A Good Samaritan stopped an attempted gay-bashing this weekend—and paid a price. According to police reports, two men, identified as Shawn Siefke and Christian Sanchez-Villavencio, confronted a man who exited Embers bar on Saturday night, June 25, asked him for directions, and then began calling him gay slurs. A passerby stepped in and, while the clubgoer called police, was allegedly beaten by Sanchez-Villavencio and Siefke (who moonlights as a mixed-martial-arts fighter). Both Sanchez-Villavencio and Siefke were charged with assault, while the anonymous passerby was treated at a hospital and released. Reports of bias-motivated crimes in Portland have declined significantly since 2009 ["Holding Hands Is Not a Crime," News, June 2]. SARAH MIRK

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A man was reportedly decapitated by a MAX train Monday morning, June 27, after he somehow fell in front of an oncoming train at the 122nd Avenue stop. The man's name has not yet been released and TriMet had no update on how exactly he wound up in front of the train, but the grisly casualty is the 28th death-by-MAX since the light rail system opened 25 years ago. SM

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Support for gay marriage is ticking upward in Oregon, finds a new poll first reported in the Oregonian. Public Policy Polling found that 48 percent of voters think same-sex marriage should be legal, a three percent jump from a 2009 study of Oregon and a huge change from 2004, when 56.6 percent of Oregonians voted for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. That's good news for LGBT advocacy group Basic Rights Oregon, which has been campaigning to place a same-sex marriage legalizing measure on the statewide ballot as soon as 2012. SM