Wallowa County Chieftain
News
wallowa.com
November 15, 2017
A9
Garrett sentenced on animal abuse, other charges
By Steve Tool
family dog multiple times
while testing an air soft gun
and also tortured the animal
with an electric cattle prod,
including putting the device in
the dog’s mouth and shocking
it multiple times.
She testifi ed that Garrett
had begun physically abus-
ing the animal by punching,
kicking and slamming the dog
to the ground. When the dog
would run away, she testifi ed
that Garrett used the cattle
prod to reach the dog as it hid
under a table and chairs.
She wept as she described
the dog being “cornered”
and trying to bite at the prod
to defend itself as Garrett
repeatedly shocked the ani-
mal until it was too weak to
retaliate.
On cross examination Wal-
lace contended that the air soft
gun didn’t have the velocity
to seriously wound the dog
and questioned whether Gar-
rett deliberately shocked the
dog in the mouth or the shocks
resulted from the dog biting at
the cattle prod.
Wallowa County Sheriff’s
Deputy Kevin McQuead tes-
tifi ed and examined the cattle
prod, which was confi scated
as a result of the domestic vio-
lence incidents and admitted
as evidence. He noted the bite
marks on the end the prod as
well as dog hair and saliva.
Christopher Garrett took
the stand in his own defense
and testifi ed the dog was
always aggressive and got
more aggressive with age. He
said he tried to buy a shock
collar to control the dog but
bought a cattle prod because
he couldn’t fi nd a collar to fi t
the dog.
West dismissed the charges
on the air soft gun due to a lack
of evidence but found Gar-
rett guilty of the cattle prod
incidents.
The sentencing phase for
the domestic violence convic-
tions included Frolander ask-
ing for a fi ve-year sentence,
the state minimum sentence
for felony crimes involving the
use of a fi rearm.
She noted that while she
respected Garrett’s military
record, a pre-sentencing inves-
tigation concluded Garrett had
anger issues before entering
the service, and his service did
not excuse his crimes.
She also asked that if West
decided to reduce the fi ve-year
sentence, he would sentence the
victim to 13-14 months with
Department of Corrections.
The victim also read a state-
ment describing her abuse and
asking the court for a punitive
sentence.
“If you let him go with-
out consequences now, I fear
that this behavior will never
change,” she said.
Wallace argued that Gar-
rett deserved leniency because
forester noted that the tree
in question had an 18-inch
split at the crotch and recom-
mended its removal for safety
reasons. Two other arborists
the city called to assess the
tree agreed.
Sands said the city had
received suggestions of put-
ting screws in the split, topping
the tree or banding it. The city
contacted the forester again,
who reiterated her previous
conclusion.
The city has received two
bids to remove the tree in the
coming spring. Sands said the
forester recommended sev-
eral tree species to replace the
split tree and planned to dis-
cuss those options with the
Rushtons.
Rushton said she wouldn’t
have been so upset if the city
hadn’t let inexperienced prun-
ers trim the trees.
Sands disagreed. He said
the past pruning was not that
bad of a job. He said the latest
science recommends very little
tree pruning.
Rushton replied it seemed
the council made up rules as it
went along. Sands pointed out
that Rushton wouldn’t let the
crew touch her tree anyway.
“They’d already done it
before that, Dennis,” Rushton
said. “Don’t say that.”
Clevenger said that if the
tree were deemed a liabil-
ity to the city, it needed to be
removed without further dis-
cussion. Rushton asked for
a signed statement from the
city with the date of the tree’s
removal before castigating
Sands on other issues.
“I’ve asked several things
of you, Dennis, but nothing
has happened,” she said, add-
ing that she’d waited all sum-
mer for Sands to act.
Sands disagreed. She
started to complain about the
potholes by her restaurant not
being fi lled when Clevenger
called for a point of order as
the subject was unrelated to
the matter.
Sands said the city would
give Rushton a defi nitive
date for the tree’s replace-
ment. Rushton replied that she
wanted a defi nitive deadline.
Sands said she would get the
statement within a week and
the tree replacement would
happen by June 1.
Bingham said she was con-
fused by the discussion as the
tree was owned by the city.
“Who owns the side-
walks?” Rushton asked. No
one answered, and Rush-
ton said, “That’s just it? It’s
unbelievable.”
Sands later said that the
city offered to reconsider
the removal of the tree if the
Rushtons would absolve the
city of liability. The Rushtons
refused.
Sajonia asked if the council
would vote on the issue. She
then went on to criticize Sands
as being an autocrat.
“This whole meeting I’ve
heard nothing but, ‘I’ve done
this and I’ve done that’ I feel
like a counselor that’s on the
outside,” she said. “I don’t
understand: I thought we were
on a weak mayoral system
where it is all as a group, not
one person.”
She added she’d like to be
more involved and followed
with a motion to give the tree
a year to see if the previously
mentioned fi xes could work.
No one seconded the
motion. Clevenger followed
with a motion to remove the
tree. It was seconded and the
motion passed with Sajonia as
the only dissenting vote.
Wallowa County Chieftain
COURTBEAT
Christopher Craig Gar-
rett, 32, Joseph, was con-
victed of animal abuse in
the second degree in Wal-
lowa County Circuit Court
Oct. 26. One count of ani-
mal abuse was dismissed for
lack of evidence. Garrett was
also sentenced for a July 21
conviction on three domes-
tic violence counts: men-
acing, assault in the fourth
degree and unlawful use of a
weapon.
Deputy district Attorney
Rebecca Frolander prose-
cuted the case for the state.
Court-appointed
attorney
Jeffry Wallace defended
Garrett. Judge Russell B.
West presided.
The animal abuse charge
stemmed from incidents in
June 2016. The victim of the
July 21 incident testifi ed that
the defendant had shot the
FODDER
Continued from Page A1
harder on people.”
Newly sworn in coun-
cil member Kathy Bingham
noted that the council spent
a large amount of time at the
last meeting discussing the
sidewalk and planter damage
the city will have to pay to
repair, and she didn’t under-
stand the blowback from
Rushton. She said the city
can enforce the prohibition
by fi rst sending a cease and
desist letter to the offender
followed by a fi ne if it were
ignored.
Sajonia said that the ordi-
nance would probably lessen
ATV use, but enforcement
was not possible. She added
that she could guarantee some
business owners would refuse
to take care of the planters in
front of their businesses if the
ordinance were enforced.
The removal of a dam-
aged tree from near the Out-
law Restaurant, owned by the
Rushtons, because of city lia-
bility provided more contro-
versy. During an inspection
of the city’s trees, the state
Thank You to Everyone Who Helped Us
Meet Our Goal of $100,000
Raised at the 22 nd Annual Healthy Futures
Dinner Auction!
~ Emcees The Williams Brothers & Auctioneer Jake Musser ~
~ Wallowa Memorial Hospital Auxiliary ~
~ Glenda Underhill & Darlene Johnson for flowers ~
~ Veteran’s Day Tribute musicians - Mark Eubanks, Randy Morgan,
Dr. Liz Powers, Heather Tyreman ~
~ The Mammo Sisters - Carolyn Lochert & Gail Swart ~
~ Sound Engineer ~ Michael Caine and the Enterprise
Christian Church for their sound system ~
~ Dr. Devee Boyd ~
~ Registration crew ~ Chantelle Johnson, Morgan Green,
Sarah Kissinger, Ashley Sullivan, Kathy Webster
~ IT Kari Carper & Kathleen Ward~
~ Toni Leech, Tamarah Duncan & EHS FCCLA ~
~ Kitchen crew ~
Ann Foley, Deb Rosa, Caitlin Batch, Angela Mart, Breanna Hassard, Michele Baird,
Tray Busers Will Caldwell, Jaden Hassard, Tyler Stucki, and Todd Tidmore
~ Backyard Gardens Catering & La Laguna bar~
~ Wine Bar Crew~
The Dawson Family & Catherine Matthias
~ Pete Beaudoin & Hospital maintenance crew ~
~ Set up crew ~
Keith Olenick, Dr. Gary Underhill, Mark Green, Kane & Caliegh Johnson,
Denny Dawson, Leland Bauck, Trena Jones and all who helped with clean up
~ Josie Conrad ~
~ Wallowa County Nursery ~
of his meritorious service in
Iraq and Afghanistan, which
included a Bronze Star. and
his post traumatic stress disor-
der. The defendant performed
volunteer work and underwent
counseling.
In his response, West
thanked Garrett for his service.
With some pointed remarks,
West also noted his own
father’s WWII service, which
included the battles for both
Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the
Pacifi c Theater.
“He saw 7,000 of his bud-
dies get killed on Iwo Jima, and
I respect his memory,” he said.
“Like you, he was in combat.
He came back and lived a nor-
mal life; he raised his family.
He never laid a hand on my
mother.”
West said his service did
not give him a pass to abuse
his wife.
“The problem I have here
is that I did not hear a single
word of remorse,” he said.
WATER
Continued from Page A1
The council also discussed
an ordinance that would
require property owners to
continue to pay water usage
bills even if they had the
water shut off for an extended
period. Sands explained that
the city still made payments
on the sewer and water sys-
tem and that payments had to
be made whether the property
owner used the system or not.
He added that a large per-
centage of everyone’s bill
went into debt service, and
with operating bills added,
it cost $53 per month per
“You admitted you grabbed
her by the jaw –– you never
even said, ‘well that was
wrong.’”
The judge also said the case
demanded justice and sen-
tenced Garrett to 60 days in
jail with credit for time served
on the assault conviction and
three years probation and to
enroll in the batterers interven-
tion program. He reduced the
fi ne to $100.
He sentenced Garrett to 60
concurrent days for the men-
acing conviction and 30 days
jail consecutive for the animal
abuse conviction.
The unlawful use of a
weapon conviction netted Gar-
rett 13 months in state custody.
West cited Garrett’s ser-
vice as a reason for the down-
ward departure from the state
minimum.
“You went through hell,”
West said. “For that I’m giv-
ing you consideration, but it
doesn’t give you a pass.”
household to maintain the sys-
tem. Patterson said that at any
one time, 35-40 households
have their water shut off for
various reasons, which costs
the city about $15,000 per year.
Clevenger said the city
needed the funds, and Sajonia
added that city auditors have
told the council for years that
the water rates are too low.
She added that the sys-
tem would soon need repairs
and maintenance, and the city
had no money saved for the
project.
After hearing that most of
the “snowbirds” had already
departed for warmer climes,
the council tabled the issue
until the spring.
Fall Is In The Air
Fall Sports
and Wallowa County Events
are in Full Swing
2all Fennifer Today
to *place an ad.
Suppo rt your local team
sports and favorite Fall
Wallo wa 2ounty Events
(541) 426•4567
(541) 850•9630
jpowell@wallowa.com
*Deadline for weekly display advertising
is 5pm Friday for the following week.
All of Our Donors:
• Lamb Trading Co. • Kalispell Tribe • Spence Air Service • Dr. Devee Boyd •
Community Bank • Wallowa County Grain Growers • Joseph Hardware • Oregon
Shakespeare Festival • Ashland Hills Hotel • Artist Sharon Calahan • John Pollard &
Rowan Cypher • Wayne & Jean Cook • Dr. & Mrs. Gary & Glenda Underhill • Jenni
Word & Chantelle Johnson • Jordan Hostetter & Doubleback Winery • Wallowa Lake
Lodge • Arrowhead Chocolate • Beecrowbee • Shirley Snook • Bronson Log Homes
• Wildhorse Resort & Casino • Blue Mountain Pathology • US Representative Greg
Walden • Stewart Jones Gallery • Pat & Patti Brown • Wheatland Insurance •
Winding Waters Medical Clinic • Anton’s Home & Hearth • M. Crow & Co. •
McClaran Ranch • And all the local businesses who gave gift certificates
and items for the Silent Auction
Special thanks to the Don Hubbard, Sr. Family Estate
for your generous gift of $10,000, three anonymous donors
(you know who you are!) and to all who bid on items, raised your
hands for the Paddle Raise, or sent in your support
even if you couldn’t attend…
EARLY DEADLINE
We could not do this without you! Thank you!
Classified Liners, Legals & Display Ads
The Wallowa Valley Health Care Foundation Board
President Dave Smyth, VP Diana Collins, Saralyn Johnson, Terry Jones, John
Hillock, Gail Swart, Glenda Underhill, Stewart Jones, Becky Knapp,
Eric Johnson and Foundation Director Stacy Green
for Nov. 22nd Edition
DEADLINE
Thurs. Nov. 16 at 5:00pm
Wallowa Valley Health Care Foundation
P.O. Box 53, Enterprise, OR 97828
541-426-4567
209 N.W. 1st St. Enterprise OR 97828
Office will be
CLOSED
Nov. 23