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Family, friends bewildered by man's rampage (The Oregonian recounts a case of
demon rum turning "a nice guy" from Bend, Adam M. Gantenbein, into a would-be
cop killer - and then a corpse.)

The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/

Family, friends bewildered by man's rampage

* Those who knew the slain Bend man as a nice guy fail to understand how he
could use his vehicle to ram two police cars

Saturday February 20, 1999

By Gordon Gregory
Correspondent
The Oregonian

BEND -- Police on Friday released more details of a bizarre incident early
Thursday that ended the life of a 21-year-old man.

Now officials, as well as the family and friends of Adam M. Gantenbein, must
try to reconcile the young man's affable image with the violent actions
police say led to his death.

Gantenbein, a 1996 graduate of Jesuit High School in Beaverton, who attended
a spiritual retreat and volunteered at a coastal camp for disabled children,
was known by many as an exceptionally friendly, athletic person who was far
more prone to show warmth than anger.

"We're absolutely heartbroken, absolutely devastated," said Michele McGrain
of Beaverton, whose son was a schoolmate and teammate of Gantenbein.

"He was just a fabulous kid, full of life. Everybody loved him. He was
everybody's friend."

But about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, Bend police encountered a different
Gantenbein, who had moved to Bend about three months ago from Portland.

Police gave the following account of the incident:

Bend police Sgt. Sandra Baxter, a 20-year police veteran, tried to stop the
1996 Jeep Gantenbein was driving for a traffic violation. Gantenbein had two
friends with him at the time. All had been drinking.

Gantenbein refused to stop and instead sped off, driving erratically and
striking a chain-link fence at a car dealership on Burnside Road. There,
Baxter approached Gantenbein's vehicle. At this time, Gantenbein's two
friends, whose names were not released, jumped out of the Jeep and ran
toward Baxter, one asking for protection and saying he wanted no part of
Gantenbein.

Now alone, Gantenbein sped away. A short time later, Baxter and two officers
in two other patrol vehicles boxed Gantenbein on Third Street in front of a
Safeway market.

With Gantenbein stopped, Baxter again approached him on foot. Gantenbein
then attempted to run over Baxter with his vehicle. She was not hurt.

Gantenbein then smashed his Jeep into the two patrol cars driven by officers
assisting Baxter, ramming one and then the other. He hit one car so hard the
impact knocked the patrol vehicle backward at least 10 feet.

Officer Albert Campbell, a 10-year police officer, attempted to get out of
his vehicle, but became caught between his door and his vehicle, putting him
in a vulnerable position.

Officers Campbell and Mike Hartman then fired a number of shots at
Gantenbein, hitting him inside his vehicle. He died at the scene.

Police say Gantenbein was not trying to escape when he rammed the patrol
cars, but appeared to be using his Jeep as a weapon against the officers.

Police Capt. John Maniscalco said intoxicants appeared to be a factor. "We
believe that at least alcohol was involved."

But what drove Gantenbein to such actions was apparently still a mystery Friday.

The three police officers were placed on administrative leave. An autopsy by
the state medical examiner's office in Portland was to be conducted Friday.
It is expected that a Deschutes County grand jury will hear the case next
week to determine if officers acted legally.

What might be more difficult to understand is why the young man acted as he did.

The son of a former Portland police officer who also worked with the
Portland Public Schools police force, Gantenbein was known as a kind,
remarkably friendly person.

Jesuit High students learned of Gantenbein's death Friday morning from
administrators. Current Jesuit students who remembered him grieved and
visited with clergy. Faculty members who taught him were "very upset" by the
news, said Principal Sandy Satterberg.

The private Catholic high school hasn't experienced a death in several
years, she said. Most recently, in 1992, the school grieved for student
Corey Fay, who became lost while elk hunting east of Mount Hood. His remains
were found 10 months later.

That tragedy and the loss of Gantenbein hits hard at the school, which is
known to have a strong sense of community.

"He was a very well-liked young man," Satterberg said of Gantenbein.

While at Jesuit, Gantenbein was involved in football, basketball and
baseball. That's the way another 1996 graduate, Sean Milstead, remembers his
classmate.

"He was this tall, kind, giant of a nice guy who was always active in
sports," said Milstead, a University of Oregon student who found his niche
in Jesuit's drama department.

He described Gantenbein as gentle and fun-loving and was surprised to hear
that the person he knew briefly fled police in his car and tried to run down
an officer approaching him on foot. "He was always a gentleman around
campus. . . . This is totally out of character of how I knew him three years
ago."

Gantenbein's family will hold a memorial for him at 3 p.m. Sunday in the
Jesuit High School Chapel.

Gillian Gaynair of The Oregonian staff contributed to this report.

Do you have news of Crook, Deschutes, Jefferson, Lake or northern Klamath
counties? You can reach Gordon Gregory at 541-504-9106 or by e-mail at
ggg@bendnet.com.

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The Oregon Case Federal Grand Jury (The Houston Chronicle says U.S. District
Judge Sim Lake refused Friday to issue a gag order sought by six fired
Houston prohibition agents involved in the fatal shooting of Pedro Oregon
Navarro, and denied their request that they not be deposed by the family's
lawyers until a federal criminal investigation of the incident is complete.
Also on Friday, Oregon's brother-in-law and a family friend, both of whom
were in his apartment the night agents burst in without a warrant, testified
before the federal grand jury that began investigating the shooting this
week.)

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 16:37:44 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US TX: The Oregon Case Federal Grand Jury
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: GALAN@prodigy.net (G. A ROBISON)
Pubdate: Sat, 20 Feb 1999
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Copyright: 1999 Houston Chronicle
Author: ED ASHER

THE OREGON CASE FEDERAL GRAND JURY

A federal judge refused Friday to issue a gag order sought by six
police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Pedro Oregon and
denied their request to order that they not be deposed by the family's
lawyers until a federal criminal investigation of the incident is complete.

Also on Friday, Oregon's brother-in-law and a family friend, both of
whom were in his apartment the night he was killed, testified before
the federal grand jury that began investigating the shooting this week.

Oregon, 22, was shot 12 times in a July 12 drug raid at his apartment.
He was hit nine times in the back, once in the back of the head, once
in the back of a shoulder and once in the back of a hand.

The officers, who had no warrant, have said Oregon pointed a gun at
them. Although a gun was found in the apartment, it had not been
fired. No drugs were found.

Five of the officers were nobilled by a state grand jury for their
roles in the shooting; the sixth was indicted on a misdemeanor
criminal trespass charge.

In his ruling on the gag order, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake said he
had to balance the officers' right to a fair trial against the
family's First Amendment right to free speech. The officers said the
family's lawyers have been making prejudicial statements to the news
media.

"Although there has been considerable publicity about this case, I'm
not persuaded the publicity will affect the defendants' right to a
fair trial," Lake said.

Instead, he cautioned all lawyers involved that professional ethics
prohibit public statements that could affect the fairness of a trial.

The officers also wanted Lake to issue an order specifically allowing
them to invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination
when they are asked questions by the family's lawyers in a pending
civil suit against the city.

The judge agreed that they have that right under the Fifth Amendment,
but said they did not need a court order to invoke it.

Although Lake's ruling clears the way for depositions and discovery to
begin, the officers presumably will simply invoke the Fifth Amendment
when questioned.

Lake also denied a routine motion by the city of Houston to dismiss
the case.

The family's lawyers were pleased with the rulings.

"It was a good day," Oregon family attorney Richard Mithoff
said.

"(Judge Lake) made clear what the law is, and that is they are
entitled to claim the Fifth Amendment. But we are entitled to proceed
with our discovery, to ask questions of the officers and to let them
claim Fifth Amendment if they so choose."

Robert Thomas, the attorney for four of the six officers, said he is
ready to proceed with the civil case.

"We're going to trial. We're ready to go forward. We will work hard
and we look forward to our day in court," Thomas.

Thomas said "several" of the officers had not fired their guns at all,
but he declined to elaborate.

Also expressing satisfaction with the day's events was Gilberto
Velarde Meixueiro, in charge of the protection division of the Mexican
Consulate in Houston, which is monitoring the case.

"It shows that it is possible to obtain justice in the States,"
Velarde said. "Pedro Oregon was a Mexican who we believe was unfairly
killed."

Salvador Lopez, Oregon's brother-in-law, and Nellie Mejia, the
girlfriend of one of Oregon's brothers, testified before the grand
jury. Their lawyer declined to say what they had told the panel.

About two dozen people demonstrated outside the federal courthouse as
the grand jury took testimony. Several held placards reading, "End the
cover-up. Justice for Pedro Oregon. Indict the killer cops."

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16-year-old To Be Tried As Adult On Cocaine, Marijuana Charges (The Daily
Herald, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, says Richardo Marquez, a 16-year-old
McHenry County youth, recently found out he would be prosecuted as an adult
on drug charges, meaning he faces a minimum prison term of 9 years and a
maximum of 40.)

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 18:33:31 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US IL: 16-year-old To Be Tried As Adult On Cocaine, Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Steve Young
Pubdate: Sat, 20 Feb 1999
Source: Daily Herald (IL)
Copyright: 1999 The Daily Herald Company
Contact: fencepost@dailyherald.com
Website: http://www.dailyherald.com/
Author: Bill Cole

16-YEAR-OLD TO BE TRIED AS ADULT ON COCAINE, MARIJUANA CHARGES

A 16-year-old McHenry County youth facing drug charges recently found out
he would be prosecuted as an adult. On Thursday, he was indicted by a grand
jury on a Class X felony charge carrying a minimum prison term of 9 years
and maximum of 40 years.

Richardo Marquez, of 2077 Stonelake Drive in Woodstock, was charged with
intent to deliver and possession counts involving 7 ounces of cocaine and a
pound of marijuana prosecutors say was found Dec. 3 in the apartment shared
by Marquez, his father, Manuel, and older brother, Manuel Jr.

The cocaine charge is a Class X felony, while the marijuana charge is a
Class 3 felony.

The arrests were made as the result of a North Central Narcotics Task Force
undercover operation that netted more than a dozen people.

Manuel Marquez and Manuel Marquez Jr. were previously indicted on the same
charges, said Phillip A. Prossnitz, chief of the McHenry County State's
Attorney's gangs and drugs division.

Drug agents who searched the Marquezes' apartment found the marijuana
hidden in a couch and $20,000 worth of cocaine in a storage locker just
outside the patio door, Prossnitz said.

According to prosecutors, Richardo Marquez took responsibility, saying
"It's mine" after the drugs were found.

"Initially, we thought he was trying to fall on the sword for family
members," Prossnitz said.

However, at juvenile proceedings to transfer Richardo Marquez to adult
court, an accused drug deal broker said Marquez was regularly involved in
selling cocaine.

"I believe these three defendants should be tried jointly, as it was a
cooperative operation," Prossnitz said.

Richardo Marquez will be transferred from juvenile detention on Wednesday,
when he is expected to be arraigned.

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Scientists Urge Presidential Order for Marijuana Testing (A list subscriber
posts a press release from the Federation of American Scientists web site
saying the group today urged President Clinton to instruct the National
Institutes of Health to carry out research on marijuana wherever there are
prima facie indications of possible efficacy, without waiting for the
Institute of Medicine to complete a study focused on a review of relevant
literature.)

From: FilmMakerZ@aol.com
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 03:01:04 EST
Subject: Scientists Urge Presidential Order for Marijuana Testing

http://www.fas.org/drugs/medmar.htm

For immediate release

Scientists Urge Presidential Order for Marijuana Testing

The Federation of American Scientists today urged President Clinton to
instruct the National Institutes of Health to carry out research on
marijuana wherever there are "prima facie" indications of possible
efficacy, without waiting for the Institute of Medicine to complete a
study focused on a review of relevant literature.

FAS President Jeremy J. Stone said: "Marijuana research has not taken
place primarily for political reasons. It will not occur without
specific instructions from the President. The secondary reason for the
shortage of scientific research lies in certain cannabis related
difficulties in designing appropriate experiments. But we have no doubt
that these experiments can be developed if NIH is instructed to try. The
least important function is to search the literature. In fact IOM should
be instructed, as part of its 18-month study, to help NIH design
suitable experiments."

FAS is a 51 year old civic organization of natural and social scientists
and engineers devoted to the proper use of science and to global
security. Sponsored by 45 Nobel Prize winners, FAS works on a wide range
of science and society issues.

for more information contact
Jeremy J. Stone (202) 546-3300

***

Marijuana Research Requires Presidential Instruction to NIH

The Federation of American Scientists calls on the President to instruct
the director of the National Institutes of Health to carry out research
on the possible medical uses of whole cannabis (marijuana) designed to
produce definitive findings, positive or negative, in every instance for
which there are prima facie indications of possible efficacy. Those
indications include anti-emetic effects for patients undergoing cancer
chemotherapy and appetite enhancement for persons with the wasting syndrome
of AIDS, the two indications for which the oral Marinol pill has already
been approved. NIH should also be asked to develop and evaluate methods other
than smoking for the inhaled administration of the therapeutically
active chemicals in whole cannabis.

Such Presidential instruction is essential to ensure that the NIH carry
out the necessary research. Such research need not await completion of
the 18 month research of the existing literature by the Institute of
Medicine that has just been announced. And that review is, in any case,
no substitute for long awaited experiments.

Even if cannabis were not a controlled substance, it would fare poorly
under the current drug research and approval regime, which is why
Presidential direction is essential. As a crude plant substance
containing a mixture of active agents, and even more as something taken
by smoking, it does not fit the profile of a pharmaceutical: it
resembles, rather, a folk remedy. Its natural variability and the
patient-to-patient variability in how it is smoked makes carefully
controlled research difficult, and its strong psychoactivity makes
"double-blind" technique (where neither researcher nor subject knows
whether the real drug or an inert placebo is being administered)
virtually impossible. In any case, no scientist's career will be
advanced by carefully measuring whether inhaling the vapor from plant
material has fewer side-effects than swallowing a pill containing one of
its active agents, and research directed at that question will receive
low scores in the NIH peer-review process.

For most drugs, the incentive to do research comes from the
pharmaceutical companies who hope to profit from being able to market
them under patent protection. However, cannabis cannot be patented, and
no corporation has the financial incentive to perform the millions of
dollars' worth of experimentation required for FDA approval of a new
drug.

Lawsuits and legislative efforts to "reschedule" cannabis from Schedule
I of the Controlled Substances Act ("no medical utility" and therefore
banned entirely) to Schedule II (recognized medical use but high abuse
potential and therefore available but under tight regulation) would not
resolve the problem. As long as it is a controlled substance, it is
available only from a pharmacy by prescription and its manufacture
requires a Federal license; but until it is approved by FDA, no license
to produce it will be forthcoming and no pharmacy will be allowed to
carry it. Only medical research will be able to make the drug legally
available to patients, if it passes the FDA's strict tests.

Despite its disadvantages as a research topic and commercial venture,
whole cannabis may turn out to have considerable clinical utility. To
find out, there will have to be a concerted research effort. The
benefits to patients, should cannabis be found safe and effective for
one or more conditions, are obvious. But with tens of thousands of
persons in the United States using marijuana because they believe that
it has medicinal value, such an effort would be worth its costs even if
all of its findings were negative.

The President should also instruct the NIH and the Food and Drug
Administration to make efforts to enroll seriously ill patients whose
physicians believe that whole cannabis would be helpful to their
conditions in clinical trials, both to allow data-gathering and to
provide an alternative to the black market while scientific questions
about the possible utility of cannabis are resolved.

FAS Executive Committee.

***

BACKGROUND

While the primary active agent in marijuana, delta-9
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is legally available in capsule form, the
plant material itself has no approved medical application. THC has been
approved for treatment of the nausea and vomiting that are frequent
side-effects of cancer chemotherapy and for appetite enhancement for
persons with AIDS, who often suffer from weight loss as a result of lack
of appetite. But oral administration is lower-acting and less
predictable in its effects than inhalation, and some patients find the
pure THC to be more psychologically disconcerting than using the plant
material; one published paper provides evidence that while THC itself
tends to induce anxiety, while another chemical present in marijuana,
cannabidiol, tends to relieve it. In addition, the legal capsules are
substantially more expensive dose for dose than black-market marijuana.

Against this must be weighed the risks of inhalation: imprecision as to
dose due both to natural variation in the plant material and
patient-to-patient variation in inhalation technique, and the general
risks of smoking anything. (Cannabis smoke contains much the same mix of
toxic and carcinogenic chemicals as tobacco smoke.) While it is possible
to volatilize the active chemicals in cannabis without burning the plant
matrix (by supplying heat externally), there are no published studies of
methods of doing so or their side-effect profiles.

In a study of oncologists (cancer specialists) conducted in 1990, more
than 40% of respondents reported having recommended cannabis to one or
more patients, and the majority of respondents who expressed any opinion
said they thought it was safe and effective as an anti-nausea agent. The
extent to which the subsequent introduction of other new compounds for
that purpose might have changed those opinions is unknown.

There have been claims, based on patient reports, that marijuana is
helpful in the management of migraine headaches and in relieving the
muscle spasm that often accompanies multiple sclerosis and paralysis due
to spinal cord injuries. It has also been asserted to be useful for a
wide range of other maladies, including glaucoma. Cannabis (the plant's
botanical and medical name) was in widespread medical use during the
nineteenth century, and remained in the United States Pharmacopoeia
until its effective prohibition by the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937.

A small number of patients receive marijuana from the Federal government
under what is called the "compassionate IND" program, but that program
was closed to new participants in 1991.

One research protocol that planned to compare smoked whole cannabis with
oral THC in AIDS patients has been stalled for two years. After securing
private funding and receiving all of the required approvals from a human
subjects committee, the California Research Advisory Panel (a state body
that regulates all research with forbidden substances), and the Food and
Drug Administration, the researchers have been unable to acquire
cannabis legally.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) refuses to supply any of the
cannabis it purchases from the one legal supplier of the drug for
research, and that supplier (part of the University of Mississippi)
refuses to sell to anyone but NIDA. NIDA officials based their refusal
on scientific grounds, including the study's small sample size:
something the California Research Advisory Panel had insisted on as a
condition of approving the study.

The result amounts to governmental censorship of scientific
investigation. NIDA's role in supporting the drug abuse prevention
effort creates a conflict of interest when it is given authority to
approve or forbid research that might lead to changes in attitudes about
currently banned drugs. Regrettably, the issue of the potential medical
uses of cannabis has been caught up in the larger debate over policies
toward the non-medical use of the drug.

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Corrections Corporation of America profits (A list subscriber posts an
excerpt from the Joshua Report showing the stock of the private prison
business has increased from $8 in 1992 to $30 in 1996. State legislator Kevin
Mannix of Oregon has issued an invitation to Nike to shift its operations
from Indonesia to his state. At 17 cents per hour, "We could offer
competitive prison labor," says Mannix. The drug war is good for business.
Invest your son.)

From: "Stormy Ray" (mbpdoors@cyberhighway.net)
To: "dpfor" (dpfor@drugsense.org)
Subject: DPFOR: Thought you should see this
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 12:20:48 -0700
Sender: owner-dpfor@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfor@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/

From the Joshua Report

"...the kingpin of jailing for dollars, the Corrections Corporations of
America, has seen its stock value soar from $8 Per share in 1992 to $30
in 1996, with an 81% increase in revenue in 1995 alone. Other prison-for-
profit outfits have seen similar increases, including Wackenhut, which is
now listed among Forbes' top 200 small businesses. All told, private prisons
have seen their 'market share' grow from five prisons in 1987 to over 100 as
of this issue...Private prisons have resorted to imposing tougher
disciplinary standards (like making it harder to get time off for good
behavior') and mishandling or losing parole papers and forcing inmatesto stay
beyond their release dates in order to maintain the requisite 90-95%
occupancy rate to avoid, as Prudential Securities has said, 'low occupancy...
a drag on profits.'

"Prisons have proven such a good source of cheap labor, corporations are
flocking to the jailhouse to maximize profits...The tactic has proven so
lucrative that a U.S. company operating in Mexico closed down its operations
and moved them to San Quentin, while another firm dumped 150 workers in Texas
and set up shop in a private prison in Lockhart, where prisoners now assemble
circuit boards for such outfits as IBM and COMPAQ. State legislator Kevin
Mannix of Oregon has issued an invitation to Nike to shift its operations
from Indonesia to his state.

"We could offer competitive prison labor,' says Mannix. How competitive? Pay
scales, which may run as high as $400 per month 'take home' in government
prisons, are as low as 17 cents per hour in private prisons. Pay rates at the
CCA prisons max out at 50 cents per hour for 'highly-skilled labor.' Such
Financial rewards don't go far in the private canteens, where the buy-low,
sell-high axiom of the free market abounds. Inmates in a CCA-run facility in
Florida complain of $2.50 charges for phone calls, and exorbitant prices for
necessities such as soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and clothing, which are
provided to inmates at government-run prisons...large-scale investors too,
capitalizing on hard times, are buying in big. Among their celebrated names
backing the prison business are American Express, General Electric, Goldman
Sachs & Co., and Merrill Lynch, Smith & Barney. High-tech firms are scrambling
to move items like monitoring systems which bar code prisoners, while AT&T
hustles to get a lock on the prison communication business.

"The social cost? Former correction officer Jerome Miller estimates that the
'American gulag' system will house between three and five million inmates in
the next 15 years, composed mostly of African-American men.

***

God Bless,
Stormy
Oregon Medical Marijuana Act
Chief Petitioner -Stormy Ray
541) 889-3876
715 Canyon 2 Rd.
Ontario, OR 97914

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[End]