Mayor of coastal Oregon city resigns over posts in police Facebook group

NEWPORT, Ore. (AP) — The mayor of a city on the Oregon coast has apologized and resigned over offensive content he posted in a private Facebook group for current and retired police officers. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that Newport Mayor Dean Sawyer apologized and resigned Monday, days after the media outlet revealed he had been posting content mocking and denigrating women, immigrants, non-English speakers and the LGBTQ+ community in the Facebook group with 39,000 members since 2016. Sawyer said Monday that he now realizes some of his actions and words have hurt people he loves and cares about. The police chief in the central coast city of about 10,000 and the Lincoln County sheriff condemned Sawyer’s posts.