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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2015)
Page 10A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian ATTACK: Gunman reportedly motivated by opposition to abortion HERMISTON Woman weighed jail against saving starving dogs By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Robin Barker of Herm- iston feared she would be charged with a felony after she took three underfed dogs from their owner. Then another animal rescuer helped save the day. The Umatilla County 6heriff¶s Of¿ce received a call Friday, Nov. 20, from a woman who said a dog escaped its chain on the 2000 block of Geer Road, Hermiston, and ate one of her chickens. Barker serves on the board of Fuzz Ball Animal Rescue, a small rescue nonpro¿t in Herm- iston, and said she saw a posting about that dog on Facebook, so she went to check out the scene. She said she found wet, cold and underfed dogs; four adults and four puppies. They had no shelter nor food. One dog, she said, had vomited sticks and plastic it had tried to eat. She took videos and a partner took photos of the dogs. She also took videos of interactions with the dog’s owner, who the East Orego- nian was not able to contact. Barker confronted him with the conditions the dogs were living in. In one he asserted he cared for and fed the dogs. But Barker said he also relin- quished two dogs and four puppies to Fuzz Ball, and in one video he seems to imply he was OK with her taking the dogs. Sheriff Terry Rowan said the following day the man reported Barker had stolen his dogs and he wanted them back. Rowan said pets are property under Oregon law. So a deputy told Barker to return the dogs or she could face an arrest for theft. That threat, Barker said, turned her world upside down. She said she lost sleep, cried, worried about her own pets and what would happen if she could not attend to her aging father. But she also said she could not return the dogs to a place where she felt no one fed or cared for them. Suzanne Phillips is the director of Fuzz Ball. She said Fuzz Ball often accepts animals that law enforcement seizes, then ¿nds the pets temporary homes and works to ¿nd them permanent homes. “We don’t have a shelter but since we have foster homes it works pretty much the same way,” she said. She said she did not understand why the sheriff’s of¿ce did not do more to help the dogs. Fuzz Ball has previously worked with the agency to ¿nd homes for animals in need and it can do that while the outcome of a criminal case is pending and at no cost to the county. Fuzz Ball works entirely off donations, Phillips said. Barker, Phillips and others then took to Facebook with photos of the dogs and directed viewers to contact the sheriff’s of¿ce, which has it own Facebook page. Jodi Lambert of La Grande has helped Fuzz Ball earn grants, and she started an online petition to push the sheriff’s of¿ce to take action. 0onday evening it had about 3,500 backers, though many are anonymous. Rowan said he does not monitor the Facebook page nor comment on it, but will direct staff when appropriate. He said it is a good tool to spread a message, and the sheriff’s of¿ce did that with a response Saturday to address concerns about the dogs. Rowan called that an unusual move, but people needed to know the sheriff’s of¿ce was investigating the case. But Barker said she grew so worried 0onday morning that she called District Attorney Dan Primus to ¿nd out if charges were pending against her, and he referred her to the county commis- sioners. She then spoke with Commissioner Bill Elfering and he brought it back up with Rowan. Later that day, volunteer Carri Curtis of Hermiston Tuesday, December 1, 2015 said she spoke to the dog owner and offered to buy all four animals if he relin- quished ownership. The man asked for $500, she said, but in the end took $150. And, she said, he signed the paperwork. Barker said she still wants to make sure law enforce- ment knows not to arrest her, and she planned to check in with an attorney. But for moment she felt relief. condition of anonymity because the of¿cial was not allowed to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation. Planned Parenthood has said witnesses believe the gunman was motivated by his opposition to abortion. But Dear has been described by acquaintances as a reclusive loner who did not seem to have strong political or social opinions. The Colorado district attorney said he has been in touch with U.S. Attorney John Walsh’s of¿ce about the case. Walsh said investigators have been consulting with the Justice Department’s civil rights and national security divisions, a move that suggests authorities could pursue federal charges in addition to state homicide ones. He did not elaborate. One possible avenue could be the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which makes it a crime to injure or intimidate clinic patients and employees. Whatever authorities decide about Continued from 1A shooting a university police of¿cer who responded to the attack, as well as an Iraq war veteran and a mother of two inside the clinic. Nine other people were wounded. After 0onday’s hearing, District Attorney Dan 0ay said Dear could face other charges, but he did not elaborate. Late 0onday, the husband of Jennifer 0arkovsky, a woman who was killed in the assault, released a statement recalling how she read to their two children and helped them with their homework. “We will miss her; her cooking, crafting and adven- turous spirit,” Paul 0arkovsky wrote. Police have declined to speculate on a motive for the attack. A law enforcement of¿cial said Dear told authorities, “no more baby parts” during a rambling statement after being arrested. The of¿cial spoke on motive is sure to be controversial, given the political murkiness of Dear’s statements and the debate over Planned Parenthood, which was reignited in July when anti-abortion activists released undercover video they said showed the group’s personnel negoti- ating the sale of fetal organs. A Republican congressional leader on 0onday defended a House investigation of Planned Parenthood’s provision of fetal tissue to researchers. But House 0ajority Leader Kevin 0cCarthy, a California Republican, also indicated that the GOP-run Congress will not risk a government shutdown ¿ght with President Barack Obama over GOP efforts to halt federal funding for the organization. 0cCarthy contested suggestions by Planned Parenthood defenders that harsh language from the organization’s critics has helped create a hostile polit- ical environment. 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