DA Mike Schmidt is…
* DA Mike Schmidt is…
Not competent to ensure public safety in Portland, Oregon… and the body count continues …
Portland, Oregon, February 20, 2021:
This is a PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMNT. People in Portland need to know the dangers that are out there.
I am feeling sadness today and I felt the same way, all day yesterday. A beloved Cathedral, St. Mary’s Cathedral in Portland was vandalized the other day. Priceless stained glass windows were destroyed by yet another unstable, delusional and extremely violent ANTIFA person. This one, like many of them is described as mentally ill. Three days ago, this man, Christopher Lee Colletta, who is often homeless, broke into St. Mary’s Church and began destroying things, including priceless stained glass windows. He was holding a “box cutter” type razor blade that he was waving around.
Cathedral Church is where I received my first communion, confession, and it is where I was confirmed in 1981 by Bishop Cornelius Power. It is where my parents brought me when I was two-years-old in 1968 and not quite as tall as the church pews. It is where my daughter was baptized in 1992, where she received her first communion, confession and where she also was confirmed. Though I’m not much of a practicing Catholic anymore, the church itself is a thing of beauty. It is an historic building that must be protected and cherished for what it represents about American culture, both the good and the bad. We cannot abide vandals destroying this church because they’re angry about social or political issues. Violence begets violence and it simply does not create lasting social or cultural change. Mindless destruction of property accomplishes virtually nothing. And if this had been a black church this vandal would have been charged with a Hate Crime. But because the man was not a conservative radical, and because this church is not recognized as a “black church” that did not happen.
The man who burglarized the church, Christopher Lee Colletta, was holding a box cutter razor when Monsignor Gerard O’Connor found him after he heard “screaming” and other inane ramblings occurring within the empty building. On Colletta’s Facebook page he posts rambling statements to his public profile, like this August 23, 2020 post in which he wrote… “Stupid fuckimg humans…. I need extraction… From pdx/Oregon for 24 hours or less… Getting frustrated and need a timeout and nature or peace or to go indoors… Something… Too many people worried about what I’m doing. Cuz I wanna take a shower n cleanup. Fuck those mean people who have no idea or care that they are risking someone’s life… I could very well die today. That’s truth not paranoia, Thanks BLM! I took a fucking rubber 12 guage round for you in the ribs! Never again!” These posts indicate a mentally ill man, prone to violence who is unpredictable and potentially dangerous. In another post, Colletta clearly admits what he is involved in when he writes in a post dated December 3, 2020… “And I’m sorry to anyone else that’s been hurt because of my fighting for freedom against oppression.”
Colletta appeared to be injured after his arrest and it was stated he resisted arrest of course, rather than cooperate. Despite this, the Monsignor stated that the police officers who arrested him were completely professional and “kind” in how they took him into custody. After Colletta was charged with multiple crimes, he was released by the District Attorney, Mike Schmidt, who has become known as the “Catch & release” guy. Colletta resisted arrest, broke priceless windows in an historic Cathedral, was carrying a deadly weapon and has a history of violence and of supporting ANTIFA radicals. Despite all this, and his obvious mental illness, the DA Mike Schmidt chose to let him go. Colletta will likely go on to commit more crimes and perhaps even assault and injure someone in Portland.
When that happens that assault will be on the head of MIKE SCHMIDT alone.
Most troubling is a post from August 23, 2020, in which Colletta admits to feeling “tired” but posts this: “I may end up in jail today… Just got the feeling (may have missed court). I am going to call everyone tomorrow and make a calender so I can get my life back. Unles of course the hater snitches get to it first. I’m going to end up with another charge for sure… Prison here I come, I just hope I don’t kill anyone. War is war tho…”
So, a man who fears he may KILL someone was released by Mike Schmidt, after committing several crimes, including violently resisting arrest. This fact alone shows how little Schmidt understands or cares about PUBLIC SAFETY. In another post, dated August 22, 2020 Colletta wrote: “I’m in danger. I’m told the cops wanna kill me and I hear rapes sometimes. But I can’t call for help because I don’t know who I should call or if it’s an act or not. Or where to give the address of emergency.” Is this man Colletta going to be given ANY form of help, or has he just been released, much like Jeremy Christian was, to go out and fend for himself and then later commit more crimes?
I do not support ANTIFA. They are a group of radicals and in that respect are no different than The Proud Boys or Patriot Prayer. I do not condone the beliefs of radicals. ANTIFA have proven themselves to be an underground group of mostly WHITE MEN who often use black people as props in their violent riots and criminal activity. They may not be recognized as a group and hide behind the idea that they are only an “ideology” but the fact is, they have cells, and they are a group, an underground group. That of course is their weakness. They have no accepted or recognized hierarchy and there is no set of rules or standards by which they operate. As a result, there is no one to answer to when ANTIFA representatives commit murder, or assault, which has all been done in the name of ANTIFA and is documented. They are radicals, like any other and as time goes on, they continue to become even more radicalized. ANTIFA radicals prove how extremist they are when they engage in violence all in the name of anti-fascism. In downtown Portland, a black Trump supporter was stabbed by a white man and well-known ANTIFA radical, Blake David Hampe, a longtime violent radical with a long arrest record for violent crimes, including sexual offenses committed against minors.
Then there is the man, Michael Forest Reinoehl, who murdered a Trump supporter in 2020. Reinoehl was well-known in ANTIFA circles and had proudly declared on his Facebook page, “I am 100 percent ANTIFA!”
Then there is the man, Michael Forest Reinoehl, who murdered a Trump supporter in 2020. Reinoehl was well-known in ANTIFA circles and had proudly declared on his Facebook page, “I am 100 percent ANTIFA!”
This man, Colletta, who broke windows in St. Mary’s Cathedral was just yet another person with no direction and no understanding of what he was doing. Colletta appears to be yet another mentally ill person, trying to find some meaning in his life. Destroying property seems to be the only thing ANTIFA activists like Colletta can do, to feel empowered against their own mediocrity, helplessness, addiction, and oftentimes the mental illness they suffer from. So many of these ANTIFA characters really are the dregs of society and they are hypocrites too, as they are just as violent as any other radical group. It is not that I don’t feel compassion for mentally ill people but this free-for-all attitude of these people is getting OLD. All of Portland pays a terrible price when DA Mike Schmidt cannot do his job and maintain public safety in concert with the efforts of the officers of PPB. Schmidt is not liked by the officers in PPB, he is mocked as inexperienced, naïve and a green idealist who does not understand reality because he is simply too young to have a seasoned grasp of reality.
Portland DA, Mike Schmidt routinely protects these dangerous criminals. He will not charge dangerous criminals with the crimes they are guilty of, many such crimes have been filmed on video. What many comically refer to as “peaceful protests” have utterly destroyed downtown Portland and people like Mayor Ted Wheeler, in tandem with this kid DA, Mike Schmidt, (who is clearly out of his league) have ushered along that process. Mike Schmidt is a typical idealist with no experience in the real world. And he flexes his White Male Privilege in various videotaped interviews by adopting a smug and self-satisfied air of untouchability. From what I can see, Schmidt values the rights of criminals and predators significantly MORE than citizens who are raising families and struggling to survive in a pandemic. And Schmidt knows how to shield himself, too, by not answering emails but requesting telephone calls instead.
It makes me sad and angry to see Portland being destroyed by incompetent leadership. We need MODERATE leaders, I see that more and more every day. These radical far left leaders lack common sense. They just don’t comprehend what Portland needs right now and their inability to demonstrate even a modicum of common sense is destroying this city. COMMERCE is DYING in Portland with the departure of over 140 businesses that will never come back. Portland is dying under this kind of incompetent leadership. We need better leaders. We need more than just pretty faces, we need people who understand how to maintain public safety and WHY it is important and must be maintained.
We need more than ANTIFA apologists who hide behind their idea that they operate on some kind of moral high ground. We need more than just secret ANTIFA radicals like Portland DA, Mike Schmidt. If you also feel that Mike Schmidt was wrong for allowing this dangerous and mentally ill man, Christopher Lee Colletta to be released you can contact his office here and either call or email or snail mail the man a message telling him what you think. More people need to object when Schmidt does not do his job.
Phone number to the DA office is (503) 988–3162 (8:00 a.m. — 5:30 p.m., Monday — Friday.
Email is DA@mcda.us
Mailing address is below…
Mike Schmidt, District Attorney
Multnomah County Central Courthouse
1200 Southwest First Avenue Suite 5200
Portland, Oregon 97204
Portland needs reasonable leadership, we need moderate leadership. What we do not need are divisive, or secretive radicals who might secretly or openly support unbalanced ANTIFA activists. Mike Schmidt is playing with fire by supporting radical ANTIFA activists and criminals. If you feel he not advocating for the residents of Portland, Oregon and is not doing his job, in the way that the public of Portland expects, (remember WE pay his salary) then you need to contact his office, by phone, email or the US postal service in the form of a hard copy letter and you need to TELL him so. We need to hold Mike Schmidt accountable if he is failing to promote public safety and playing with fire by protecting dangerous and violent ANTIFA activists. ANTIFA radicals have no regard for Rule of Law, the safety of private citizens or the protection of Portland businesses, which have been decimated due to the endless, unproductive, violent and deadly “peaceful protests” in downtown Portland. Make YOUR voice heard. If you have issues with DA Mike Schmidt, then let him know!
Theresa Griffin-Kennedy: I am freelance writer of creative nonfiction, a poet, fiction writer, history writer and contributing columnist for The online Portland Alliance Newspaper, the news website GoLocalPDX and the literary online magazine Live Encounters. I have been published in Pathos Literary Review, Street Roots Newspaper, and with Portland Monthly Magazine. I’m a social activist fighting for social change through writing as a social act. I paint abstract with mixed media and volunteer as a writing coach. I am the author of a book of poetry, Blue Reverie in Smoke: Collected Poetry: 2001–2016, and a book of short stories Burnside Field Lizard and Selected Stories, which was a finalist for the 2019 Next Generation Indie book award for Regional Fiction. both published through the Indie publishing company, Oregon Greystone Press. In 2021 my first novel will be published, Talionic Night in Portland: A Love Story, also by Oregon Greystone press, and The Lost Restaurants of Portland, published by The History Press. Learn more.
Online since 2007
