New business draws protests

Wolfclan Armory’s Facebook page is full of links to videos decrying Antifa—a term used to describe a broad group of individuals identifying as anti-fascists. One link leads to a video asserting that Native Americans were actually “white Caucasians” and yet another that shows a man grinning in front of a confederate flag and promoting his book “Questioning the Hoax of the Six Million” that calls the Holocaust into question.

But according to Jeanette Laskey, it wasn’t Wolfclan that posted those things. It was her son, Jacob who is currently in a Lane County jail after being charged with first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and second-degree criminal trespass. The charges are in connection with a January stabbing incident at a Creswell mobile home.

According to Laskey, the incident is not what brought the family business, Wolfclan Armory, to Cottage Grove from Creswell. Neither is the 11-year federal prison stint her son completed—according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group tasked with tracking hate groups around the country—in 2015.

“Creswell is too small of a town,” Laskey said. The business, which is in the process of moving in on Main St. in Cottage Grove, sells knives, swords and other weaponry. “We do really well at shows and this building is perfect,” she said.

On Wednesday, Laskey and other family members were renovating the old museum building next to Big Stuff BBQ on Main St. when a small group of protesters appeared in front of the store wielding a sign that read, “No hate on Main.”

Cottage Grove Police responded to the scene.

“I was admittedly confrontational,” Venice Mason said. Mason, a Cottage Grove resident, said she heard about Wolfclan moving into town and came down to protest the business.

“They’re known racists,” she said.

Law enforcement confirmed that the group was permitted to protest peacefully.

Laskey said she and her husband are not racist. She contended that they had been “threatened” by Antifa and that, while she couldn’t discuss her son’s latest court case, she believed he had stopped taking his medication. The last post to the Wolfclan Armory Facebook page was Jan. 18. Jacob Laskey was arrested on Jan. 20 in connection with a Jan. 19 stabbing.

He was photographed with known hate group American Front after his release from prison.

“We’re Christians,” she said.

According to the city manager’s office, the city of Cottage Grove does not approve businesses and only issues licenses to taxi services and used merchandise stores.

 


Video News