UPDATE, 12/3/06: Green Is the New Red cites the Schumacher Furs case as an example of how legal, nonviolent protest is being decried as “terrorism” by those “animal enterprises” which were deemed worthy of an extra level of protection via AETA. You can read the whole post here.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: In Defense of Animals – takeaction [at] idausa.org
Date: Nov 29, 2006 5:45 PM
Subject: Writing Alert: Fur store says it’s had enough

The Portland Oregonian published an article on the announcement by Schumacher Furs that after a year of anti-fur protests, they will be moving their store.

Please write a letter to the editor of the Oregonian on the inherent cruelty of killing animals for fur.

Send letters via letters [at] news.oregonian.com. You can also fax or postal mail your letters to:

Letters to the editor
The Oregonian
1320 S.W. Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
FAX: (503) 294-4193

You can read “Fur store Says its had enough” online here.

Fur store says it’s had enough

Downtown – Hounded by protesters and citing safety issues, Schumacher is pulling out of Portland after 111 years

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

by SPENCER HEINZ and SETH PRINCE

Schumacher Furs & Outerwear, after 111 years of business and one solid year of fervent animal-rights protests, is hanging it up in Portland.

Owner Gregg Schumacher, who depicts the city’s core as dangerous and not conducive to retailers, said Tuesday that he’s moving his shop to the suburbs, though he wouldn’t say where.

“We’re leaving downtown Portland because we feel that it’s losing its appeal for people to shop in” said Schumacher, 51, rattling off a list of what he called his customers’ complaints. “The panhandling, the musicians on the street, the urination in the parking garages. Yes, the protests. But the whole place is not conducive to running a retail operation.”

Officials from City Hall to the Portland Business Alliance, while making it clear they’re sad to see downtown lose any merchant, particularly such a longtime institution, called Schumacher’s claims, in effect, bunk.

They pointed to recent commitments by Macy’s and Nordstrom to revitalize their downtown stores. More broadly, Schumacher’s comments stand in stark contrast to what many view as a thriving downtown, from the recent maturing of the Pearl District to the start of a projected $2 billion South Waterfront district.

City Commissioner Randy Leonard, who said he’d offered to help Schumacher and his wife, Linda, after the protests started last November, recalled how quickly he came to regret the move.

“I honestly had never been involved in anything in which I felt like the folks I was trying to help did not want to be helped,” Leonard said.

“The Schumachers carry at minimum — at minimum — equal responsibility for what happened outside their store,” Leonard said. “I think the case could be made they did what they could to fan the flames at every opportunity.”

As vice president of downtown services for the business alliance, Mike Kuykendall has been intimately involved in working with the Schumachers in the past year. But he balked at Gregg Schumacher’s description of downtown.

“It’s unfortunate Mr. Schumacher has been the target of this group, and it’s a shame that it happened,” he said. He cited a poll last year in which 94 percent of members of the downtown business improvement district called the area safe or very safe.

In some ways, what’s played out the past year at Southwest Ninth Avenue and Morrison Street has been a faceoff of sorts of Portland’s past and present. On one side there are the high-end shoppers who frequent a boutique where most items range from $900 to $7,000, and a sable coat can set you back $150,000. On the other are the activists who take up causes large and small to, in their minds, make the world a better place.

Portland police said the protests, which have resulted in 13 arrests since last December, usually involved eight to 12 people on Saturday afternoons. Last Friday, however, about 200 activists with a parade permit started at the storefront, worked their way up Morrison, back down Yamhill and then back in front of the store. After disbanding, some stuck around to protest for hours. Police reported no incidents from the march.

Mike Reese, commander of Central Precinct, said the demonstrations have strained police resources. “We’re always on minimum staffing, so I’m almost always hiring them on overtime,” he said, offering a calculation that would put total police cost around $25,000.

As Northwest outreach coordinator for In Defense of Animals, Matt Rossell became the public face of the weekly protests in many ways.

He said some activists might view Schumacher’s decision to leave the city limits by spring as a victory. His group, however, isn’t satisfied.

“The message that has been delivered over the past year has been hugely successful . . .,” Rossell said. “Possibly downtown Portland isn’t a place for such an unfriendly-to-animal business to exist.”

“I’m sure he’ll try to present himself as a victim, as he always does,” Rossell said of Schumacher. “The reality, though, is the animals are the victims, not Gregg Schumacher.”

Spencer Heinz: 503-221-8072; spencerheinz [at] news.oregonian.com
Seth Prince: 503-221-8172; sethprince [at] news.oregonian.com

Please visit www.furkills.org for information to help you draft your letter and include your full name, address, and daytime phone number (for verification only – street names and phone numbers will not be published). Please limit letters to 150 words.

Thank you for writing and good luck!

Sincerely,

Kristie Phelps
Communications Director

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for In Defense of Animals Action Center.

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization with more than 85,000 members and supporters dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by protecting their rights and welfare. IDA’s efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our sanctuaries in Mississippi and Cameroon, Africa.

In Defense of Animals 3010 Kerner Blvd., San Rafael, California 94901 – P: (415) 388-9641 F: (415) 388-0388

email: ida [at] idausa.org

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Tagged: animals animal+rights action+alerts ida in+defense+of+animals fur protests Schumacher+Furs

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