BG Official’s Son Accused of Racial Taunts
By Stephanie Rice, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.
Apr. 17–The Jan. 8 e-mail message, sent by “battleground anonymous” to members of the Battle Ground City Council, was a racist rant about Paul Zandamela, a black man who had been sworn in as a city council member the previous evening.
“Our city government must be corrupt to have this (derogatory term) as an elected official,” read the message in part. The message included four different slurs and was signed, “Sincerely, a (derogatory term) hater.”
That message and a subsequent note were traced to Christopher Reinhold, the son of the city’s deputy mayor, Alex Reinhold.
Reinhold, 18, has been summoned to appear April 23 in Clark County District Court on two counts of cyberstalking.
According to the charges filed by Clark County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Grant Hansen, the messages were sent with the intent to “harass, intimidate, torment or embarrass Paul Zandamela.”
Cyberstalking is a gross misdemeanor. If the defendant has a prior conviction for harassment or makes a death threat, the crime is elevated to a felony.
Battle Ground Mayor Mike Ciraulo said Thursday he contacted law enforcement after receiving a second message from “battleground anonymous.” He said he responded to the first message by replying to the sender and the other council members and telling the council to disregard the obviously ignorant anonymous sender.
The second message called Ciraulo a “stupid (derogatory term) lover.”
Ciraulo considers the two emails an isolated incident.
“Our community is welcome to diversity, and we’ve embraced it,” Ciraulo said.
Read more about the case in Friday’s newspaper.
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