Top Stream-Fencing Petitioner
Arrested For Shooting Cattle

CANYON CITY, Ore. — A radical ballot initiative that would force Oregon stockmen to fence along thousands of miles of streams looked likely to pass as recently as last week.

It may be less likely to do so now.

Even staunch opponents of the measure were conceding its apparent success last week — until one of its prime instigators was jailed for shooting a neighbor’s cows.

Backers of Measure 38, the so-called "clean streams" initiative, claimed its purpose was to keep livestock out of streams. Opponents have argued all along, however, that its real goal was to deny stockmen the use of their own land and potentially put them out of business.

Its promoters, opponents insisted, were motivated by hatred of cows and cattlemen, not love of the environment. Now, they say, they’ve been proven right.

Dr. Patrick Shipsey, 43, who has a general medical practice and health club in John Day, was arrested last Tuesday on 11 felony counts of criminal mischief, Grant County Sheriff Fred Reusser said.

He spent the night in jail before being released on his own recognizance.

Reusser said a logger working on the 960 acres Shipsey owns in the Dry Creek drainage outside John Day reported seeing several cattle that had been shot dead.

An investigation showed that eight of the cattle were owned by Mount Vernon rancher Bob Sproul, Reusser said, and he placed Shipsey under arrest in lieu of $165,000 bail.

Shipsey, along with Bill Marlett of the Oregon Natural Desert Association, are "chief petitioners" whose efforts put Measure 38 on the November ballot.

Marlett attempted to downplay the significance of Shipley’s actions, saying people were already "strongly divided" over the issue.

``I think if something like this were enough to change a person's mind, then they were looking for a reason to vote against it anyway,'' Marlett said.

Julia Brim-Edwards, spokeswoman for the anti-Measure 38 Don't Fence Oregon Committee, said the allegations against Shipsey illustrate the extremism of the initiative.

"Shooting cows is a senseless, extreme act that would be hard to justify under any circumstances," she said. "We have said all along that Measure 38 is an extreme measure that creates conflict and division. It would be sad and disheartening if this sick act is an outgrowth of that divisiveness and extremism."

"I don't see how a person could be that mad and shoot those poor innocent creatures," Sheriff Sproul said.

The arrest shocked area residents.

"That man is a good doctor," rancher Ken Holliday said. "I wouldn't be afraid in a heartbeat to take one of my kids to him. But how do we accept him now?"

The cattle killing story broke as Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber announced that he was nearing agreement on a stream management plan that could head off some of the worst damage from Measure 38.

Kitzhaber had been meeting with the livestock industry and environmental activists for six weeks to find an alternative to the ballot measure.

He said the tentative agreement calls for crafting water-quality plans for more than 900 Oregon rivers and streams over the next four years.

Once plans are in place, he said, the streams would have to meet federal clean water standards within 10 years. The water-quality plans also would essentially head off implementation of Measure 38, because the measure exempts landowners along streams that have state-approved water-quality plans.

The plan could require some ranchers to fence off streams. But they also could require landowners to set up watering stations away from streams, limit the amount of time cattle are allowed in a stream, plant trees along creeks to lower water temperatures, or take other measures short of fencing.

The state Agriculture Department would have authority to enforce each plan to make sure it's working. But to craft the plans, the state Agriculture Department and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality will need to hire 38 more people. Spending on stream-rehabilitation projects would increase by up to $30 million.

Andy Anderson, director of the Oregon Farm Bureau, said his group has asked for more information about how the 38 additional Agriculture and DEQ employees would be used.

Anderson also said the state Agriculture Department already has the legal authority to crack down on landowners who don't comply with water-quality improvement measures.