Vandals tag Portland venue ahead of Gore visit
PORTLAND, Ore. – Vandals spray-painted environmentally-themed messages on Portland’s Keller Auditorium early Wednesday morning, just hours ahead of an appearance by former Vice President Al Gore.
The messages appear to be directed at environmental issues such as cap and trade proposals and light bulbs.
There did not appear to be any profanity included in the markings, which were made with spray paint and appeared on several walls and on the ground in front of entryways at the performing arts venue.
When KATU News arrived on the scene before dawn, some of the paint was still wet.
Gore has been an outspoken advocate of global warming and climate change issues and won an Academy Award for his movie, An Inconvenient Truth. He is currently on a wide-ranging tour in connection with a recently published book which also deals with environmental issues.
Police are looking into the graffiti and a Keller Auditorium employee was also present early in the morning to assess the situation.
By 9:30 a.m., the graffiti had been removed.
Photo by Valerie Hurst
