It's about gender
Clearly, Chief Foxworth was the victim of discrimination, but it likely wasn't racially motivated. But, like most discrimination involving a male in this city, it was gender discrimination. This is a common practice in Portland and the surrounding metroplex.
Robert Clark Rutkowski
Portland
Foxworth deserves justice
I remember when Dawson Park had been taken over by drug dealers. Today, children and families use that park, older people take walks and play dominoes and people using Emanuel Hospital have a safe and pleasant place to take walks.
Chief Foxworth, Officer Victoria Burton of the Crisis Response Team and Sgt. Harry Jackson are the people responsible for this change. Chief Foxworth — then Commander Foxworth — was the person who organized the neighborhood and coordinated the resources to make this part of Portland safe. He knows how to get people to work together, how to involve the neighborhood and how to get things done. Foxworth will always be Chief Foxworth to me.
I certainly have more confidence in Chief Foxworth's judgment than I do Mayor Potter's. None of the allegations against Foxworth were founded, except for one minor incident, and none occurred after he became chief.
Chief was the job he had, and his performance as chief should have been the criterion for judging his effectiveness.
Good luck to Chief Foxworth in his lawsuit against the city. If justice prevails, so will the chief.
Daniel R. Schenck
St. Helens
Protect free speech
Portland Mayor Tom Potter should not spend taxpayers' money in "vigorously" defending the firing of Police Chief Derrick Foxworth. Potter should negotiate an out-of-court settlement, since Foxworth's private e-mails to his girlfriend are protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights — free speech and public privacy — afforded to all U.S. citizens.
Foxworth does not have to even prove he was racially discriminated against to claim his free speech rights.
Shantu Shah
Southwest Portland
