http://causaoregon.blogspot.com/2007/12/oregon-anti-immigrant-activist-arrested.htmlAn Oregon anti-immigrant activist and blogger is being held on five counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, two counts of sex abuse and two counts of hindering prosecution.
According to a news report appearing in the Salem Statesman Journal yesterday, Bruce Elliot Benkle, a barber at the Fairview Barbershop in Dalles, was arrested last month on a range of sex abuse charges he is suspected of committing on both male and female children. He is currently lodged in the Polk County Jail with bail set at $200,000.
Bruce Benkle, a well known anti-immigrant activist frequently seen holding signs and taking photos for Oregonians for Immigration Reform at thier events, is a blogger well known among Oregon’s top anti-immigrant weblogs. Benkle, who goes by “Bruce the Barber” among other pseudonyms, is often seen commenting on Daniel’s Political Musings, one of Oregon’s most active anti-immigrant blogs. He is also seen regularly posting comments on message boards of news sites in the Marion County area and elsewhere.
Yesterday’s story caught our attention as there were similarities between a mugshot of Benkle and a photo (on the left) of anti-immigrant blogger “Bruce the Barber”. It wasn’t until reviewing an entry appearing at Daniel’s Political Musings from last March that the photo along with another were in fact that of Bruce Benkle and Vice President of Oregonians for Immigration Reform and Vice Chairman of the Marion County Republican Party, Rick Hickey, at an OFIR-Oregon Minuteman rally.