The owners of a prize domesticated cow that was killed in a dog attack on the south side of Fort Smith back in early April have called for the resignation of the Fort Smith city prosecutor for what they deem was "favoritism" shown to the dog owners.
in a series of screenshots posted on social media, Holly Simon of Fort Smith says that text messages between Rita Watkins and Sherry Boze, the mother of one of the dog owners, proves that not only did Watkins change her stance on issuing warrants for the dogs after learning who the owners were, but she also gave legal advice to Boze in the aftermath of the incident.
Maple, a 1,000 lb Highland cow, was attacked and killed the morning of April 10 at a residence on the city limits of Fort Smith. Police and animal control officers were called to the scene and as law enforcement attempted to take the animals into custody, Watkins became involved when she directed a Fort Smith police officer to basically stand down on the situation and leave one of the two dogs in the custody of the owners.
It was later learned that Watkins, who took over the office of prosecutor earlier this year, had a personal relationship with the dog owners and after green lighting a warrantfor the dogs to be taken by animal control shifted gears once she learned the names of the couple in question.
In doing so, it appears that she not only violated the trust of our office, but she also seemingly threw a law enforcement detective under the bus in the process.
At least one city director has called for the resignation of Watkins, who was hired for the job by Fort Smith city administrator Carl Gefken. In addition, the city's lone black city director, Andre Good, inferred in an open meeting last week that "racism" played a part in the situation. Bose also inferred the same sentiment in one of the text messages between her and Rita Watkins.
Simon obtained the text messages between Watkins and Boze through a Freedom of Information Act request.
At one point in the text message exchange , Watkins complained about Boze having "no idea what I've been through" and called Simon and her supporters "Bishes" in the comments.
No word from the City of Fort Smith whether or not the incident is being investigated internally. Gefken was out of town when the incident occurred and other city officials declared a moratorium on anyone commenting on the situation through official city channels at that time in order to put a lid on the controversy.
Simon made a lengthy Facebook on Wednesday detailing the timeline of the events, sharing the text messages and calling for the immediate resignation of Watkins:
"PLEASE SHARE to help us. READ THIS FIRST. we are in shock. April 10th is when attack occurred.
The police timeline is very important as it lines up exactly with texts between Rita Watkins (prosecuting attorney) and Hannah (dog owner) as well as Sherri (Hannah’s mom) and them influencing the u-turn decision on the warrant
We are calling on the city to ask for Rita’s resignation.
A SUMMARY IN THE TEXTS BELOW:
2pm : Dog owners were arrested and taken to jail. We were told as well as animal control at scene warrant is coming, prosecutor will sign, they’re getting it all ready. We all leave, animal control stays on scene so they can’t take dogs
2:15pm : Sherri (the Dog Owners mom) personally texts Rita Watkins the prosecuting attorney to tell her what has happened
Rita let’s Sherri know she wants to protect Hannah’s White Dog from being taken (the one Hannah begged to keep and lied about) and that she’s changed it to a signature bond for the dog owners, and Sherri “thanks Rita for everything”
Sherri tries to scheme to Rita on how she can get the white dog past animal control.
3:15pm : Rita Watkins reverses, and texts Sergeant Brent’s to tell him “just take the dog named Trey and let the Harmans keep the other dog”
Sergeant Brent’s immediately asks for a phone call, says based on the evidence he believes it to be BOTH DOGS and then shows Rita Watkins that video evidence and that Hannah was caught on camera walking towards our pond and dogs.
Rita then unbelievably tells the Sergeant that “cattle are not considered domestic animals” which is false. They are.
She tells him not to bother finishing the warrant
DAYS AFTER AND ONGOING:
Rita and Hannah (the dog owner) have ongoing communication in which:
Rita Watkins calls us “damn bishes” to Hannah for posting publicly on her “fkn birthday”
Hannah offers to buy her dinner to thank her for everything, Rita says no because it already looks like favoritism
Rita then goes on to offer Hannah legal advice, giving the same unbelievable definition of “domestic” to Hannah’s legal argument
Hannah is happy about this legal advice and says “this is good!”
Rita recommends lawyers locally, and affirms the Harmans as being “victimized” in this, she is scared for Josh on “this side of town” implying the south side of Fort Smith is Racist.
Rita tells Hannah to “Watch these people”
Hannah asks if she can file a complaint against the Sergeant, Rita says “probably”
All texts were sent by city when requested through the Freedom of Information Act.
We are calling for Rita Watkins to be investigated for conflict of interest and for the Fort Smith board of directors and Carl Geffkin the city administrator who appointed her to call for her resignation. Christina Catsavis already has called for it.
Our main concern: if this will happen over something as simple and cut and dry as a dog ordinance being enforced, then who will suffer later that has no community support, no voice, no platform to get help? And will it be injustice about something way worse than losing a pet? These are the people we are advocating for.
Andre Good a city director implied we were all racists at the last board meeting when our neighbors went to speak to them. There has been no public apology for this.
I have attached my email to the board on Andres irresponsible statements.
Email: boardofdirectors@fortsmithar.gov Cgeffkin@fortsmithar.gov"
You can read all the text messages between Rita Watkins and Cherry Boze as well as other information surrounding the case below:
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