Accused Portland bank robbers were eco-bloggers
An alert reader points out that two of the three people arrested for robbing two Portland banks at gunpoint -- including allegedly firing live rounds into bank branch ceilings -- are self-styled "urban survivalists" who have been blogging for more than a year about their "green" do-it-yourself ways in their Lents neighborhood home. Chickens and all. They often signed off with "Stay safe and sustainable."
And Tweets, of course. Plus, buy the T-shirt!
Wow.
They were reportedly planning a third bank holdup for Friday, before they were busted. She allegedly had her passport and bags ready to go, too.
Guess this is what happens when the creative class goes bad. Does this mean that pending orders for her homemade soap aren't going to be filled?
The third member of the accused trio apparently has some kind of gig at Intel and is known on Myspace as Batman83. I wonder what his nickname might be in federal prison. Maybe he could ask the guys to call him "Merritt Paulson." (The first guy's MySpace page is available for perusal here.)
Stay tuned -- there could well be a made-for-TV movie in this one.
| Posted at 6:32 AM | Permalink |
|
Comments (49)
Prison life is sustainable but is it Green and where we they headed, Damsteram?
Posted by Abe | November 14, 2010 6:48 AM
Something tells me their new blog federalprisonsurvivialist.com entry on 'putting up beats' is not going to be about canning root crops.
Posted by zonedar | November 14, 2010 7:18 AM
I imagine the blog will come down as soon as one of the people with the password gets a message to their court-appointed counsel with the username and password.
Either that, or they will love that their message is finally getting out to the masses.
Posted by none | November 14, 2010 7:38 AM
Think they got a building permit?
http://www.urbansurvivalists.com/chicken-coop-build-6/
Posted by pdxjim | November 14, 2010 8:18 AM
I think they've boosted their page hits.
Posted by Allan L. | November 14, 2010 8:33 AM
I guess the venture capital option dried up.
Posted by Bluecollar Libertarian | November 14, 2010 8:38 AM
News this morning noted both "dudes" are sex offenders. Boyfriend raped someone in Kfalls. The did not seem to know what put the other one on the Registry.
Posted by portlanddad | November 14, 2010 8:39 AM
"She allegedly had her passport and bags ready to go, too."
I wonder where they were heading. Amsterdam? Or just Canada like Tre Arrow?
Posted by Ben | November 14, 2010 8:54 AM
What's the over/under on them being BTA members or Zoobombers?
I am only surprised that all three of them had paid employment. That's not very hip.
Posted by Mister Tee | November 14, 2010 9:06 AM
I'm also suprised Pam paid $217,500 for a 1,000 square foot fixer in Lents in September 2009. Maybe she didn't hear about the housing crash.
The boyfriend found a sustainable way to live: a girlfriend with a house!
Posted by Mister Tee | November 14, 2010 9:10 AM
They seem to be a knockoff of a similar gang years ago in the Seattle area. Except those folks knew where and when the real money could be heisted.
Posted by Starbuck | November 14, 2010 9:16 AM
I can see the movie of the week tagline now: "She was all about saving the earth but she was the one who needed saving".
Another "smart" girl (see her blogspot page on education) going for the bad boy and she'll blame it on everyone but herself.
Posted by JS | November 14, 2010 10:56 AM
This is all payback for the offenses to Mother Earth by right-wing Republicans.
The chickens have come back home to roost in their unpermitted chicken coop.
I would've been so much easier for them to raise funds by just asking Sam's staff. They have the right bonafides to get Sam worked up to dump some of the slush fund on them.
Posted by Steve | November 14, 2010 11:17 AM
These guys aren't that smart. They got caught because one of them either set up or accessed their throwaway email (used for buying getaway cars off of Craigslist) from their place of work.
Posted by Aaron | November 14, 2010 11:21 AM
Kind of strange the word "engineer" didn't appear once in this story.
Posted by Aaron | November 14, 2010 11:25 AM
Bank robbery isn't very sustainable. They carpooled in one getaway car, though, so they saved on CO2 emissions and reduced traffic congestion.
Posted by ecohuman | November 14, 2010 12:06 PM
The Greenies are laughable.
On their website if you click on to how you save 30% in energy it is jsut an add of another so-called Greenie company selling???. Just a filler for a webpage.
Clicking chicken coop you get a photo of their overbuilt, wasting wood coop suing chip board that is full of formaldyhyde, and it decomposes in our high humidity faster than a dead chicken.
The best of the photos is the rope opening the door-WOW!-how clever.
The worst part of it all is probably the robbers were writing a grant application from Energy Trust (tax dollars) for $5000 to run their website. Robbing occurs in many ways in this city.
Posted by lw | November 14, 2010 12:29 PM
Their real crime is thinking they are smarter than everyone else.
Posted by Doc Golightly | November 14, 2010 12:42 PM
Kind of strange the word "engineer" didn't appear once in this story.
Why is that strange?
Posted by Jon | November 14, 2010 12:45 PM
Because 8 engineers planned/executed the 9/11 attack. Not to mention the Nigerian on the plane over Detroit, the attack on the IRS Building, the Pentagon gunman, the Jewish Holocaust Museum, and the Times Square Bomber.
All engineers. It's a well known fact that engineers hate America.
Posted by Mister Tee | November 14, 2010 1:01 PM
I thought it was strange because that was the biggest take-home for me. Engineering backgrounds, all of them. One's a structural engineer, another mechanical. Just seems more interesting than some stupid blogs and twitter links. All the kids have those.
Posted by Aaron | November 14, 2010 1:18 PM
It's a well known fact that engineers hate America.
HORSEPUCKY!
Posted by Lawrence | November 14, 2010 1:45 PM
Well, they're not engineers yet. He is still in school, and she is an EIT. I have an engineering background too, but I wouldnt call myself an engineer until got my PE.
Posted by Jon | November 14, 2010 1:51 PM
It's obvious from boyfriend's blog that he had done time for something.
Posted by Jack Bog | November 14, 2010 2:10 PM
Yes, that rope with an eyelet to open the coop door is definitely an engineering feat.
I agree that you're not an engineer until minimally you get your PE. Then I even qualify that. The O's reporting is sort of like Sam's staff calling themselves environmentalists because they rake leaves.
Posted by lw | November 14, 2010 2:19 PM
some stupid blogs and twitter links. All the kids have those
No, the "survivalist" blog is far more extensive than the average hipster would ever have.
Posted by Jack Bog | November 14, 2010 2:20 PM
http://www.redbubble.com/people/crackgerbal/art/150700-14-lonely
Pam writes, "Please don't use my work without my permission".
Hey Pam, Please don't rob our banks and take our money without permission.
Posted by Mister Tee | November 14, 2010 2:33 PM
Pam will have a lot of time to do her "art" now
Posted by dman | November 14, 2010 3:00 PM
Stan will use as his defense the same defense Barry has been using in his travels about the world. One might want to refer to it as the "Demented Chihuahua" plea.
"I'm anti-bush."
Posted by pdxjim | November 14, 2010 4:47 PM
"Every blog post is a chance for me to get in some digs against Obama." Please, take that shinola to some other site. One more here will be your last.
Posted by Jack Bog | November 14, 2010 4:55 PM
They are certainly a simpled minded looking pair.
Posted by Bart | November 14, 2010 6:31 PM
I was going to say something glib; these guys are sitting ducks. But this story got to me a little. I think it was the blog about the applesauce. I can't hate on the applesauce...
Posted by 39er | November 14, 2010 9:34 PM
Can you hate on the bullets fired in the bank branches? They're cute, all right, but it's time to lock them up and throw away the key.
Posted by Jack Bog | November 14, 2010 9:37 PM
Our good friend the D Man suggests this revision to the T-shirt:
Posted by Jack Bog | November 15, 2010 2:35 AM
It should be silk-screened on organic Peruvian cotton from a worker's co-op.
Then I would incorporate their logo beneath the caption...Or add the Portland Cityscape behind the bank.
High art, either way.
Posted by Mister Tee | November 15, 2010 6:49 AM
One of the goals stated on their blog was to reduce their food bills by at least half. Goal accomplished!
Do you suppose Nutriloaf is organic and sustainably processed?
Posted by Michelle | November 15, 2010 7:29 AM
I'm no bank robber, but I think you're supposed to "clout" your getaway car, and then abandon it on a side street a good distance away.
Posted by tom | November 15, 2010 9:40 AM
Oh good. I see from the blog that they've planted loofahs.
Posted by Al Cordle | November 15, 2010 11:05 AM
Reading from their blog
When we originally started the blog the main goal was to begin reducing our living expenses so that we didn’t have to rely on a job (trade activity or time for money) as much. We wanted to diversify the source of our main ingredients for subsistence in life; food, water and energy. This would help us in times of emergency so that we did not rely on a single source for any one item.
Their parents must be proud of their work ethic.
Posted by T | November 15, 2010 11:38 AM
All that canning this summer was for nothing now. And I hope someone is taking care of those chickens!
Posted by Lelo | November 15, 2010 11:49 AM
Ha ha! Might have to adjust this item:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/crackgerbal/t-shirts/2154448-5-net-worth-on-black
She's a gold mine of laughs.
Posted by PDXLifer | November 15, 2010 2:05 PM
What is it with the left and criminal activity?
If you've ever wondered why the left is so soft on crime, this is your answer: They know someday they'll be caught.
Posted by JWWright | November 15, 2010 3:22 PM
It should be silk-screened on organic Peruvian cotton from a worker's co-op.
Fair trade, of course.
Posted by MJ | November 15, 2010 5:58 PM
I wonder what his nickname might be in federal prison. Maybe he could ask the guys to call him "Merritt Paulson."
Doesn't quite seem to fit. In Portland, Merrit Paulson was the one doing the f'ing.
Posted by MJ | November 15, 2010 6:01 PM
tis another reason all environmentalists should be rainbow 6'd.
Posted by CJ | November 15, 2010 9:33 PM
Two more losers leftist heading for jail....good! Its too bad that some good citizen didn't just shoot them.
Posted by Alex | November 16, 2010 8:02 AM
Here in Canada a student who last week prevented a journalist from speaking about her new book on campus, teaches climate change to impressionable undergraduates:
http://NoFrakkingConsensus.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/suzukis-children-the-political-kind/
Posted by Donna Lafamboise | November 16, 2010 9:33 AM
I hope the prison bars are made out of sustainable material.
Posted by George | November 16, 2010 2:45 PM
That was a horrid chicken coop. Doors too tiny, all that pressed board, treated wood,and toxins for the hens is sad. Chicken poop will dissolve that floor very soon. That is NOT raccoon or rodent proof. They may be able to build something, but experienced or thinking, they are not. Poor chicks!
Posted by Practical Parsimony | November 18, 2010 8:24 PM