone’s, engaged in what fire bureau employees said in complaints were “bullying, discrimination and unwanted physical contact against employees based on their sexual orientation.”

The tort claim describes an incident in which

Reslock threw up her arms and said, “Really?” when an employee suggested people introduce

FRONT LINE: Fire Chief Sara Boone (shown here between Mayor Ted Wheeler and Police Chief Chuck Lovell) has had to reimagine her bureau’s operations.

“We are evaluating the appropriate long-term place for PSR.”

themselves using their preferred pronouns, then put her hand on an employee who objected to Reslock’s attitude and threatened to fire that employee. (Reslock declined to comment.)

Matthews’ tort claim notice says that “because Chief Boone was a close friend of Deputy Chief Reslock, she recused herself from the [investigation] process and Deputy Chief Matthews became the decision maker” and “as the investigation proceeded, multiple new allegations were uncovered.”

Matthews, as Reslock’s direct supervisor, was tasked with deciding discipline for Reslock. He decided to fire her, the tort claim notice says. But before he could do that, Reslock “suddenly retired,” on Nov. 24, 2022.

Matthews, who, along with his attorney, declined to comment, claims in his filing that holding Reslock accountable effectively ended his career at the fire bureau. He alleges that Boone went from having tentatively offered him a new assistant chief’s job Nov. 1 to being “angry and accusatory” in a Nov. 28 meeting to discuss Reslock’s departure and then stripping him of many of his responsibilities.

(Boone declined to address the specifics of Matthews’ tort claim notice because it is pending litigation, but says “the bulk of its claims were found to be unsubstantiated by a third-party investigator hired by the city’s Bureau of Human Resources.”)

Matthews alleges Boone rescinded his promotion and yanked a Portland State University evaluation of Portland Street Response from the Dec. 2 agenda of the Portland City Council.

In his tort claim, Matthews singles out a sentence from the PSU report he suggests Boone didn’t want the City Council to see: “The relationship between [Portland Street Response] and PF&R has been fraught due to the differences in culture between the programs.”

Portland Fire & Rescue remains largely male and white—89% male and 79% white, according to a 2022 audit. It’s a traditional, hierarchical organization while Portland Street Response employees are the opposite.

PSR, patterned after a long-running program in Eugene called CAHOOTS, launched in 2021, sending mental health crisis responders and EMTs rather police to respond to 911 calls about Portlanders in crisis. It gained widespread acclaim locally and quickly became a national model.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) likes CAHOOTS and Portland Street Response so much that in 2021 he and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) secured nearly $1 billion in Medicaid reimbursement funds for such services to be spread across the nation.

Portland officials have struggled to connect to that new federal funding stream, however, leaving PSR vulnerable to the vagaries of fire bureau politics and budget issues, both of which Matthews’ tort claim notice underscores.

When it was finally released in December, the PSU evaluation of Portland Street Response emphasized the antipathy some firefighters felt for PSR.

“ We also heard from a number of firefighters that they are wary of the differences in culture between the programs and would be apprehensive to hang out with PSR at their stations, or to work with PSR on scene while responding to calls,” the report said.

Fire Commissioner Gonzalez agrees there is a split. “There are very real cultural differences between PF&R and PSR,” he says. “There is a police abolitionist wing within PSR. While city employees are free to exercise their constitutional rights outside of working hours, there is no place for police abolitionist policies within a bureau I oversee, and we expect our first responders to work with each other as a team.”

That cultural tension is intensified by a money crunch. Virtually all of PSR’s calls would otherwise be Portland Police Bureau calls. Narrowly speaking, that means money from Portland Fire & Rescue’s budget

is covering another bureau’s responsibility. And the fire bureau is struggling financially.

A March memo from the City Budget Office calls out the biggest problem: a continuing failure to manage overtime costs, expected to balloon to nearly $23 million this year—about $6 million over budget. (For context, the Police Bureau, whose budget is 44% larger than fire’s, will spend $18.3 million on overtime.)

Chief Boone says the overtime is a function of being understaffed. “To reduce overtime and meet our service requirements, we will need to hire more firefighters,” she says.

Along with Portland Street Response, Matthews also oversaw a bureau initiative called Community Health Assess and Treat, aimed at so-called frequent flyers who overuse 911 and emergency services.

In 2021, Boone and Reslock convinced CareOregon, the state’s largest Medicaid provider, to fund CHAT, which employs about 30 workers, most members of the firefighters’ union. (Portland Street Response employs about 50. Only a few belong to the union.)

The CareOregon money runs out in September. And

supporters of Portland Street Response, speaking on background, believe it will bear the brunt of the fire bureau’s cultural animus and the stronger institutional support for the CHAT program, which reduces call volume for firefighters.

PSR’s budget is set to shrink from $13.2 million this year to $10.1 million in 2023-24, according to city fig ures. Boone denies that money is being shifted from Portland Street Response to backfill the overtime spending. “We are currently seeking external funding sources for the PSR and CHAT programs,” she adds.

“Both programs will need additional funding streams.”

Meanwhile, Boone has replaced Matthews with Division Chief Ryan Gillespie, a traditional firefighter who PSR employees say is unsupportive of their mis sion. And discussions about moving PSR to the city’s Community Safety Division fizzled.

Fans of Portland Street Response, from Wyden down to local officials, want to see it flourish. “It’s crucial that programs like Portland Street Response work with the state and with community care organizations to get access to the enhanced Medicaid match as soon as possible,” Wyden says.

State Rep. Rob Nosse (D-Portland), who chairs the House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care, says PSR is a critical asset to the city that he hopes will expand rather than contract.

“There’s enormous value in sending trained re sponders to help people in the throes of a mental health crisis,” Nosse says. “It’s way better than sending a police officer—and it frees up that officer for a more appropriate policing situation.”

“There’s enormous value in sending trained responders to help people in the throes of a mental health crisis.”

good the DOCTOR

Everybody loved the veterinarian who stalked Kenny Fandrich. by lucas manfield

Kenny Fandrich is dead, just as he predicted. t

he 56-year-old from Oregon City had said so for years—to pals, cops, lawyers and, of course, his wife, Tanya. He knew it was just a matter of time.

And while he didn’t know when or how, Fandrich was sure he knew who. He claimed his death would come at the hands of a local veterinarian, Steture in Oregon City for more than 20 years. He ran a successful veterinary practice that treated the family pets of a who’s who of the 38,000 residents of this quiet suburb on the banks of the Willamette River a dozen miles south of Portland. ted for his empathy, Milner kept a box of Kleenex in his office and was given to weeping, alongside grieving owners, after putting down their cats and dogs. Afterward, he would send sympathy cards. The idea that this gentle country vet could pose a threat to anybody seemed absurd. enny Fandrich claimed he was being stalked by the e’s a psychopath,” Fandrich told Hillsboro police more than a year ago, according to police records. “He told me he’s going to chop me into a million pieces—and make sure t January, someone did end Fandrich’s life in savage fashion in a parking garage on the Ronler Acres campus of Intel Corp. in Hillsboro, where he worked as a pipefitter. Prosecutors have not identified a murder weapon, but a medical examiner’s report says Fandrich, a 6-foot, 195-pound union foreman, was killed by “blunt compressive trauma to the neck.” It was applied with such force that it severed his spine.

e days later, Steven Milner, 56, was charged with second-degree murder in Washington County Circuit Court and pleaded not guilty. A trial date has yet to be set. If convicted, he

ow the hell could he have done this?” says Nancy Broshot, who entrusted several dogs and cats to Milner and remembers him as a

The picture that emerges from voluminous evidence collected by prosecutors is one of an outwardly model citizen who became so obsessed with a former employee that it led him to kill her husband. But the case, easily dismissed as an oddity, raises important questions. Prosecutions of stalking in Oregon have surged in recent years, from 3,000 in 2018 to more than 4,500 last year. So have murders, of which there were 136 last year. Studies have shown that the two crimes are often linked.

So, why then, with so many obvious signs that Milner had gone off the rails, did no one intervene for so long? Stalking is difficult to prosecute. Kenny Fandrich’s story suggests the consequences.

According to many people WW interviewed, Milner was a phenomenal vet.

“Absolutely amazing,” says Darlyn Robinson. She took more than a half-dozen dogs to Milner over the years, from a giant schnauzer to a Rottweiler named Elvis. She remembers one Fourth of July when Milner rushed back to his office to get a sedative for her dog, who was spooked by fireworks.

Cheryl Choquette raved about his care. “I referred all my family and friends. Everybody liked him,” she says.

A number of people recalled Milner’s kindness during the final minutes of their pets’ lives.

After Broshot’s border collie, Lady, was put down following a grand mal seizure, Milner sent her a sympathy card and contributed to his alma mater, Oregon State University, in her dog’s memory.

“I never saw that before,” Broshot recalls. “It was a nice touch.”

THE VICTIM: Kenny Fandrich

COURTESY OF TANYA FANDRICH

“How the hell could he have done this?”

Kenny and Tanya Fandrich married in 1993 after meeting in Dutch Harbor, a major fishing port in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Kenny was a scuba diver and worked as a welder on commercial fishing boats. Tanya worked at a bank. After being introduced by a mutual friend, the two went out for ice cream in Tanya’s hometown, Anchorage, nearly 800 miles away.

e was as crazy about animals as I am,” recalls Tanya, now a soft-spoken 55-year-old brunette whose blue eyes fill with tears at the memory of her lost husband.

OSU, where he joined a fraternity and graduated with a doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1993. According to some people WW interviewed, Milner was a talker.

“I’ve always liked being around people,” he told his daughter in an oral history published online. “But work was a bit of a drudge.”

While Milner had a mostly clean medical record, he was investigated in 1996 by the Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board for “unprofessional or dishonorable conduct” after he euthanized two dogs without their owner’s consent.

The incident, for which the board dropped its investigation a short time later, did nothing to slow his career. And Milner, who had two children from his first marriage, was more than a vet; he was actively involved in civic affairs. He sponsored fundraisers and charity runs. He hosted a hygiene station for the homeless and collected bottles and cans from clients, donating the redemption proceeds to charity animal care.

Milner did flash a temper in 2019, when he exceeded the allowed size of bottle deposits and BottleDrop, the redemption program operated by the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative, canceled his account. Milner exploded; he went on KOIN-TV to protest. He didn’t mention that he’d shoved one BottleDrop employee and doxxed another by posting her telephone number online, says OBRC president and CEO Jules Bailey.

“He started encouraging all of his supporters to call her and harass her, and then threatened to come find her,” Bailey says. “I’m not a psychologist, but he’s clearly a sociopath.”

The following year, Milner retired and sold the clinic to a national chain. He was wealthy, divorced and an avid hunter—he could easily have easily spent the rest of his life stalking big game.

enny grew up in Estacada, and when he returned to Oregon in 1996 to start a business with his father, Tanya came too. They built a house in the countryside northeast of Oregon City and filled it with pets: six dogs, two cats, a pair of goats—and, briefly, a baby raccoon that liked to snuggle against Kenny’s head. , Tanya took a job at the brand-new Milner Veterinary Hospital. She was one of its first employees and, for 19 years, her relationship with Milner, she tells WW, was professional—although sometimes not.

Milner divorced twice and, according to Tanya, would brag in the office about making his ex-wives miserable during the legal proceedings.

Tanya, too, was having problems at home. She and Kenny drank heavily, and Kenny was not always faithful to her, Tanya says. He was often out of town, living at job sites in an RV. Tanya and Milner became close. And, in 2017, their friendship became something more. “I was lonely, and someone was paying attention to me,” Tanya explains.

It lasted five months, Tanya says, before Kenny found out. Tanya had gone home with Milner after a co-worker’s wedding and, when she returned to her home, Kenny was gone.

He soon forgave her, she says. “It was wrong, and I will regret it for the rest of my life,” Tanya tells WW.

The stalking began soon after, Tanya says. The first incident documented by Kenny in legal filings occurred in late 2017, when he received an anonymous, threatening letter. “I should do everyone a favor and go back to drinking myself into my own demise,” Kenny recalled it saying.

Tanya became certain Milner was behind the letter, and contemplated quitting. But, having worked at the clinic for nearly two decades, she couldn’t imagine leaving.

For the next four years, on at least a dozen occasions, Tanya and Kenny received threatening letters and phone calls, and endured even more serious invasions of their privacy.

In September 2018, Tanya and Kenny drove home to their house, which is surrounded by woods and perched at the top of a winding driveway. There was Milner, in a blue hoodie, lying

THE VETERINARIAN: Steve Milner

under Kenny’s Dodge Ram as he affixed a small black box to the truck’s undercarriage. Milner fled and Kenny called 911. The interagency bomb squad that serves Clackamas County examined the device and determined it was a GPS tracker.

In intrviews with police, Milner admitted to installing the tracking device but argued he was still having an affair with Tanya and was simply keeping tabs on Kenny. Tanya repeatedly denied this.

Clackamas County Sheriff ’s Deputy Zachary Keirsey didn’t believe her. In his report, Keirsey said her “calm” demeanor and “flat affect” during the interview “seemed out of character for someone in her position.” He decided not to pursue charges.

Even Kenny’s friends found his fears somewhat far-fetched, until Kenny installed cameras and they saw security footage of Milner sneaking around the Fandriches’ property. Dan Mejia, who worked with Kenny, said Kenny’s friends, like many people in rural Oregon, had guns. “We can take care of this, Kenny,” Mejia told him.

But Kenny demurred. He was willing to leave it to the cops. “He was blindly faithful to the system,” Mejia says.

On June 8, 2019, Kenny said he found Milner screaming outside his front door, threatening to cut the pipefitter into a thousand pieces.

Kenny was terrified and, in August 2019, applied for a temporary stalking protection order against Milner.

“[Milner] appears to be getting angrier and angrier by the day,” Kenny wrote in his application. A sheriff’s deputy personally served Milner with a copy of the order the next day at his clinic.

Two months later, however, Kenny allowed the order to expire. Milner had threatened to bankrupt the couple with legal fees, and Tanya convinced Kenny it wasn’t worth the risk of antagonizing him, according to later police reports.

That year, Tanya finally quit Milner’s clinic and started a new job at a clinic in another town.

It didn’t stop the stalking. Milner followed her there, too, leaving notes on her car. Once, he showed up at the clinic with a dog and demanded Tanya treat it, she says.

Tanya’s new co-workers noticed Milner hanging around. One says, “I thought he was just some crazy person with too much time on his hands.”

Clackamas County sheriff ’s deputies were also dismissive, despite the fact that it’s illegal in Oregon, as in other states, to plant a GPS tracker on a vehicle without the owner’s consent. (Kenny later said he’d been told by a cop that this wasn’t true, according to a police report.)

On Dec. 30, 2020, one of Kenny’s surveillance cameras spotted someone crawling around on their belly in the yard. Tanya called 911, but deputies left without even bothering to write a report.

It happened again one month later, and this time the bomb squad found a tracker under Tanya’s Chevy Volt. It was manufactured by Spytec and available for $18 on Amazon. The county opened an investigation and Deputy Beth Lang gave Milner a call. The veterinarian played coy, Lang said—Tanya had told him to “look for her body in her cistern” if she ever disappeared, he said, implying he’d installed the tracker to protect her.

Lang had severaltheories about the case: Perhaps Milner was overly concerned for Tanya’s safety or Kenny was planting the trackers himself to frame Milner, she told Tanya, according to her police report. No charges were filed.

At that point, Milner seemed to back off.

But the strains in the Fandrich marriage continued, according to Tanya. Kenny liked to drink, a lot, usually out of large McDonald’s cups. Sometimes their fights turned violent. “For the second time in a week, there’s blood all over the house and it’s not hers,” Kenny told a friend, according to text messages later read in court.

In August 2021, Tanya slashed her husband’s ear. Kenny called the police and Tanya was booked in jail for assault.

When she was released, Milner was waiting outside, saying he’d bailed her out. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Tanya recalls thinking. “How does he know?”

She and Kenny came to believe he’d installed trail cams on their property—the kind used by hunters to track deer—and was watching their every move.

In his retirement, Milner had more time on his hands. He began following Kenny to work along rural Clackamas County backroads and onto Highway 43. On Aug. 2, 2022, Kenny was so spooked by the Toyota RAV4 tailing him that he called 911.

A Hillsboro police officer pulled Milner over and let him off with a stern warning. But after talking to Kenny and further reviewing prior police reports, the officer determined there was

CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Surveillance cameras spied someone belly-crawling around the Fandriches’ property in the winter of 2020.

“Kenny got a shot off, too”

probable cause to arrest the veterinarian for stalking, according to a police report filed two days after the traffic stop. The officer referred the case to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office made no arrest and filed it away.

At the recommendation of Hillsboro police, Kenny obtained another stalking protective order. A month later, Tanya was getting her Chevy Volt serviced at Jiffy Lube when a mechanic discovered another GPS tracker. She called the sheriff’s office, which investigated and determined in August that the tracker and six others were registered with Steven Milner’s name, address, phone number and credit card.

Milner was arrested that month and charged with violating the stalking order and unlawful use of a GPS device, both misdemeanors.

He was released from jail pending trial, but he appeared to be taking the charges seriously. By Christmas, the Fandriches hadn’t seen him for months, Tanya says. Kenny was working on getting sober. The couple was contemplating retiring to the coast. “We thought it was finally, finally over,” Tanya says. For the past decade, Intel has been building a 2.5 millionsquare-foot fab in the middle of suburban Hillsboro. It’s called D1X. Inside, an army of engineers design the most advanced microchips in the world.

But to build and maintain D1X, Intel also relies on an army of tradesmen— “construction folk,” in Intel parlance. They work in a series of low-slung office complexes on the east side of the Ronler Acres campus, accessible only by a side entrance.

That’s where Kenny Fandrich worked, installing the piping that keeps the heavy machinery cool. And it was there, on a chilly winter afternoon in a parking garage, that he died.

Prosecutors allege Milner painstakingly planned the murder for months. He purchased a pair of beater cars—a blue Buick sedan and a maroon Dodge Caravan—and took them on reconnaissance missions to stake out the facility. He bought a pair of tinted safety glasses at Home Depot for a disguise.

Then, on Jan. 27, Washington County prosecutors say, Milner put his plan in motion.

Early that morning, he drove the Buick to the Intel campus and, face hidden by the glasses and a hard hat, he walked through the five-story garage where Kenny would soon park his car and sprayed security cameras with blue paint.

Milner returned that afternoon, this time in the Caravan, which he backed into a parking space next to Kenny’s Honda Civic, and waited.

BELOVED: Clients say Milner was like family.

INTEL: The parking garage where Kenny was found, neck snapped in the driver’s seat of his car.

SOURCE: FACEBOOK

LUCAS MANFIELD

Security cameras captured Kenny’s last moments alive. First, pushing through a metal turnstile as he left work. Then, climbing the stairs to the floor of the garage where he was parked. And, finally, approaching his car.

What happened next remains unclear. Images capturing the killing are mostly obscured by paint. The Civic’s headlights flash several times. There’s movement between the minivan and Kenny’s car. A half hour later, the Caravan leaves.

Police discovered Kenny’s body later that night after he failed to return home from work. His body was slouched in the driver’s seat.

It’s still not clear what weapon, if any, was used to break his neck. Mejia, a former Marine, thinks Kenny was ambushed and put in a military chokehold—the “one-second kill.”

Detectives immediately suspected Milner. Police seized his RAV4, which had an onboard GPS that periodically recorded its location. It had stopped at the Oregon City Home Depot, where Milner had purchased the familiar pair of safety glasses. And it stopped at a North Portland homeless encampment and on a shoulder of Interstate 5 where the two beaters were found abandoned.

Most damning of all, Milner’s DNA was found on Kenny’s hands.

The retired veterinarian was arrested five days after the killing—with makeup covering a black eye. “Kenny got a shot off, too,” Mejia says.

Milner’s trial isn’t expected to start for at least another year.

In the bail hearing May 12, his attorneys tried their best to cast doubt on the state’s assertion that the killing was intentional, noting that footage from the moment of Kenny’s death was obscured. “We have no idea what was happening,” said Amanda Thibeault, suggesting the 245-pound verinarian had acted in self-defense. “Fandrich had a history of violence.”

And, they had a backup plan: shift blame to Tanya.

Thibeault argued that Milner and Tanya remained romantically involved. “It’s sick, it’s vile,” Tanya says of the accusation.

Circuit Judge Erik Bucher wasn’t swayed. “It’s a very easy ruling,” he said, denying Milner bail.

Meanwhile, Milner’s case has become a source of fascination around town in Oregon City. The clinic he once owned has scrubbed his name from the sign out front. The pot farm he owns with his uncle asked the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission to remove Milner from its license in May.

Milner’s neighbors think he’s innocent, WW is told. But on a recent visit to his home high in the tree-topped hills of unincorporated Clackamas County, Passersby warned a reporter to be careful, that the neigh bors are armed and don’t appreciate representatives of the media. Milner’s house is accessible only by a long private road, flanked by “No Trespassing” signs.

Kenny’s friends say the system failed him. So does Tanya. When she showed up at the scene of her husband’s death, a cop was dismissive of Kenny’s efforts to gain pro tection through the law.

“Stalking orders do nothing more than piss a person off,” Tanya says he snorted. “I was appalled. How can that be justice?”

CHARMER: His friends say Kenny was always the life of the party.

GET BUSY

31-JUNE 6

GO: The Sounds of Afrolitical Movement

It’s time for a revolution! The Sounds of Afrolitical Movement is a stunning show that will take you on a journey through the music and dance of the African diaspora. This new multimedia presentation, inspired by Black creativity, joy and political power, is made up of five different experiences—each held on a different day—in which you’ll witness expressions of resistance and liberation. Audience participation is a part of every show and varies, so you could find yourself singing songs about baptism and rebirth, meditating while doing Child’s Pose, or dancing in a second line parade through the King neighborhood. Portland Playhouse, 602 NE Prescott St., 503-488-5822, portlandplayhouse.org. 7:30 pm Wednesday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, through June 18. $5-$55.50. 21+ suggested on Saturday.

GO: Pedalpalooza Bike Summer Kickoff Ride

Enjoy cycling in large groups but prefer to keep your clothes on? Unlike Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride, Pedalpalooza not only asks that cyclists remain appropriately attired, but also encourages attendees to don costumes and dress their bikes up to show off their style. Held since 2004, this mobile festival runs all summer long, which means there are hundreds of rides to choose from. Get the season started with this event: Volunteers will sell Pedalpalooza merch from 5:30 to 6:15 pm before cyclists depart for an hourlong, family-friendly excursion. Alberta Park, 1905 NE Killingsworth St., pedalpalooza. org, 5:30 pm Thursday, June 1. Free.

LAUGH: One Night Stand With Samantha Ruddy

If you love comedy that is witty and

relatable, you need to check out Samantha Ruddy. The talented comic, who’s been performing since she was 14, brings a lighthearted style of joke telling to the stage, which can be incredibly refreshing after a rough three years. Her work caught the attention of Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon—she’s appeared on both of their late-night talk shows. If Ruddy’s name isn’t on your radar, that could be because her debut album, Logging Out, came out in March 2020—yup, at the exact same time the world was shutting down. NPR named it one of the best comedy albums of that year, but we understand if you didn’t have time to listen. Now that we can laugh safely together in person, go check her out live. The Juicebox Theater in The Pickle Factory, 866 N Columbia Blvd., juicebox. life. 7 pm Thursday, June 1. $15-$45. 18+ recommended.

WATCH: The Full Monty

This stage adaptation of the hit 1997 film is one of those wonderful comedies that has the ability to make you laugh, cry and cheer. Centered on a down-on-their-luck group of men—four of them recently unemployed steelworkers—“the full monty” refers to their willingness to do everything needed to get by. In this case, that means creating a striptease act where they end up baring it all. The catchy score by Terrence McNally and David Yazbek will have you rooting for these lovable misfits as they face their fears and reveal their true selves, especially during the final number.

Dolores Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335, portland5.com. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, June 2-25. $30-$50.

WATCH: Road House the Play

The name is Dalton…and he’s back! This hilarious spoof of the greatest film ever

made about philosophy, the subtleties of bar management, romance, rural politics, and karate in the 1980s, features some of the most talented comedians in Portland. Come watch their take on Road House ’s tale about a bouncer with heart who is also willing to rip your throat out. You don’t want to miss this one, because while “pain don’t hurt” in Dalton’s world, regret, unfortunately, does. The Siren Theater, 3913 N Mississippi Ave., sirentheater.com.

8 pm Friday-Saturday, through June 17. $22 in advance, $30 at the door.

DRINK: CJ McCollum Meetand-Greet

CJ McCollum may have been traded to the New Orleans Pelicans, but he still has roots in Oregon—quite literally. The 31-year-old shooting guard purchased a 318-acre vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton American Viticultural Area in 2021—just one year after he launched his own label. This Saturday, taste your way through a variety of McCollum Heritage 91 bottles—including the 2022 rosé, the 2020 chardonnay, and the 2021 pinot noir—and then meet the man behind those wines. Attendees can also get a signed copy of the new Oregon Wine + Food: The Cookbook, which features one of the basketball star’s recipe-wine collaborations. There are no tickets, but three bottles of McCollum Heritage 91 must be purchased in advance. Adelsheim Vineyard, 16800 NE Calkins Lane, Newberg, 503-538-3652, eventbrite.com. 2-3:30 pm and 3:30-5 pm Saturday, June 3.

LISTEN: The 17th Annual Dolly Parton Hoot Night

Some of Portland’s finest musicians will pay tribute to the Queen of Country Music and one of the greatest songwriters of all time at this fundraising event. A portion of

the proceeds of Dolly Parton Hoot Night go to the Willamina Public Library, which is part of the singer’s Imagination Library program that provides free books to children. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to celebrate Parton’s charitable legacy and sing along to her greatest hits. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 503719-6055, albertarosetheatre.com. 8 pm Saturday, June 3. $22.

DANCE: Rare Kandi – A Pokémon-Themed Rave

If you’re still playing Pokémon Go after all these years, then we’ve got a party for you. Electronic music event production company Red Cube is throwing a rave centered on those adorable Japanese mini monsters. In addition to the dancing, there will be a costume contest with a $300 cash prize (so put in some effort), a booster card pack giveaway every day leading up to the event, and themed activities—we envision a bizarre hybrid of glowsticking and Pokémon roleplaying. Heads up: There’s a secret headliner on the schedule, who is undoubtedly going to show up in a furry-style Pokémon suit. McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 503-225-0047, crystalballroompdx.com. 8 pm Saturday, June 3. $30 in advance, $35 at the door. 21+.

CHAIN REACTION: Cyclists ride through the Central Eastside during Pedalpalooza 2021.

MICK HANGLAND-SKILL

Buzz List

WHERE TO DRINK THIS WEEK.

1. BUOY BEER TAPROOM

1152 Marine Drive, Astoria, 503-468-0198, buoybeer. com. Noon-8 pm Sunday-Friday, 11 am-8 pm Saturday.

By now, most are aware of rainbow washing, and while Buoy’s newest beer does sport the colors of the Pride flag, it also raises real money for local nonprofit New Avenues for Youth, which provides services to the LGBTQ+ community. You can kick off Pride Month with a Pride IPA at the brewery’s temporary taproom inside the Astoria Food Hub (or find cans around town). The beer is a West Coast take on the style, with a tropical fruit aroma and notes of lemon balanced by a traditional pine flavor.

2. LOLO PASS ROOFTOP BAR

1616 E Burnside St., 503-908-3074, lolopass.com.

4-10 pm daily.

Beyond giving guests a place to rest their heads at the end of the day, Lolo Pass is home to one of Portland’s newer rooftop bars where locals and visitors alike can sip drinks and take in the view of the Central Eastside. The fifth-story perch reopens May 4 following its winter hibernation with a new and seasonally changing cocktail menu. The debut Snap Pea martini sounds like the perfect vibrant drink to toast the warming spring afternoons.

3. LITTLE HOP BREWING

FOOD & DRINK

In Bloom

BY MICHAEL C. ZUSMAN PHOTOS BY AARON LEE

It is always cherry blossom season at Janken, the slick new corner spot in the Pearl District where Bluehour used to host the cool kid crowd. Janken’s dining room is anchored by a tall, faux cherry tree in full bloom made even more dramatic by bright underlighting. It is very pretty and prominent.

At this stage of Portland’s evolution as a food-loving small city, Janken may be just the right tonic. Whether intended or not, the symbolism of the tree as a harbinger of spring works in multiple dimensions. It suggests renewal and an emergence from our extended COVID winter. Indeed, the 140-seat dining room and bar have been tightly packed with a mostly young, well-dressed crowd each time I have visited. Face masks, the unmistakable mark of caution for three excruciating years, are as notably absent as the tree is impossible to miss.

4400 SW Garden Home Road, littlehopbrewing. com. Noon-8 pm Saturday.

Most homebrewers dream of going big, and Zak Cate achieved that goal working as a pub brewer for McMenamins Kalama Harbor Lodge before deciding to scale back and launch this nano operation with his wife, Lisa. In April, they started a teeny-tiny taproom inside a trailer, which is open just one day a week while the couple prepares to move into a larger space nearby. For now, come drink at the state’s smallest tap house, which thankfully can squeeze in more people than you’d expect due to a decent-sized beer garden.

4. THE SHAKU BAR

3448 NE Sandy Blvd., 971-346-2063, theshakubar. com. 4 pm-midnight Tuesday-Thursday, 4 pm-1 am Friday-Saturday, 3-10 pm every other Sunday.

This year-old spot proves that good things come in small packages. The closet-sized bar serves cocktails with big flavors, like the Princess Peach, which is a refreshing mix of local Aria gin, Aperol, St-Germain and lemon juice topped with a half-centimeter of creamy-white Fee Foam (Google it!). We’re definitely coming back for a Kvothe the Bloodless— pickle juice, hot sauce, lime and a secret sauce. Shaku calls it a bloody mary “without the blood.”

5. GRAPE APE

77 SE Yamhill St., 503-261-3467, grapeape.wine. 11 am-bedtime Tuesday-Sunday.

Sorry to break it to fans of the ’70s Hanna-Barbera cartoon of the same name, but you won’t find a 40-foot purple primate at this new Central Eastside bar. However, much of the décor is from that era, and the lineup of fine natural wines should soften the blow. The curated list highlights selections from low-intervention labels, including Oregon’s Hooray for You chardonnay, California producer Populis’ sauvignon blanc and a Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme gamay from France. Pair one with marinated white beans and mayo on toast or a jamon baguette and pretend you’ve made an escape to Paris for the afternoon.

This distinctive decorative touch also mirrors the real cherry trees that have long lined downtown Portland’s waterfront. As tempting as it might be to look at Janken as an anomaly that is not really “Portland,” this would be provincial bullshit. For one, its predecessor was also a stylish spot that looked nothing like its low-budget, open-ceilinged, cement-floored, 40-seat contemporaries. For another, a range of styles is as essential to a vibrant dining landscape as choices in cuisine. Restaurant lovers should not have to shlep all the way to McMinnville—home of ōkta—to sup in elegant, upscale surroundings.

The menu at Janken focuses on Japanese food, including much from the raw fish domain, with Korean influences dotted throughout. There is also an effort to provide a little something for everyone, so those with restricted diets will not be stuck sucking down drinks alone, though there is an ample array of those, too. This includes the Pineapple Express ($21), a pineapple-infused mezcal amalgam that arrives with pomp and circumstance under a smoke-filled cloche.

Ordering strategy at Janken should be dictated by taste and budget,

though not necessarily in that order. It may provide some solace to know that while prices range from high to silly, the portions tend to be generous. Indulging in an expense account fantasy, one is best off beginning with one or more of the nontraditional maki (rolled fish and rice). The soft-shell crab roll ($18) is a credible effort, the crustacean pinwheeled with lettuce and the roll topped with kimchi remoulade and a substantial measure of tobiko that pops in the mouth. The Dynamite roll ($38) showcases local favorites, salmon and Dungeness crab, both in bounteous quantities tucked into eight thick pieces.

Diners can also select from an adequate selection of nigiri—sliced fish over rice—mostly priced in the mid- to high teens for two pieces, but there is nothing on this portion of the menu that is uncommon or particularly compelling. One exception: a combination of sea urchin and scallop ($35) was a rather messy affair that didn’t do

From top-grade A5 wagyu to Imperial Gold caviar, opulence is on the menu at Janken.

“It may provide some solace to know that while prices range from high to silly, the portions tend to be generous.”

COURTESY LITTLE HOP BREWING

either delicacy any favors. The pinnacle of the fancy pants, big-promotion-and-raise specialty list is the caviar set, starting at $99 for an ounce of your baseline osetra and topping out at $229 for Imperial Gold—premium osetra roe with a golden hue.

Not into raw fish or upmarket sturgeon eggs? Not to worry. A solid filler less apt to destroy more limited budgets is kimchi fried rice ($20), mixed tableside in a red hot stone bowl, with or without added protein ($6) or egg ($2). This is an easy one to split, as is the sweet and sticky KFC, or Korean fried chicken ($21). The first time I ordered the chicken, it arrived as a half-dozen chunks of dried-out boneless white meat. The second time, it was much more palatable, though don’t expect much in the way of a spicy kick.

If still unsatiated after a series of small courses, dive into the meat of the menu. Of course, top-grade A5 wagyu is offered two ways (each $89), either as a cook-it-yourself on a hot stone setup or in a katsu

Hot Plates

WHERE TO EAT THIS WEEK.

1. RINGSIDE STEAKHOUSE

2165 W Burnside St., 503-223-1513, ringsidesteakhouse.com. 4:30-9 pm Monday-Thursday, 4-9:30 pm Friday-Saturday, 4-9 pm Sunday.

A few good things emerged during the pandemic. One of the greatest was the addition of a patio at Portland’s premier steakhouse, which is making its return now that temperatures are climbing. It’s not easy to imagine carving into one of RingSide’s dry-aged rib-eyes while sitting in the parking lot, but the meat palace’s grand canopy is dressed to the nines with faux-wood flooring and vibrant emerald plants. A handful of new seasonal sides complement all of that greenery: English peas with ricotta dumplings, grilled Washington asparagus with black truffle egg sauce, and roasted heirloom carrots in a zhoug salsa verde.

2. VIKING SOUL FOOD

4422 SE Woodstock Blvd., 971-430-0171, vikingsoulfood.com. 11 am-7 pm Sunday-Thursday, 11 am-8 pm Friday-Saturday.

Viking Soul Food, a long-standing member of The Bite on Belmont food pod, recently opened its first brick-and-mortar, where many items on the menu come surrounded by a lefse, a delicate wrap made with potatoes, butter and flour. The versatility of the lefse works wonders, adding lightness to savory wraps, like the smoked steelhead, enhancing the crunch of the greens and tartness of the pickled shallots. Looking for something sweet? Try the lingonberry lefse, filled with a tart jam and cream cheese. It’s intensely comforting and ideal for littler Vikings.

3. ENOTECA NOSTRANA

sando, which seems a profound waste of very expensive beef. My go-to entree choice is the miso black cod ($42), a flavorful chunk of juicy fish served under a haystack of frizzled leeks. Additional choices abound, from both land and sea.

There is a dessert list, too, for sugar fiends like me. Top choices include the mochi-wrapped ice cream in a variety of flavors ($14) and a luxe chocolate-and-caramel bar cake ($18) upscaled with a scrap of gold leaf on top.

Janken is definitely not for everyone in our rebounding burg, but it is not for nobody either, as its popularity among the sexy set attests.

1401 SE Morrison St., #105, 503-236-7006, enotecanostrana.com. 5-9 pm

Friday-Saturday.

Monday-Thursday, 5-10 pm

Most patrons go to Nostrana’s neighboring wine bar to sample from its extensive bottle collection. But the next time you’re in search of sustenance, don’t overlook this place and head directly next door. Enoteca Nostrana just rolled out a new happy hour menu that includes three of chef Cathy Whims’ classics for a steal: the Insalata Nostrana ($6), capellini in Marcella’s tomato butter sauce ($10) and a Margherita pizza ($10). You can then finish your discounted meal with a delightfully fun adult take on a childhood classic: a boozy popsicle ($4).

4. MAKULÍT

1015 SE Stark St., @makulitpdx. Noon-7 pm Wednesday-Thursday, 4-9 pm Friday-Saturday. Makulít, one of the new food carts in the Lil’ American pod, is a master at melding the familiar with the unfamiliar—in this case, Filipino ingredients and flavors with American fast food classics. Best of all: Everything on the menu is fun. The most playful dish is the Big Bunso, a cheeseburger with a spicy longanisa sausage patty and atsara, a mix of pickled papaya, carrot, daikon and bell pepper. The resulting flavor combo lands somewhere between burger, meatloaf sandwich, and banh mi.

5. PHO OREGON BEAVERTON

12870 SW Canyon Road, Beaverton, 503-747-0814, phooregon.net. 10 am-9 pm

Monday-Saturday, 10 am-8 pm

Sunday.

Pho Oregon, Portland’s 20-year-old Vietnamese beef noodle soup standard bearer, has opened its second outlet after nearly two years of planning. If an early visit was any indication, it was worth the wait. The must-have pho order, the No. 1, is a quartsized cauldron of aromatic awesomeness with thin rice noodles as well as bits of beef tendon, tripe, quartered meatballs and more. When the urge for hot soup wanes, the menu seems to ramble endlessly with choices, from rice plates to grilled meats to stews.

POTLANDER

Terpenes 101:

Myrcene

BY BRIANNA WHEELER

Modern cannabis is pretty wild, right?

Whether we’re aware or not, the factors that make a favorite strain a favorite include more than just its stanky exhale and brief magic carpet ride. From the ever-growing catalog of novel cannabinoids and organic compounds to the hundreds of mild medicinal, intermediate and super-potent recreational strains on shelves today, multiple components work together to define each cultivar—and the journey to finding your preferred variety may truly never end given all of that. But curious stoners who wonder what specifically endears them to certain phenotypes, step one is an introduction to the next terpene in our ongoing series, and the one most commonly found in cannabis: myrcene.

What Is Myrcene?

Myrcene is a monoterpene—which means it has a super-simple chemical structure—making it an essential building block for more complex terps. Since it’s in so many contemporary strains, the common stash is almost certainly myrcene dominant. However, this terpene is found in not just weed, but in an assortment of other botanicals, many of which have their own therapeutic uses. Hops, lemongrass, verbena, mangoes and thyme are all rich in myrcene, which, when isolated, exhibits a sweet, earthy aroma.

What Does Myrcene Do?

Research has found myrcene to be an effective pain reliever, sedative and muscle relaxant. There is also evidence it can alleviate symptoms associated with diabetes when used in conjunction with a terpene called thujone. Another study found that myrcene protects DNA from certain toxins.

New science aside, myrcene is ancient folk medicine. Generations used it to improve not just general quality of life, but also to treat specific ailments, like gastrointestinal distress, inflammation, respiratory issues and even cancer.

Where Can I Find Myrcene?

Myrcene is all over your local dispo. You can find it in many different kinds of cultivars, including perky daytime strains, pacifying bedtime varieties, and balanced crosses of the two.

Here are a few of our top picks to get you started:

Blue Dream

This popular cultivar delivers a swoony, euphoric onset that eases into cushy relaxation. Depending on the individual’s resting state, the effects can be uplifting or soothing, so results are positive, but they vary. Therapeutic users describe relief from chronic pain, inflammation and anxiety. Expect a berry-skunk perfume and smooth, earthy exhale.

BUY: Potland, 1761 NE Dekum St., 503-432-8629, thepotland.co.

Pineapple Express

Team wake-and-bake is likely already acquainted with Pineapple Express, but morning smoking is not necessary to partake. Users report energizing mental effects, like enhanced cognition, along with a mild body buzz. Therapeutic potentials include relief from fatigue, chronic pain and loss of appetite. Expect a citrus-funk aroma and skunk-fruit exhale.

BUY: Cultiv8, 5230 SE 52nd Ave., 503-206-8634.

Harlequin

For users on the lower-THC end of the stoner spectrum, this peppy 1-to-1 THC-to-CBD strain is a stash box necessity. The THC level typically hovers around 7%, so anticipate a sparkling giggle ride that is mostly manageable, even for low-tolerance smokers. Therapeutic users have turned to this strain for relief from arthritis, fibromyalgia and migraines. Expect a woody funk with a hint of mango and a sweet, grassy exhale.

BUY: Lifted Northwest, 11121 SE Division St., 503-8949495, liftednorthwest.com.

Garlic Drip

Garlic Drip delivers a classic sedative high, which, for the uninitiated, results in couchlocked euphoria that dissolves into giggly munchies. Some users say they feel chatty after a session with this strain, so maybe share some with the squad, or smoke up before you call Mom. Possible medicinal uses include relief from insomnia, mood swings and chronic pain. Expect a dank, earthy perfume and funky, herbal exhale.

BUY: Eden Cannabis, 7420 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-4774368, edencraftcannabis.com.

The most abundant terp in contemporary cannabis can be found in a wide variety of cultivars—from perk-me-up, wake-and-bake strains to sedative couchlock varieties.

SHOWS OF THE WEEK

WHAT TO SEE AND WHAT TO HEAR

BY DANIEL BROMFIELD @bromf3

THURSDAY, JUNE 1:

HOTSEAT

William Slater

Silver Triplets of the Rio Hondo can’t stand genres or fences.

BY JAY HORTON @hortland

“Triplets is not this thing that you think it is,” William Slater intones with a graven twinkle.

A leading light of indie tastemaker circles since adolescence—his high school rockabilly trio included the future Lucero frontman and the boy who’d direct the films Mud and Take Shelter—Slater should be more than familiar with the desperate games critics play when describing new bands, but his current Portland combo, Silver Triplets of the Rio Hondo, has spawned some especially tortured Mad Libs in their short time together.

“A writer in Seattle thought we were ‘Ennio Morricone meets ZZ Top at Lee Hazelwood’s house on mescaline,’ closely followed by a friend saying we are ‘the acid trip of Frank Sinatra and Leonard Cohen’s love child,’” Slater says. “Uncanny, right? Shadowy encounter, drug reference, location—is this the new format people use?”

This is not, once again, his first rodeo. Slater spent 18 years as an integral component of acclaimed post-rock experimentalists Grails and has been affiliated (“never a member,” he insists) with Modest Mouse for ages. (“Isaac Brock asked me to join the band in 2002 as cellist,” he recalls, “which I thought was curious since I don’t play cello.” Incidentally, it was Brock that gave Silver Triplets its name.) This is his first solo turn at the helm, and he’s hurtling his band through uncharted waters.

Where the conceptual design of Silver Triplets of the Rio Hondo debut Luminous Dial lent itself to armchair semiotics, their live revue dons the sepulchral twang ’n’ smoke machine trappings of high desert noir only to gleefully subvert every last expectation.

Drums splash, guitars chime, and Slater’s slow-rolling Ricky Nelson star turn employs the western-fringe sonics moodily burbling beneath as a trampoline for crowd-foaming somersaults through gypsy flavors and chillwave remove toward pure pop effervescence. Slater spoke with WW about the difficulties of branding a vision as big as all outdoors.

WW: How’d this all come together?

William Slater: The origin story’s a bit unlikely. I’d been helping produce my dear friend Kyle Craft’s third record and was slotted to join him [and our drummer Haven Multz Matthews] on a particularly long U.S. tour and, you know, there was just this portentous feeling. Kyle’s a pro, but his booking agent quit suddenly and left us wondering if there’d be holes to navigate down the road.

So, the band began as Craft’s opening act?

At first, Triplets was just added insurance to our ability to produce a show in case the wheels came off somewhere far from home. I hastily recorded the songs in the days leading up to our departure, and Kyle was kindly open to the last-minute addition—even allowing us to bring on our guitarist [Christo Cook] to double as front of house. We’d only rehearsed twice before the first show. It was…chaotic.

The band found itself through the tour?

You know, our saving grace was the concept. In my mind, I pictured the English Channel ferry where a dude in the corner’s playing a Casio with [the keyboard’s] pre-programmed beats. Maybe we were using sequenced tracks out of necessity, but, armed with a concept, we could afford to lean in, make the synths more outlandish, make the key bass sound alien and strange...doesn’t work if you aren’t a little cheeky. Our dilapidated cruise ship now [sailed on] the dissonance of improvised-versus-prerecorded music. That contradiction is at the core of Triplets.

Yacht rock, then?

Sometimes! We’re still evolving. Psych, musique concrete, country-western are often mentioned. Haven started calling us “sci-fi roadhouse” years ago, which feels right. Lately he’s moved on to “ranch house exotica,” which I have to say…also feels right. He has these beats at his disposal but can step outside of them whenever he wants. [Guitarist Chris] exists somewhere between Jeff Beck and Bakersfield country—he’ll just play and let his eyes roll back.

I’m lucky enough to play with two other guys that, even when our shows aren’t necessarily tight, see that they contain places we can travel. There’s a playfulness behind Triplets, and I hope that translates. None of it is real, after all.

When Nathan Williams first rose to fame with Wavves, he was the raffish leader of a crop of young rock bands—including his then-paramour, Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino—obsessed with the beach, sand, surf, cheap beer and good weed. Yet over a decade into his career, his music seems less like a time capsule and more like a bellwether for the indie world’s reclamation of pop-punk brattiness and alt-rock scuzz over the past 10 years. Polaris Hall, 635 N Killingsworth Court, 503240-6088, polarishall.com. 8 pm. $27. 21+.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JUNE 2-3

Summer lawn concerts at McMenamins Edgefield kick off with two sets from The National, the dour and debonair indie-rock band that’s at the center of the music industry, thanks to collabs with the likes of Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers. No word on if any high-profile guests will grace their Edgefield appearances, but Nashville indie-rocker Soccer Mommy opens both sets. McMenamins Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale, 800-6698610, edgefieldconcerts.com. 6:30 pm. $57.50-$60. All ages.

MONDAY, JUNE 5:

Canada’s Jean-Michel Blais came to fame with II, a neo-classical piano album that made no effort to hide the incidental sounds from the street outside his apartment, and the awesome Cascades with ambient producer CFCF. His new album, Aubades, is his most ambitious work yet, featuring his instrument at the center of a small ensemble—one he’ll bring with him to his upcoming Old Church concert, presented by PDXJAZZ. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 503-222-2031, theoldchurch.org. 8 pm. $30. All ages.

OVER THE EDGE: Silver Triplets of the Rio Hondo.

MUSIC Editor: Bennett Campbell Ferguson | Contact: bennett@wweek.com

SHOW REVIEW

$NOT, EEM TRIPLIN AND NIGHT LOVELL AT THE CRYSTAL BALLROOM

BY ROBERT HAM

Mainstream hip-hop’s continued adoption of the aesthetics of punk has elevated rappers like New Yorker $NOT and his regular collaborator Eem Triplin with their short, punchy songs, slogan-ready lyrics, and love of the euphoric physical release of a mosh pit.

The many fans of the genre and these artists have responded in kind. The hundreds of young Portlanders who crammed into the Crystal Ballroom last week to catch a live performance by $NOT, Triplin, and their friend Night Lovell spent the entire night testing the tensile strength of the venue’s famously springy dance floor, leaping and bouncing gleefully. T-shirts and plumes of weed smoke were sent into the air with abandon. To everyone’s credit, the chaotic mass of bodies suffered seemingly few ill effects beyond security tossing out the occasional overzealous teen and one poor soul collapsing during $NOT’s headlining set. (The latter prompted a snide response from one of the tour’s lighting engineers: “Stop doing fentanyl!”)

From the relative calm of the 21-plus section at the Crystal, it was easier to assess the stark differences between the three artists that hit the stage last Wednesday. Triplin and Lovell opt for a blunter approach. Their trap beats tend to stay in one temporal zone and their lyrics stick to the themes of fucking and getting fucked up. Both men’s performances were also the ones that worked to rile up the audience, pulling from the thrash metal playbook as they urged the crowd to separate into two halves before directing them to slam together.

Lost in Cyberspace

Shaking the Tree Theatre presents a hellish vision of online addiction.

BY LINDA FERGUSON

Max Yu isn’t trying to cheer you up. Commissioned by Shaking the Tree Theatre to write a new play, Yu created In a Different Reality She’s Clawing at the Walls, a paralyzing portrait of how technology devours our souls as well as our time.

The play, as directed by Rebby Yuer Foster (who’s also the theater’s associate artistic director), begins before a single line is spoken, which is fitting for a work that relies on movement, sound and projected images more than plot, characters and dialogue.

After waiting in a lobby, the audience is led like sheep around the block and into the theater. Inside, pulsing techno music provides an ominous soundtrack for the three actors, who are sitting onstage on a gray couch and are all mesmerized by their devices. Welcome to the zombies’ lair.

Well, two of the characters, Jane (Kiana Malu) and her partner Brandon (Heath Hyun Houghton), aren’t total zombies…yet. Jasper (Akitora Ishii), though, who lives with them (if you can call it living), has already lost his mind to video games and is incapable of doing much else.

Brandon, with his cheerfully smug refrain that he has “over 1,000 LinkedIn connections,” urges Jasper to create his own profile, get a job, and start paying his share of their expenses. Jane pleads with Jasper for the same reason and also because he’s her younger brother and she cares about him.

In an effort to extract Jasper from the clutches of game world, Jane convinces him

to do an online meditation with her. Houghton, doubling as the meditation guru, puts on a comically blissed-out voice that guides meditators to see a sheep: “The sheep is the light. You are also the light. Baaaaaaaaa.”

Needless to say, such ridiculousness doesn’t help Jasper or anyone else. In fact, Jasper eventually becomes so overwhelmed by his angst that he grasps his stomach and starts writhing on the floor and gasping for breath. Before long, the others join him, and the three characters jerk and roll like the damned souls depicted in Renaissance paintings of hell.

Having lost the ability to express original thoughts, the roomies’ dialogue becomes a collage comprising sounds taken from selfhelp, activist jargon, news and shopping sites: “Leonard Peltier,” “$9.99 a month” and “regular exercise” are just a few of their utterances.

What’s more, a figure who’s been lurking on a red-curtained platform descends to the stage. Dressed in a red jumpsuit and miles of chiffon ruffles, the unnamed character (played by Alanna Fagan) lurches around with arms upraised. As some sort of internet deity, the character keeps the others in her thrall, preventing them from unplugging their minds. When they try to resist her pull, she says, “I’ve already won.”

The grim finale recalls Hamlet’s high body count, but In a Different Reality is even more disturbing than that classic tragedy. Although technically alive, its characters are alone and reduced to texting OMG’s and

smiley faces until, presumably, they’ll all be ghosted someday.

Still, the production offers some signs of life. All the actors are impressive physical performers who add touches of humor, like when a clueless Jasper fumbles with a lint roller. And Malu, with her expressive voice, dyed red hair and bare arms, breathes some warmth into the cold cyber world.

Throughout the play, Y2K-era dial-up sounds beep away and projected images restlessly shift from traumatized faces to a game of solitaire and archaic Windows screens. Are they there to remind us of the origins of our current technological obsession? Yu seems more interested in creating questions than serving us answers.

As they leave the theater, some audience members may feel bludgeoned by Yu’s bleak vision, while others may be more determined than ever to embrace non-virtual reality. Which is maybe what Yu intended all along. Instead of offering hope, does he trust that we, unlike his characters, still have enough creativity and determination to find a way to resist the siren call of screens? If so, his play isn’t doomsday porn, but a rare act of optimism.

SEE IT: In a Different Reality She’s Clawing at the Walls plays at Shaking the Tree Theatre, 823 SE Grant St., 503-235-0635, shakingthe-tree.com. 7:30 pm Thursday–Saturday, 5 pm Sunday, through June 17. $5-$33. 16+.

MOVIES

Editor: Bennett Campbell Ferguson

Contact: bennett@wweek.com

Caffeine Connoisseurs

With their new docuseries Coffee Breath, Double J and Chris Flanagan capture the essence of Portland’s coffee culture.

BY ALEX BARR

It’s no secret that Portland is a coffee town. Whether you’re on Northwest Couch or Northeast Killingsworth, you’re nearly always a stone’s throw from a boutique cafe with new spins on caffeinated classics. And Coffee Breath, a new video series by Double J (aka Jason Johnson) and Chris Flanagan, explores the owners, baristas and consumers behind the Pacific Northwest coffee scene.

If you’re entrenched in the Portland coffee scene, you’ve likely heard of Double J, co-owner of Black Rabbit Service Co. Double J and Alex Lambert started the shop back in 2016 operating out of a garage. Today, they sell and repair equipment out of a 7,500-square-foot warehouse stocked floor to ceiling, excluding a small lounge and a couple of retro arcade games. From Black Rabbit’s inception, Double J set out to bring back-of-house workers into the forefront of coffee culture.

“ When we started Black Rabbit, we wanted to be a part of the community,” he says. “We wanted to have events and really open up what we do to people.”

Coffee Breath takes a similar approach. Modeled after Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations (which Double J appeared on for Season 2’s Pacific Northwest episode), the docuseries features Double J as host, while Flanagan captures the conversation-style interviews from behind the camera.

“ Watching food television progress to what it has become, we noticed that there’s no coffee or cafe show which is crazy,” Double J says. “It’s such a big part of people’s lives, and there’s no spotlight on this. And it’s not just Portland, it’s everywhere. Think about when you’re traveling somewhere. The first thing you’re figuring out is, where’s my cafe?”

Coffee Breath is a master class on knowing your shit but not taking yourself too seriously. Like many of the cafe owners he interviews, Double J began his coffee career at an early age. At 14, his parents bought a coffee shop and roasting company in Central California where he worked throughout his teenage years.

“I didn’t ever look at coffee and think this is my life,” he says. “At least, not at that age. I was really interested in food and moved to Portland to go to culinary school. But I worked in a coffee shop while I was going to culinary school, so I’ve always had one foot in the coffee thing.”

While highlighting the entrepreneurs working behind the scenes of Portland’s favorite coffee shops, Double J also considers how customers share an equal stake in shaping coffee culture.

“Cafes have always been a place for the weirdos, honestly,” he says. “It’s for young people because they can’t go to the bar and drink. So they gravitate towards coffee shops to socialize and meet people, and I think that just draws creativity and connection. Cafes are special because that community builds around them.”

With only two episodes out currently, Coffee Breath has already gained hundreds of subscribers and thousands of views. And Double J has big plans for the future.

“ We would love to be picked up and brought into the fold of a streaming network that already has a community of food and beverage people watching, whatever that may be: Food Network, Netflix, Bravo, you name it,” he says. “There’s so many out there right now, and I think what we’re doing fills a gap in that programming.”

SEE IT: Coffee Breath episodes stream at coffeebreathshow.com.

Class of 1999 (1990)

For a neck-snapping, class-cutting, shit-talking amalgam of RoboCop, Escape From New York and The Outsiders, you can’t do better than Class of 1999. This quasi-sequel to the more straightahead vigilante thriller Class of 1984 posits a sci-fi American educational hellscape where machine-gun-wielding leather gangs have taken over schools and all surrounding urban areas.

Do students and gang members still have to attend those schools every day, you ask? Absolutely. Especially now that the Department of Educational Defense has engineered three android “super-teachers,” played by exploitation super-actors Pam Grier, Patrick Kilpatrick and John P. Ryan.

With the endorsement of a cateyed tech overlord (Stacy Keach) and an overwhelmed Seattle principal (Malcolm McDowell), discipline has a creepy new face. Opposing this “fucked-up George Jetson nightmare” is Cody (Bradley Gregg), a freshly paroled punk who’s trying to exit his gang and date the principal’s daughter (Traci Lind).

Like any good exploitation movie, Class of 1999 carries a dash of truth—about teachers who fancy themselves cops and systems that treat schools as carceral pit stops. You also don’t need those notions to enjoy the snotty one-liners, the overqualified acting and the adolescent fantasy of a student-teacher rumble. Cinemagic, June 2.

ALSO PLAYING:

5th Avenue: Morvern Callar (2002), June 2-4. Academy: Time Bandits (1981), June 2-8. Cinema 21: Design for Living (1933), June 3. Cinemagic: A Goofy Movie (1995), June 3. Mr. Vampire (1985), June 7. Hollywood: Cleopatra Jones (1973), June 1. Wild at Heart (1990), June 2. Murder in the Front Row (2019), June 2. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), June 3. Death Becomes Her (1992), June 3. The Crow (1994), June 4. Highlander II: The Quickening (1991), June 6.

PHOTO: Caption tktktk

YOU HURT MY FEELINGS

Is Nicole Holofcener’s cup half-full or half-empty? Both, judging by You Hurt My Feelings, which she wrote and directed. This witty, perceptive film explores everyday dichotomies between truth and lies, encouragement and abuse, haves and have-nots. Beth (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who proves again she’s adept at serious comedy) and Don (Tobias Menzies) are a long-married couple so cozy with each other they don’t mind licking the same ice cream cone. But when Beth, a writer, overhears Don say he doesn’t like her newest manuscript (even though he’s repeatedly told her he loves it), she loses her trust in him and her own abilities. The film asks how much harm we cause by telling well-meant white lies; has Beth, for example, put too much pressure on their pot-selling son by cheerfully insisting he’s destined to do great things? As the daughter of a man who called her “stupid” and “shit for brains,” though, she’s still lacerated by the memory of her late father’s slurs. All the characters in the film get tangled in webs of self-doubt, while also recognizing their privilege in a melting world, as Beth’s sister, Sarah (played by a splendid Michaela Watkins), says. Still, private dramas matter, and when Beth cries over her husband’s betrayal, the psychic pain on her face is as real as any physical wound. R. LINDA FERGUSON. Bridgeport, Cascade, Cedar Hills, Cinema 21, Clackamas, Fox Tower, Movies on TV, Vancouver Mall.

THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS

The luminous cinematography of Ruben Impens takes the lead until filmmakers Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix van Groeningen allow their characters to wrestle it back in this adaptation of Paolo Cognetti’s 2016 novel, which took home a Jury Prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film embarks on a four-decade journey with Pietro (Lupo Barbiero), whom we first met as an 11-year-old city kid in 1984. His family has rented a house in a small mountain village for the summer. There, he’s introduced to the only other child in town, Bruno (Cristiano Sassella), who lives and works with his aunt and uncle. Each summer, Pietro returns, cultivating their friendship until they’re separated by diverging paths not of their choosing. Then, the boys reunite several years later, with unspoken envy frustrating any efforts to recapture that idyllic childhood connection. As the film progresses, the captivating imagery washes away, revealing a gruff reality resulting from the characters’ inability to communicate and the hidden traumas caused by their fathers. The oscillating nature of their friendship gets tedious over the two-and-a-half-hour runtime, but the film movingly explores family and identity, asking, “Can we truly ever go home again?”

NR. RAY GILL JR. Cinema 21.

FAST X

In this 10th Fast & Furious film, Vin Diesel neutralizes a bomb with a construction crane, John Cena disguises a spy plane as a canoe, and Jason Momoa paints the toenails of a corpse. Yet the real insanity was happening behind the camera. A week into filming, longtime Fast director Justin Lin quit the film, reportedly declaring, “This movie is not worth my mental health.” It was Lin who solidified the series’ signature blend of working-class vengeance (destroying a bank with a vault!), absurdist action (Ludacris and Tyrese in space!) and

ture of a disenfranchised Black millennial. Director Paul Schrader’s illustrious career (from writing Taxi Driver to directing First Reformed ) clearly hasn’t taught him much about women, but the deeper he digs into Narvel’s broken soul, the more persuasive Master Gardener becomes. “I was raised to hate people who were different than me,” Narvel says. Determined to nurture life instead of destroying it, he embraces gardening as both a path to joy and an act of penance. Can it lead to redemption? A radiant, hallucinatory image of Narvel surrounded by pink blossoms gleaming in the night offers hope. Master Gardener may not fully earn its tender conclusion, but its faith in the power of both plant and human life to radically transform is profoundly moving. At 76, Schrader has learned what many of his filmmaking peers never have: that dreaming up a happy ending, not unlike gardening, is hard and worthy work. R.

BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Laurelhurst.

SISU

impassioned

melodrama (family!). His journeyman replacement, Louis Leterrier (The Transporter), was never going to match Lin’s idiosyncratic flair, but he has made an appealingly sincere spectacle. This time, Dom Toretto (Diesel) and his family of street racers/de facto special forces agents are pursued by Dante (Momoa), a preening psychopath who vows vengeance on Dom for reasons too convoluted to explain here. Automotive insanity ensues, much of it rote; it’s touches of tenderness that make the movie—from a vignette about a grieving hotshot driver (Daniela Melchior) to a mid-car-chase testament of love from Cena’s Jakob to his brother Dom (“thank you for showing me the light”). There will never again be a Fast & Furious flick as gonzo and glorious as Tokyo Drift or Fast Five (even devout fans can sense the wind is no longer at the franchise’s back), but the series’ movingly messy humanity is intact. Which is another way of saying that Leterrier is at the wheel of a car that Lin built. PG-13.

BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON.

Cedar Hills, Cinemagic, City Center, Clackamas, Eastport, Evergreen Parkway, Fox Tower, Laurelhurst, Lloyd Center, Mill Plain, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, St. Johns Twin, Studio One.

THE LITTLE MERMAID

Disney’s ongoing project to make live-action adaptations of its animated classics has thus far delivered mixed results at the best of times, but it’s an especially risky move when the House of Mouse tackles projects from its Renaissance era. The early ’90s was when Disney perfected its formula for animated blockbusters, and works like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King remain indelible touchstones for a generation of filmgoers. 1989’s The Little Mermaid is no exception, and while its modern update holds up better than most, it still struggles to find its own identity. The story remains a bowdlerized

version of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale—a mermaid princess (Halle Bailey) goes against the demands of her overprotective father (Javier Bardem) and makes a Faustian bargain with a sea witch (Melissa McCarthy) to become human and win the heart of a handsome prince (Jonah Hauer-King)—with most of the film’s resources going to rendering the most vibrant and lush undersea world since Avatar: The Way of Water. Bailey’s performance is a stunning, starmaking endeavor, revealing her as a vividly talented name in the making (and her chemistry with Hauer-King helps sell the story). Plus, the filmmakers faithfully re-create iconic moments from the original in beautiful CGI, but it all can’t help but come off as a facsimile of a modern classic rather than anything experimental, challenging or bold. PG. MORGAN SHAUNETTE. Academy, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Eastport, Evergreen Parkway, Fox Tower, Joy Cinema, Lake Theater, Lloyd Center, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, St. Johns Twin, Studio One, Wunderland Milwaukie.

MASTER GARDENER

When devout gardener Narvel Roth (Joel Edgerton) wants his staff to inspect a handful of dirt, he tells them to smell and kiss the soil; inhale the scents of animal, vegetable and mineral, he insists. What drives such discipline? When we see the swastika tattoos covering Narvel’s back, we begin to understand. Once a white supremacist, Narvel turned on his fellow neo-Nazis. Now sequestered in a witness protection program, he quietly and diligently tends to Gracewood Gardens, the verdant estate of the imperious Norma Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver). Racially insensitive, sexually ravenous, and baffled by the internet, Norma is a crude caricature of a wealthy old white woman—just as her drug-addicted grandniece Maya (Quintessa Swindell) is a crude carica-

An absurd but fun piece of pulp, Sisu plays like a mix of a spaghetti Western, a World War II thriller, and John Wick (2014). The film reteams director Jalmari Helander and actor Jorma Tommila, who previously worked together on the Christmas horror film Rare Exports (2010). Tommila plays Aatami, a man of few words and many scars, who discovers a gold deposit during the Lapland War in 1944. He then comes in contact with a platoon of Nazis, led by the ruthless Bruno Helldorf (Aksel Hennie), who defies orders and sets his sights on Aatami’s gold, even after learning that Aatami is a former Finnish soldier nicknamed “The Immortal.” Most of Sisu finds Aatami killing off the Nazis in a variety of brutal ways as he protects his riches. He manages to outmaneuver the soldiers at nearly every turn; he even sets himself on fire at one point in order to stop a dog from attacking him. The last 20 minutes of Helander’s film gets a bit too ridiculous as Aatami reaches an almost superhero level. For much of its runtime, though, Sisu remains just believable enough to go along with as Helander keeps the creative and bloody action sequences coming. R. DANIEL RESTER. Eastport.

WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP

Ron Shelton’s 1992 film White Men Can’t Jump is a minor classic in the sports comedy genre. It features fire and charm in its dialogue and performances, with Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson an electric pair to watch. Director Calmatic’s remake, on the other hand, is a pale imitation of Shelton’s movie. Rapper Jack Harlow plays Jeremy, a basketball hustler who teams with Kamal (Sinqua Walls); the latter blew a chance at a professional career 10 years earlier, and the two enter basketball competitions in Los Angeles together, even as they confront crises on the home front. The basic framework of the original film still remains, but the screenplay is more conventional and many of its jokes fall flat. Walls turns in a solid performance, but Harlow is more hit and miss in his debut acting role, while the majority of the supporting cast plays characters who are cartoonish (though the late Lance Reddick is strong in a small role as Kamal’s father). And though some of the game scenes are impressive (Tommy Maddox-Upshaw’s cinematography gives the imagery a sun-kissed look), you’d be better off watching Shelton’s film instead if you’ve somehow missed it. R. DANIEL RESTER. Hulu.

: THIS MOVIE IS EXCELLENT, ONE OF THE BEST OF THE YEAR.

: THIS MOVIE IS GOOD. WE RECOMMEND YOU WATCH IT.

: THIS MOVIE IS ENTERTAINING BUT FLAWED.

: THIS MOVIE IS A STEAMING PILE.

JEONG PARK

by Jack Kent

JONESIN’

BY MATT JONES

ARIES (March 21-April 19): History tells us that Albert Einstein was a brilliant genius. After his death, the brain of the pioneer physicist was saved and studied for years in the hope of analyzing the secrets of why it produced so many great ideas. Science writer Stephen Jay Gould provided a different perspective. He said, "I am less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." I bring this to your attention, Aries, in the hope it will inspire you to pay closer attention to the unsung and underappreciated elements of your own life—both in yourself and the people around you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Human life sometimes features sudden reversals of fortune that may seem almost miraculous. A twist in my own destiny is an example. As an adult, I was indigent for 18 years—the most starving artist of all the starving artists I have ever known. Then, in the course of a few months, all the years I had devoted to improving my craft as a writer paid off spectacularly. My horoscope column got widely syndicated, and I began to earn a decent wage. I predict a comparable turn of events for you in the coming months, Taurus—not necessarily in your finances, but in a pivotal area of your life.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I am weary of gurus who tell us the ego is bad and must be shamed. In my view, we need a strong and healthy ego to fuel our quest for meaning. In that spirit and in accordance with astrological omens, I designate June as Celebrate Your Ego Month for you Geminis. You have a mandate to unabashedly embrace the beauty of your unique self. I hope you will celebrate and flaunt your special gifts. I hope you will honor your distinctive desires as the treasures they are. You are authorized to brag more than usual!

ties, including the power to heal and offer eternal youth. Sober scholars are more likely to say that the Holy Grail isn’t an actual physical object hidden away in a cave or catacomb, but a symbol of a spiritual awakening or an enlightening epiphany. For the purposes of your horoscope, I’m going to focus on the latter interpretation. I suspect you are gearing up for an encounter with a Holy Grail. Be alert! The revelations and insights and breakthroughs could come when you least expect them.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): June is Dare to Diminish Your Pain Month for you Scorpios. I hope you will aggressively pursue measures to alleviate discomfort and suffering. To address the physical variety, how about acupuncture or massage? Or supplements like boswellia, turmeric, devil's claw root, white willow bark, and omega-3 fatty acids? Other ideas: sunshine, heating pad, warm baths with Epsom salts, restorative sleep, and exercise that simulates natural endorphins. Please be equally dynamic in treating your emotional and spiritual pain, dear Scorpio. Spend as much money as you can afford on skillful healers. Solicit the help of empathetic friends. Pray and meditate. Seek out in activities that make you laugh.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): A hungry humpback whale can hold more than 15,000 gallons of water in its mouth at once—enough to fill 400 bathtubs. In a funny way, their ability reminds me of you right now. You, too, have a huge capacity for whatever you feel like absorbing and engaging with. But I suggest you choose carefully what you want to absorb and engage with. Be open and receptive to only the most high-quality stuff that will enrich your life and provide a lot of fun. Don’t get filled up with trivia and nonsense and dross.

ACROSS

1. Long Island resort town

6. Stereotypical librarian admonition

9. Disperse

14. Actress Kelly of "One Tree Hill"

15. Split tidbit

16. Garlicky spread

17. Like some religious schools

19. "Jurassic Park" actor Sam

20. Like trash that's tampered with?

22. Sit around

23. Negative vote

24. Got confused about the meaning of "horsepower" when fixing a car?

30. Wear down

31. "None of it is true!"

32. National Coming ___ Day

35. Actor Elwes

36. Watch brand featured in the movie "UHF"

38. "Render ___ Caesar ..."

39. ___-Therese, Quebec

40. DVR brand

41. Absurd

42. European capital in a bewildered state?

46. "The missing clue!"

47. Aunt Bee's grandnephew

48. What happened at the coronation of Charles III?

55. Put on a second time

56. Home to the Komodo dragon

58. ^ mark

59. "Lemonade" singer, to fans

60. Playful water dweller

61. Prepares for a boxing match

62. "Dynamite" K-pop group

63. Sports franchises

DOWN

1. Rapscallion

2. Reach the sky

3. 100 centesimi, once

4. Thatcher nickname

5. Box that gets shipped

6. Cactus features

7. Keep it under your hat

8. 30 minutes, in a handball match

9. Footwear for the beach

10. Retro fashion trend

11. Churn up

12. Glamour alternative

13. Feral

18. Atmospheric obscurer

21. Alphabetical listing

24. "Doritos & Fritos" duo

100 ___

25. "I smell ___!"

26. "Our Town" composer

Ned

27. Give permission for 28. Conk out

©2023 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800-655-6548. Reference puzzle #JNZ990.

29. Actor Logue who played himself on "What We Do in the Shadows"

33. ___ Reader (quarterly digest)

34. Open-___ shoes

36. Costa ___

37. Ab ___ (from inception)

38. Restore, in a way

40. Redbubble purchases

41. Emphatic denial

43. More woody-tasting, like wine

44. One of the Big Three credit rating agencies

45. Beehive, for instance

48. "Lord of the Rings" monsters

49. Jump like a frog

50. Olympic swimmer Torres

51. Bee Gees surname

52. Tech news website

53. "Como ___ usted?"

54. "Carpe ___!"

57. ___ gratia artis (MGM motto)

CANCER (June 21-July 22): One study reveals that British people own a significant amount of clothing they never wear. Other research suggests that the average American woman has over a hundred items of clothing but considers just 10 percent of them to be "wearable." If your relationship to your wardrobe is similar, Cancerian, it's a favorable time to cull unused, unliked, and unsuitable stuff. You would also benefit from a comparable approach to other areas of your life. Get rid of possessions, influences, and ideas that take up space but serve no important purpose and are no longer aligned with who you really are.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In July 1969, Leo astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on the moon. But he almost missed his chance. Years earlier, his original application to become part of NASA's space exploration team arrived a week past the deadline. But Armstrong's buddy, Dick Day, who worked at NASA, sneaked it into the pile of applications that had come in time. I foresee the possibility of you receiving comparable assistance, Leo. Tell your friends and allies to be alert for ways they might be able to help you with either straightforward or surreptitious moves.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Great shearwaters are birds that travel a lot, covering 13,000 miles every year. From January to March, they breed in the South Atlantic Ocean, about halfway between Africa and South America. Around May, they fly west for a while and then head north, many of them as far as Canada and Greenland. When August comes, they head east to Europe, and later they migrate south along the coast of Africa to return to their breeding grounds. I am tempted to make this globetrotting bird your spirit creature for the next 12 months. You may be more inclined than ever before to go on journeys, and I expect you will be well rewarded for your journeys. At the very least, I hope you will enjoy mind-opening voyages in your imagination.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): One of the central myths of Western culture is the Holy Grail. For over 800 years, storytellers have spun legends about the search for a precious chalice with magical quali-

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Funny story: A renowned Hollywood movie mogul was overheard at a dinner party regaling an aspiring actor with a long monologue about his achievements. The actor couldn't get in a word edgewise. Finally, the mogul paused and said, "Well, enough about me. What do you think of me?" If I had been in the actor’s place, I might have said, “You, sir, are an insufferable, grandiose, and boring narcissist who pathologically overestimates your own importance and has zero emotional intelligence.” The only downside to speaking my mind like that would be that the mogul might ruin my hopes of having a career in the movie business. In the coming weeks, Capricorn, I hope you will consistently find a middle ground between telling the brazen truth to those who need to hear it and protecting your precious goals and well-being.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): When faced with important decisions, most of us benefit from calling on all forms of intelligence. Simply consulting our analytical mind is not sufficient. Nor is checking in with only our deep feelings. Even drawing from our spunky intuition alone is not adequate. We are most likely to get practical clarity if we access the guidance of our analytical mind, gut feelings, and sparkly intuition. This is always true, but it’s extra relevant now. You need to get the full blessing of the synergistic blend.

PS: Ask your body to give you a few hints, too!

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Has your intuition been nudging you to revise and refine your sense of home? Have you been reorganizing the domestic vibes and bolstering your stability? I hope so. That’s what the cosmic rhythms are inviting you to do. If you have indeed responded to the call, congratulations. Buy yourself a nice homecoming present. But if you have resisted the flow of life’s guidance, please take corrective measures. Maybe start by reorganizing the décor and furniture. Clean up festering messes. Say sweet things to your housemates and family members. Manage issues that may be restricting your love of home.

Homework: Tell a loved one a good secret about them.

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"Now in 3-D"--I think it's solid reasoning.

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