King5 had the news a while back about the Vancouver, WA mayor, Royce E. Pollard, smashing coffee mugs in an aim to get some respect. But, it’s a little more dramatic than that.

The mayor didn’t find what he wanted at one Starbucks in Oregon, so went to another. There, he purchased 2 Portland mugs for about $20 – and smashed them together. At least he did it over a garbage bin.

What’s it all about? Well, Pollard says it is all to get some more respect for Vancouver, WA – which is often overshadowed by Portland and even our own Vancouver, BC. He was offended that Portland mugs were being displayed in a city he clearly wants to differentiate from Portland.

In response, Starbucks removed the mugs from the Vancouver locations. However, they did so only after the mug smashing – Pollard had previously tried to call and email the Starbucks headquarters to get the mugs removed, to which he got unsatisfactory answers.

From Bruce Elgort’s site, here is more of the news:

Starbucks was not the only stop on Mayor Pollard’s quest to rid of anything Portland from the Downtown area. He also found other stores that had Portland artifacts and proceeded to purchase them and put them on notice as to what they should and shouldn’t be selling.

Well, if you go look at this blog you will see that the mayor is both applauded and bashed for his actions. Although it was great for him to take a stand, I also believe that the city of Vancouver, WA is quite intertwined with Portland and no mug smashing will stop that. People live and work in both cities and the tourists visit both. They are best to support each other.

Check out the commentary there too. Big discussion.

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