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MINUTES <br /> <br /> Eugene City Council <br /> Work Session <br /> McNutt Room--City Hall <br /> January 24, 2000 <br /> 5:30 p.m. <br /> <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bobby Lee, Betty Taylor, Nancy Nathanson, Pat Fart, Scott <br /> Meisner, David Kelly, Gary Rayor, Gary Pap~. <br /> <br />Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey introduced Tom Tallon, the City's new Fire Chief. Mr. Tallon was welcomed by the <br />council. He stated he was happy to be in Eugene and looked forward to working with the council. <br /> <br />A. Work Session on Hate Crimes <br /> <br />Marcy Middleton, chair of the Eugene Human Rights Commission, thanked the mayor and council for <br />allowing the commission to make its presentation. <br /> <br />Ms. Middleton introduced Michele Lefkowith of the Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity. Ms. Lefkowith <br />noted that she was also involved with Communities Against Hate and would soon take a position with the <br />Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity. Those organizations were part of an international network of human <br />rights organizations and activists monitoring the factions of the white supremacy movement. <br /> <br />Ms. Lefkowith described various hate groups active throughout the United States and in Oregon, reporting <br />that there had been an increase in hate crimes nationally and locally, and the white supremacy movement was <br />growing. She said that increasingly, such groups were using the Internet more to reach people and targeting <br />young people through the use of music, which could also be used to raise money for the groups. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson and Mr. Rayor arrived at the meeting. <br /> <br />Ms. Lefkowith described several examples of the increase in local bias crime and the individuals <br />involved in those crimes. <br /> <br />Mr. Fart arrived at the meeting. <br /> <br />Ms. Lefkowith discussed hate crimes activity up and down the I-5 corridor in Oregon, saying that <br />there had been a dramatic increase throughout the state with connections to California white <br />supremacists who had come from that state's prison system. She said that a Portland white <br />supremacist organization had an active affiliate in Eugene and was running a campaign to recruit <br />inmates in the prison system. She suggested that many people convicted of hate crimes in the <br />late 1980s and early 1990s were soon to be released from prison, which could lead to an even <br />more dramatic increase in hate crimes. <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 24, 2000 Page 1 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />