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Copyright 1995 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
The San Francisco Chronicle
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DECEMBER 11, 1995, MONDAY, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1
LENGTH: 1108 words
HEADLINE: An End to Innocence
Killing of lesbians rattles Oregon town
BYLINE: David Tuller, Chronicle Staff
Writer
DATELINE: Medford, Ore.
BODY:
The brutal killings of
two lesbian activists, who were eulogized yesterday afternoon in an emotional
church service, have been another harsh blow to this old-time mill town
close to the California border.
To local gays and lesbians, the slaying last
week of Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill is a bitter reminder
that not everybody welcomes their presence. To other residents, the killings
are one more sign that Medford's small- town innocence is gone for good.
In a score of interviews along Main Street,
in shops and a local logger bar, longtime residents portrayed a city struggling
to cope with forces outside its control: an influx of newcomers, skyrocketing
real estate prices, the loss of thousands of timber jobs, and malls blooming
where pear orchards once stood.
They spoke of a marked increase in violence
and gang warfare, of drugs readily available in the schools. And many
of them blame ex-Californians, and other outsiders, for the changes.
At Mutt's Tavern on McAndrews Street, bathroom
graffiti read ''Go back to California, Yuppie'' and ''Don't Californiate
Oregon.''
''It used to be you could leave your guns
in your rig unlocked, and nobody would touch it,'' said Mike Henagin,
an equipment operator at a local mill who was nursing a beer at the bar.
''Now you can't go down the block without getting something ripped off.
The town's getting bigger, and everything comes with that. So these murders
don't surprise me.''
Outside Evangel Book and Bible House, a group
of teenagers and young adults said that they were not yet convinced that
the women were killed because of their sexual orientation. Gangs spreading
drugs and random violence have moved up from California, they said. Mike,
20, said that many kids now call the town ''Methford,'' since drugs like
methamphetamines are more available than ever.
''I don't recognize people, and I don't recognize
their attitudes,'' added his friend Keitha, 17. ''For people who have
grown up here, it's a shock.''
BLAMING CALIFORNIA
Amy Crider, a bartender at Mutt's Tavern,
said that many locals even think that Californians are responsible for
the greater visibility of homosexuals in the community.
''A lot of people are not too happy about
this new gay rights,'' she said while serving pitchers of Budweiser. ''I've
heard them say that they think the gays are coming from San Francisco.
They're wrong, but that's what they think.''
Ellis and Abdill were from Colorado, not
California. Ironically, they moved to southern Oregon five years ago in
search of a place where they could live more openly as lesbians.
Medford police continued their investigation
yesterday but did not release any new information. Police say they are
considering the possibility that the killings were related to the two
women's gay rights activism but are investigating other possibilities
as well.
Police are looking to question a gray-haired
man wearing wire rim glasses and driving a blue sedan with California
plates.
GAY COMMUNITY STUNNED
The killings have stunned the gay and lesbian
community in Medford and nearby Ashland, a more upscale and tourist-oriented
town. More than 250 people -- many wearing lavender armbands and buttons
with the slogan ''Medford . . . Hate-Free Zone'' -- attended a moving
service yesterday at the Medford Congregational Church.
As listeners in the overflowing pews wept
and daubed their eyes, friends and colleagues of the women extolled their
courage, warmth and generosity. ''I am a scientist,'' said speaker Mark
MacDougall, a gay man. ''I believe in what I can see. For that reason,
I believe in angels. I did see them -- their names were Roxanne and Michelle.''
Lorri Ellis, Roxanne's daughter, read a note
of gentle guidance and parental praise that her mother had given her.
''It's not an easy journey to adulthood, but you arrived with flying colors,''
she read, her head bowed and her voice quavering.
Brenda Brown, a board member of the Lambda
Community Center Association, said she viewed the women as role models
who had touched the lives of many beyond the gay and lesbian community.
Brown added that she had been overwhelmed
by the outpouring of support from other townspeople, local businesses
and the police.
''The love and compassion that I felt (from
them) makes me proud to live here,'' she said, drawing sustained applause.
But few in the audience yesterday could forget
that for Medford, as for the rest of Oregon, homosexuality has been a
contentious issue for years.
In both 1992 and 1994, Oregon voters rejected
statewide ballot measures that would have barred the state and any of
its cities from enacting gay rights laws. In Jackson County, where both
Medford and Ashland are located, a majority voted in favor of the 1994
measure.
The Oregon Citizens Alliance, the religious
right group that sponsored both measures, bolstered support for its efforts
by tapping into Oregonians anti-California feeling and their concern about
outsiders bringing unwanted change.
Flyers distributed by the organization --
whose founder Lon Mabon is from Southern California -- described local
efforts to introduce counseling programs for gay teenagers as inspired
by a similar program in Los Angeles. The group's literature also claimed
that acceptance of gay rights has turned San Francisco into ''a haven
for sexual perversions of every kind, including sadomasochism and pedophilia.''
Emotions around the issue of change in general
and homosexuality in particular remain heated. Many Medford residents
only need to look a dozen miles down the freeway to the liberal bastion
of Ashland to view what they fear is the future.
Nationally known for its Shakespeare Festival,
Ashland became a popular tourist spot during the 1980s. In the past 10
years, said Rich Havenan, a real estate agent with Ashland Homes, the
price of the average home has jumped from about $ 75,000 to about $ 160,000.
Close to half of his clients are from California, and the boom has spread
to other nearby towns.
''Old-timers can't believe what is happening
with the prices,'' he said. ''Local people don't go downtown anymore.
It's all shops and real estate offices and boutiques.''
Tom Mockry, a former mill worker who lives
just outside of Medford, said he stays away from Ashland as much as possible
and plans to leave Medford if the pace of chance continues.
''I think of Ashland as kind of a little
San Francisco,'' he said. ''They've got their theater, they've got gay
bars, and lots of Californians. I think we ought to give the city to California.''
GRAPHIC: PHOTO,Dan Abdill, brother
of slain Michelle Abdill, and Lorri Ellis, daughter of slain Roxanne
Ellis, and her daughter, Hannah, 3, grieved at the memorial services in
Medford , BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: December 11, 1995
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