Lawsuits fly in irrigation piping dispute

On April 5, 2010, an ongoing dispute between land owner Jan Daggett and her supporters and the Three Sisters Irrigation District over piping of an irrigation canal in McKenzie Canyon boiled over into an alleged confrontation that led to the arrest and booking of Timothy Stroud and Susan Brown, both of Sunriver.

Stroud and Brown are friends of Jan Daggett, who was resisting attempts by the irrigation district to pipe the open canal across her property.

Based on a sheriff's office report, KTVZ television news reported the incident, along with a mug shot of Stroud, detailing the arresting citation's report of drinking, intoxication, laying in the path of an excavator and climbing on the tracks of the still-running equipment.

The Deschutes County District Attorney's office initially declined to file criminal charges. In June 2010, Stroud filed a $2 million civil suit in the U.S. District Court naming Thalacker, Three Sisters Irrigation District, the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Latry Blanton, Captain Tim Edwards, Glenn Cooper and Steve Simpson. The suit claims violation of civil rights, false arrest and assault and battery.

The DA's office subsequently went ahead with charges against Stroud and Brown.

All criminal charges were dismissed against Stroud and Brown in February 2011, and Brown has subsequently filed a $453,000 suit in Deschutes County Court against Three Sisters Irrigation manager Marc Thalacker alleging false arrest, malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Competing motions for summary judgment on these two lawsuits will be heard in April in Eugene, with a decision expected by early summer. If some or all of the civil suit moves to trial the court date is expected to be early 2012.

Thalacker sent an e-mail in response to requests for an interview: "Our attorneys would prefer that we hold off on any discussions until the case is over. Respectfully and out of fairness to all parties."

Court documents show that in his initial hand-written statement to the sheriff's office, Thalacker indicated that Stroud and Brown and a third person had laid down in the path of the excavator and climbed on the excavator. He also stated that all three had been drinking since early morning.

In a later deposition, Thalacker indicated that neither Brown nor Stroud had lain in the path of the excavator or climbed on the tracks of the excavator. There is also some conflicting testimony about red liquid in clear plastic glasses being consumed by the half-dozen protesters (per Thalacker) and Deschutes County Sheriff's Captain Tim Edwards statement that the protestors were drinking from silver containers, assumed to be beer cans.

Pictures taken at the time and filed with Stroud's deposition show the protestors holding silver coffee mugs and plastic water bottles. According to Stroud's attorney, Stroud provided coffee and bottled water for the protestors that morning.

Captain Edwards is individually named in Stroud's civil suit. According to his deposition, Edwards was on the scene for a short while early in the morning of April 5 with specific instructions from Sheriff Larry Blanton to avoid getting involved in the civil dispute unless it got confrontational or physical.

Edwards was called back to the scene around 4 p.m. due to reports of the protesters blocking the path of the excavator. He was not present during the alleged incidents and declined to arrest any of the protestors based on Thalacker's description of the incidents.

Per his deposition, Edwards asked Thalacker if he wished to make a citizen's arrest. When Thalacker said yes, Edwards directed his deputies to arrest Stroud and Brown. The deputies then filled out the arrest citation. Thalacker signed the citation as Stroud and Brown were handcuffed and taken to jail. Stroud was booked and Brown was cited and released due to a medical condition.

The eight-year dispute between landowner Jan Daggett and the Three Sisters Irrigation District is over an easement across Daggett's property claimed by the irrigation district based on documents from the late 1800s. According to Stroud and Brown's attorney, Claud Ingram, in an extensive search the Department of Interior records, no easement was found. Daggett says she has never seen any documentation of an easement.

While the criminal and civil trails moved through the courts, Three Sisters Irrigation completed the $7 million pressurized pipeline through McKenzie Canyon to deliver irrigation water to the 2,000 acres of Lower Bridge area farmland below, a portion of which is owned and farmed by the Thalacker family. Another portion of that acreage is owned and farmed by Glenn Cooper, chairman of the Three Sisters Irrigation District at the time this project was started.