Hate fliers surfacing on driveways.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

A flurry of racist hate fliers found in Eugene neighborhoods has prompted denouncements by the city manager, the police chief and the Human Rights Commission.

The fliers, denigrating gays, Jews, immigrants and others, have appeared in at least three neighborhoods in the past week. The fliers are the product of "cowards and bullies" and are not welcome in Eugene, City Manager Dennis Taylor said in a written statement.

Some of the fliers are identical to those appearing on the Web site of a Portland-based white supremacist group called the Tualatin Valley Skins. The fliers were found in driveways wrapped in plastic bags that also contained gravel - a method of distribution recommended on the Web site.

City officials said the fliers may be part of a larger increase in hate activity. State law enforcement reported 21 incidents of alleged hate crimes in Eugene in the three-month period ending Sept. 30 - the highest number in recent memory, said Greg Rikhoff, the city's human rights manager.

The incidents included 13 involving possible bias crimes based on race, color or national origin, five based on sexual orientation, four based on religion and one based on political affiliation. Some incidents included more than one basis for discrimination.

Sara Rich, chairwoman for the city Human Rights Commission, said the apparent spike in hate fliers will be addressed Saturday at an International Human Rights Day event at Lane Community College. The human rights group plans to kick off a new anti-hate awareness campaign, in response not only to the fliers but to recent allegations of racial profiling by Eugene police and strained police-community relations.

Part of the campaign's goal is to wake people from their complacency, Rich said. "The whole tone in the community is, `We're so liberal and so aware - how could this happen in Eugene?' ' Rich said. "But it does, every day."

The city sometimes downplays hate fliers so as not to give perpetrators the publicity they may crave. "But we're not going to ignore them this time - it's risen to a level where it's escalating," Rich said.

Recent fliers were distributed in the early morning along streets in Santa Clara, Willagillespie and Green Acres Road neighborhoods. Similar fliers surfaced in city neighborhoods in October and November.

The fliers are "hateful trash but not illegal," police Chief Robert Lehner said in a statement. "The people involved appear to understand the criminal line very well."

Lehner said the activity is being closely monitored, and promised prompt enforcement against any actions that cross the boundary between protected speech and criminal behavior.

A white supremacist Web site details how people can distribute fliers legally, and cites a preference for "drops throughout white suburbia" from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m.