Cassandra Ruwaldt pushes to have wooden train display destroyed because it was built by someone convicted of sex offense

Cancel Culture Strikes Again! Alleged abuse victim Karen... er, Cassandra Ruwaldt, claimed this train was built by her grandfather, who she claims abused her. She discovered this train was bought and repurposed for a town display, so instead oof simply not going by the wooden train, she went looking for it, even having her picture taken with it TWICE. Oh, but she can't stand the sight of it because it "triggers" her so she made a Facebook group and a petition page to have it destroyed. So now the city bent the knee to this Karen, she gets her 15 minutes, and everybody "wins."

https://www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/crimeandjustice/after-a-day-of-outcry-metolius-officials-destroy-controversial-wooden-train/article_2d0c0e4e-c888-11ea-abc3-7f83ab15863d.html

After a day of outcry, Metolius officials destroy controversial wooden train
Mayor Carl Elliott doesn't explain decision
By GARRETT ANDREWS The Bulletin Jul 17, 2020 Updated Jul 17, 2020

METOLIUS — Thursday night, following a day of public outcry, a worker for the city of Metolius used a backhoe to smash up a controversial wooden train and then hauled it to a landfill.

“It’s resolved. It’s over,” Metolius Code Enforcement manager James Stratton said Friday, declining to provide specifics about the train, which was built by a convicted child sex offender.

In 2019, city leaders bought the train for $500 off Craigslist and invested $2,500 refurbishing it. Then Madras woman Cassie Ruwaldt told them it had been the backdrop of years of sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather, Richard Eugene Pickett, who’s serving a 36-year prison sentence for child rape and child pornography.

Ruwaldt was not able to reach an agreement with the City Council, which would have sold her the train for $3,000.

The six-member council unanimously approved displaying the train outside City Hall at a July 6 meeting.

Councilors said they were prepared to deal with any negative attention the train might receive. But after a Bulletin story Thursday, the fallout for leaders in Metolius was swift and severe, with calls and emails flooding City Hall. The city shut down its Facebook page after being inundated with negative reviews.

Councilors reported receiving death threats and threats to burn down City Hall in addition to the train, according to Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins.

Reached at his business, Double E RV Repair, Metolius Mayor Carl Elliott, who supported displaying the train, had little to say.

“It’s resolved. It’s destroyed. I don’t have to make no comments to you,” he said.

Around Metolius on Friday, some residents favored not displaying the train.

“There’s a stigma to the wooden train,” said Fred Garrett. “If you are the victim and you have to drive by and see the train, you know what the individual that built it did. That’s always going to be there in your constant memory.”

Thursday was a big day for Ruwaldt, 29. By the end of it, she had a movement of supporters behind her organized on a Facebook page, “STOP THE TRAIN.” Petitions calling for the train’s removal had thousands of signatures and a GoFundMe page had raised hundreds of dollars to purchase the train.

Ruwaldt had hoped to burn the train publicly in honor of victims of abuse.

“The community and other victims wanted to be part of that destruction, so I’m not sure what this was,” she told The Bulletin.

“This was supposed to be for victims to stand up and gather together.”