The Daily Bray 7/24/2025

Art Crino Died Last Friday

Matthew 19:14 (King James Version)

But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Art Crino passed away last Friday at 100 years quietly ending the life of a Conservative giant in Oregon. The man who I called Dad for his resemblance to my own father as well as being a hero in the navy in WWII will be missed but not forgotten. As long as there is no Light Rail going down 99W through Tigard he will be remembered as the Chief Petitioner for stopping Crime Rail in Portland. 99W should be renamed Art Crino way since without him it would not exist other than a two lane road with a Choo-Choo down the middle.

I met Art around twenty years ago when I became a Precinct Person for the Republican Party and began attending the King City Club and the 912 Project. He was a regular speaker in both of those places and a prolific writer in Conservative newspapers like the Douglas County Review. He was the coordinating leader for the John Birch Society having meetings once a month in his home which I attended a few.

Art Crino was a humble man who owned his own engineering company and would tell many stories of times back in the war years of Oregon and America. His was the Greatest Generation although he was the first to tell of its many faults of how the gummit stole the honor of those heroes in WWII with its capitulation with Korea and Japan after the war.

One of his most interesting stories was his telling of running into Marines who saw Amelia Earhart’s plane and the rumor she was executed on Guam or some similar island by the Japanese. The story he tells on the link below speaks of the heroism he and his generation carried as well his individual character which marked him as a person.

He and his wife of seventy years, were stalwarts of the Washington County Republican Party and especially the King City Republican Club which was the primary meeting place for Tigard and Tualatin. He said his marriage lasted by a simple motto, he earned the money and she spent it. He died a year to the day Sally died.

They were the original Gideons for the Light Rail opposition petition and vote. They and the tough 33 who knocked thousands of doors for a full summer and fall to win the biggest victory in Oregon in the last fifty years.

Nobody was able to beat Tri-met or Metro in Portland in any election let alone a Light Rail victory and the 99W rail was going to be a sure thing. At 80 years old he said no and stood up to these bullies and with help from the King City Club was able to collect 35,000 signatures fighting a 75-25% disadvantage and turn that overwhelming loss into a huge victory for the people of Portland. No major tracks have been laid since that victory.

This victory was so shocking to the powers that be it forced the Dems to change the laws for petitions to make sure there would never be any pure democracy in the state again. He loved my writing, and I really loved his articles he wrote about history and freedom he wrote and spoke of. The story we videoed a few years ago is an incredible story which explains who he is and why he and his generation is missed so much in America.

Goodbye Dad, I was so lucky to know you. Every time you drive down 99W through Tigard know it is thanks to Art and Sally Crino who saved your road. Art Crino touched millions of people by taking a stand, you can too.

Pray for Art Crino's family and friends.