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INSIDE » Check out this week’s chuck, A2
redmondspokesman.com
A special good morning to subscriber Ron Bryant
@RedmondSpox
Former Oregon death row inmate guilty Council
of stabbing three men near Redmond bar split over
REDMOND
BY GARRETT ANDREWS
CO Media Group
REDMOND — A former
Oregon death row inmate who
got a second chance at free-
dom could now face nearly
20 years in prison following a
conviction for stabbing three
people outside a Redmond
bar.
Gregory Paul Wilson, 55,
was found guilty on Wednes-
day of three counts of sec-
ond-degree assault and three
counts of unlawful use of a
weapon.
He could be assigned to
serve up to 19 years in prison
at his sentencing next month.
In 1993, Wilson was con-
victed of aggravated mur-
der in the “torture killing” of
18-year-old Portland woman
Michelle “Misty” Largo and
sentenced to death. Wilson
eventually won a retrial after
appealing his conviction to
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals. In his second trial,
he was convicted again, and
again, he successfully appealed
his case. Days before he was
set to go to trial a third time in
2010, Wilson accepted a plea
deal for manslaughter. He was
released from custody in 2013
after 21 years in custody.
Wilson was the last of four
living defendants in Largo’s
death to have his case re-
solved. A fifth was murdered.
Wilson’s recent case in De-
schutes County is also com-
plex.
On July 23, 2021, the Castle
Rock, Washington, resident
was in Central Oregon as the
companion of a woman here
to attend a medical confer-
ence.
Wilson’s three victims con-
sist of one Redmond resident,
Chris Gannon, and two of his
friends, Clint Holdbrook and
Kyle Bates, who live out of the
area. Throughout Wilson’s
trial this month, prosecutors
referred to two groups of peo-
ple involved in the case: Wil-
son and his associates, whom
they called “conferencegoers,”
and Gannon, Holdbrook and
Bates, who were referred to as
“locals.”
See Wilson / A4
Tim Trainor/Spokesman
Katie Harris, right, a board member of the Dry Canyon Arts Association, watches a student work on her fused glass art project.
Art blooms
again in
Redmond
BY TIM TRAINOR • Redmond Spokesman
T
he pandemic
disrupted all
aspects of life in
Redmond, including a
burgeoning nonprofit that
worked to support and
connect local artists.
But the Dry Canyon Arts
Association has made up for
that temporary disruption.
The organization is growing
again by leaps and bounds,
and is now spearheading a
number of projects that put
art in front of residents.
Recently, four Elton Greg-
gory Middle School students
were cutting, shaping and
arranging shards and shaves
of glass at Mel Archer’s stu-
dio near Odin Falls. Archer,
a retired cabinetmaker from
Hillsboro, is chair of the Dry
Canyon Arts Association. The
afterschool program funded
by the Deschutes County Arts
and Culture Program taught
a total nine students how to
make fused glass panels.
Archer said it was incredible
to see the change in the stu-
dents from when they first ar-
rived to their final product.
“Most started with quite a
bit of apprehension and ended
with a lot of self confidence,
cutting and chipping the glass
Tim Trainor/Spokesman
Mel Archer (right) gives feedback to a young student working on a fused glass art project taught by the
Dry Canyon Arts Association.
like old pros,” said Archer.
The student work will be
displayed on Friday, June 3 at
the Redmond Senior Center
from 4-7 p.m. — part of the
second First Friday Art Walk
of 2022. The First Friday pro-
gram is led by the Dry Canyon
Arts Association, which Ar-
cher said is growing by leaps
and bounds as the pandemic
restrictions wind down and
artists can again gather for
shows and classes.
The association now has
more than 80 members.
“We added 10 more just last
week,” said Archer. “People re-
ally want to be a part of it.”
This Friday’s events in-
clude book readings by cel-
ebrated Northwest authors
Willy Vlautin and Jonathan
Evison from 7-8 p.m. at the
High Desert Museum Hall in
Redmond. The readings are
in conjunction with the art
walk, and is presented by the
Deschutes County Library
and Redmond’s Herringbone
Books. Other First Friday
events are planned at the Se-
nior Center and the SPH Ho-
tel.
Dry Canyon Arts also
started the “Lend Me Your
Walls” program, which al-
lows local artists to show their
wares at high traffic areas
around town. Currently, Grace
and Hammer Pizza and the
Redmond Senior Center are
showing the work of local art-
ists for two month cycles. Cus-
Jay Patrick plans
to run for mayor
BY TIM TRAINOR
Redmond Spokesman
Dry Canyon Arts Association
First Friday events June 3;
Plans for arts center
bans of
4th of July
fireworks
tomers who like what they see
can purchase it right off the
walls, and the sale price goes
directly to the artist.
Katie Harris, a member of
the all-volunteer Dry Can-
yon board, said they hope to
expand the program to other
area businesses in the near fu-
ture.
Archer said that the orga-
nization is in the process of
locating and purchasing a
downtown building that they
could use as both a gallery to
display artwork and function
as a gathering space for meet-
ings and classes. The organi-
zation has enough funding
and support to do that, Archer
said, they just need to find and
secure the right location.
Redmond City Council
is split on whether or not
to ban fireworks in places
in the city where a fire
could be most dangerous.
During a Redmond
City Council meeting
May 24, Councilor Ed
Fitch recommended ban-
ning fireworks in Dry
Canyon, the old Juniper
Golf Course and on Red-
mond Airport property,
among other areas. Fitch
argued that if a fire broke
out in those areas, the
threat to life and property
would be extreme.
“When we look at the
risk and reward, why
would want folks to be
doing fireworks in the
canyon? ... Doesn’t make
any sense,” Fitch said.
“We shouldn’t have fire-
works there, period. Any-
time.”
Mayor George Endicott
and councilors Jay Patrick
and Krisanna Clark-En-
dicott opposed bans in
those areas, since there
has been only one such
fire in recent memory.
“I don’t think we need
to have an ordinance
written for one incident,”
Clark-Endicott said.
“I would tend to have
problems with limiting
what people want to do
on the Fourth of July,”
Patrick said.
Councilors Clifford Ev-
elyn and Cat Zwicker said
there is increased danger
of serious fire, due to new
residents not understand-
ing the risks in a desert
environment, as well as
serious ongoing drought.
“It could be a catastro-
phe,” said Evelyn said.
“Safety supersedes cele-
bration.”
Zwicker said she would
consider a temporary ban
of all fireworks in Dry
Canyon, due to drought
and how difficult fight-
ing the fire would be for
crews.
“I’d rather err on the
side of caution,” she said.
The council was split
3-3 with one councilor
absent. No action was
taken.
See Council / A4
The Spokesman uses
recycled newsprint
INDEX
Calendar ........A2 Obituaries .....A5
Puzzles ...........A2 Classifieds .....A6
Volume 112, No. 39
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