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I really think we ought to contact Mr. Quinby and the rest of the Fairview City Council with calls/letters/emails letting them know how we feel.
Here's the original story
Here's the original story
Fairview city councilor's handgun making colleagues nervous at meetings
By Matthew Preusch, The Oregonian
May 19, 2010, 7:13PM
<broken link removed> likes to have his .40-caliber Glock G27 handy at council meetings. Quinby says he carries the handgun - which he has a license for and keeps in his fanny pack, along with his cell phone and reading glasses - in case of attack by a disgruntled citizen.
Quinby's gun-packing proclivities, however, make fellow council member <broken link removed> nervous. So much so that she would like to ban guns and other weapons at City Hall.
"I understand the Second Amendment allows you to bear arms; however my 'pursuit of happiness' and ability to live my life safely seems to be taking a back seat to those who run around with concealed weapons," Jones said in an e-mail Monday to city councilors and Fairview's mayor.
Quinby says he has a constitutional right to carry his gun and that his fellow councilors have no reason to fear him.
"I don't have a mean-spirited bone in my body. I can't imagine or fathom attacking one of my fellow councilors," he said. "I would be the first guy to stand in front of them to protect them."
The clash between Quinby and the other councilors in this east Multnomah County city of 9,740, tucked between Gresham and the Columbia River, can be traced to a bar fight on New Year's Eve. In the early hours of Jan. 1, Quinby called 9-1-1 from the Gin Sun Restaurant & Lounge on Northeast Sandy Boulevard to report a fight. Police responding to the scene described it as a melee.
The incident was one in a string of sometimes-violent disruptions at the bar. They prompted the council, acting on a request from Fairview Police Chief Ken Johnson, to vote in April to ask Oregon Liquor Control Commission regulators to not renew the Gin Sun's license.
But Quinby, a patron and sometimes contractor for the bar, later criticized the police department's handling of the fight investigation. He has defended the bar and accused Johnson and police officers of lying and covering up information.
A city review cleared the officers of wrongdoing. Last week Quinby's fellow councilors, calling his criticisms unjustified and not befitting a city councilor, censured Quinby and voted unanimously to ask him to resign his council seat. He declined.
"I know this whole issue has really affected the council," <broken link removed> said.
He said Jones has spoken to him about fearing Quinby. And she's apparently not alone on the council in her concern about guns at City Hall.
"I agree and have felt that way for a long time," <broken link removed> said in a reply to Jones' e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by The Oregonian.
Weatherby said the city probably can't legally ban handguns from City Hall but that some city leaders are discussing a possible council rule that would forbid councilors from bringing weapons to meetings.
"This is not a philosophical or intellectual debate," Weatherby said. "This is very personal."
Quinby said Wednesday that he recognizes his political life might be over, but he hasn't decided whether to resign.
"Obviously I'm doing some soul-searching," he said.
-- Matthew Preusch
