AR-News: (OR - US) Man arrested for saving a stray chicken

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 MAN ARRESTED FOR SAVING A STRAY CHICKEN

 By Carl Worden
 March 28, 2004
 NewsWithViews.com

 You will find this tale preposterous and bordering on pure insanity, but I
 swear to you that the events I am about to relay actually happened in the
 United States of America, State of Oregon, County of Josephine and not in
 Saddam's Iraq.

 Here goes:

 Nick Gombos is heading home from his gym workout at 10:00 PM, and he stops
 by the small closed Rays Food Market in Murphy, Oregon on his way home to
 Williams, to pick up a copy of the free weekly "Nickel" classified ads.

 He sees this shivering chicken huddled in an open crate next to the Nickel
 magazine stand. The chicken looks abandoned and lonely, so Nick, the
animal  lover, takes pity on the chicken, picks her up, and takes her home and
 safety.

 For all Nick knows, the chicken is abandoned, on free range. The
 chicken is not in a closed or even locked pen. For all Nick knows, the
 chicken found a spot to rest with minimal protection for the night. Dogs,
 cats, or any other predator might have scented her out in that open crate
 There is a nameplate over the open fruit crate, designated "Speckles".

 Nick builds a chicken pen at home for his rescued bird, and he goes out to
 buy two other chickens to keep her company. He feeds her grain and feels
 like he's done something good.

 Nick tells a neighbor how he got the bird. The neighbor tells Nick the
bird  is a "regular" in the parking lot of Ray's Foods, getting scrap from what
was thrown to her by patrons and store employees.

 Nick calls Ray's Foods and tells an employee not to worry about the
 chicken. She's well taken care of and provided for now. The employee tells
 Nick that's just fine.

 The next day, Nick gets a call from a different and angry Ray's Food
 employee, accusing him of stealing the chicken, and demanding the hen be
 returned.

 Now you have to consider the environment this chicken was living in. She
 was living on scrap food tossed to her irregularly by passersby, and she
 was dodging parking cars all day in the parking lot of this small grocery
 store. The chicken was not held in a pen, and was allowed to freely wander
 around anywhere it wanted, including the next county. The chicken was an
 abandoned fowl on her own, and she was not purchased by Ray's Foods for
the  entertainment of the patrons.

 The next day, Nick gets a call from a Josephine County Sheriff's Deputy by
 the name of Matt Tripp, telling him he has "stolen" the chicken from Ray's
 Foods, and that he'll be charged with a felony (!) if he doesn't return
the  chicken immediately.

 Nick calls the local animal protection agency, which employee tells him to
 keep the chicken, since the chicken is now in his loving protection, away
 from the very dangerous environment of that parking lot and nearby Hwy.
238.

 Deputy Tripp and partner show up at Nick's front gate, asking for access
to  the yard & house. Nick refuses to allow them in without a search warrant
 that they admit they don't have. Tripp & Company leave.

 Around midnight, Tripp gets a local judge out of bed and has him sign a
 search warrant. All I can suggest is that the crime rate in Josephine
 County is either staggeringly low, or our boy Tripp had turned this thing
 into a private vendetta because some citizen had the audacity to tell him
 "No" without a search warrant.

 The next thing that happens is that four Josephine County Sheriff squad
 cars loaded with militarized, jack-booted deputies with guns show up at
 Nicks home at 1:00 AM, armed with a tainted search warrant they received
 from sleepy Judge Gerald Neufeld. How do you describe a chicken accurately
 on a search warrant? Anyway, they arrest Nick, a Viet Nam veteran,
handcuff  him and drag him off to jail like a common criminal wearing nothing more
 than his red Speedos (bikini briefs). The arresting officers allegedly
 injure Nick in the process.

 Nick is charged with criminal theft of a chicken from private property and
 kept in jail overnight.

 The manager of the Ray's Food store is quoted by a reporter from the
 Medford Mail Tribune as saying "The chickens are not owned", admitting
that
 this chicken happened upon the parking lot one day, was given food by
 customers and store employees as the opportunity presented, and nothing
 more. As such, the chicken was an abandoned domestic fowl, and not
property
 of the store.

 My question is this: If the store manager admits no one owns the chicken,
 then on what grounds did Deputy Tripp accept a criminal theft complaint??
 And to carry that question to its next logical conclusion, why did the
 judge sign this insane search warrant in the first place??

 Under Oregon's strict animal protection statutes, Nick was totally
innocent
 of theft from private property, and in fact, he is to be commended for
 taking the abandoned hen under his care. If Nick is permitted to take a
 copy of the "Nickel" from its stand after hours, why should he not also be
 permitted to take an orphan chicken he found next to the stand, huddled in
 an open crate? The chicken didn't even have a band on its leg. Any dog,
cat or coyote would have made a meal of her had he not done so.

 So we have to ask ourselves, what in the world is going on here in
 Josephine County, Oregon? Over a chicken, Deputy Tripp gets a judge out of
 bed at midnight to sign a search warrant, and then uses the resources of 4
 squad cars loaded with armed deputies to arrest and deliberately humiliate
 a harmless guy at 1:00 AM in the morning?

Didnt those other deputies have patrol duties elsewhere? How
could Sheriff Dave Daniel allow such a travesty to take place, when he is
constantly crying to the board of Commissioners for more money and
shortage of deputies.

Why was this alleged chicken rescuer not arrested during the day time? Why
the sudden urgency? Is it possible Dave Daniel likes to execute arrests
during the night to maximize the terror on sleepy unsuspecting citizens?

Is Nick considered a terrorist under Sheriff Dave Daniel and the Patriot
Act?

The Josephine County D.A. Clay Johnson is leveling several charges at
Nick. It appears they are hoping Nick will plea-bargain (which he won't) to some
reduced charge, and perhaps be relieved of some hard earned cash.

When I heard of this outrage, I immediately contacted Nicks wife, Kathy,
to provide support, and to refer her to my favorite attorney, Foster Glass,
of Bend, Oregon. He has taken the case.

 Kathy's web site www.kathylynndean.com and
 E-mail cathylynndean at direcway.com

 More to come on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 by NWV reporter John Taft.

 DA Clay Johnson (541) 474-5200
 Sheriff Dave Daniels (541) 474-5123

 © 2004 Carl Worden - All Rights Reserved