By Caleb Hutton
Prosecutors have filed charges following an assault on Whatcom County Assessor Keith Willnauer.
(Here’s the article I wrote last week about the assault.)
Willnauer was attacked on the morning of June 1 at his office in the county courthouse. Lincoln Lewis Rutter, 55, a Semiahmoo resident, had demanded information about the status of his neighbors’ property taxes.
When Willnauer said it might take time to gather those documents, Rutter grabbed the assessor by the necktie with both hands, slammed his face on the counter and shook him from side to side, according to the charges.
From the document:
On this occasion (Rutter) was confronting Willnauer over his decision, as the Assessor, to allow some land to remain in a tax exempt status. (Rutter) disagreed with this and said that Willnauer was wrong. Willnauer explained that certain portions of the parceled land involved had been changed from a tax exempt to a non-exempt status. The defendant demanded proof of that immediately. Willnauer said this would take some time. The defendant at this point became enraged and reached across the counter grabbing Willnauer’s necktie as described above. The defendant continued to yell threats at Willnauer which was variously reported by witnesses as “do you think you can do this to me, I’ll show you”; “there’ll be ramifications, you can’t do this to me”; “if you don’t give it to me, there will be ramifications.”
Rutter pulled Willnauer’s necktie hard enough tear his shirt collar and pull the assessor off of his feet, according to the charges. Willnauer was choked, and also suffered a bruise to his chin.
Rutter is 6-foot-4 and 245 pounds. As Willnauer later told the Herald, “Mr. Rutter is a large individual. And I’m not.”
Prosecutors alleged Rutter had, in the past, “used his height and weight to lean into and bully employees in the office,” and had been known to slam his hands on counter tops. Because of those exchanges, Willnauer chose to personally “handle” Rutter when he came into the office, the charges say.
Many people witnessed the assault, including Willnauer’s fellow employees. Afterward, Rutter was told to sit in a chair outside the office and to wait until sheriff’s deputies to arrive. He obeyed that request.
Charges were filed Friday, June 8.
Rutter is accused of fourth-degree assault and intimidating a public servant, a Class B felony. He spent two days in jail before posting $10,000 bond.
A bit of a bully? Would he have intimidated this way if he was 5′ 8″ and 150 lbs.??? Anger management in the future of this guy? We have all felt the emotion he felt, but very few of us are dumb and/or cocky enough to follow through.
That assessor job carries a bit more risk than I would have guessed. We hope that the assessor will recover some damages through a civil suit.
Rutter needed an attitude adjustment. We hope he is changing his attitude as a result of his foolishness.
Lincoln Rutter has been a bloviating, bullying, whiner ever since he moved out here. Now he can add “Felon” to his list of titles. I am glad that his wife let him cool his heels in the county jail for a couple of days. That ought to bring “Mr. I’m Better Than You” down a notch or two. He now has a million dollar home and a felony arrest. I hope he gets convicted and that the DA doesn’t plea bargain it down.
What happened to the like buttons?
Grabbed the tie with enough strength to rip the collar? That is some force! Keith has a tough enough job without having to contend with this type of antic. I suspect that we will see some changes to the security at the County Courthouse soon.
Hang in there Keith! You do a great job!
It would be nice to see a picture of Lincoln Lewis Rutter, 55, a Semiahmoo resident. He deserves to be recognizable to the public. After all, we did furnish him two nights in jail for him on our dime. However, I suspect that because this lawbreaker has some financial means, and The Herald is being very VERY careful in their wording of this crime (less the bully sics the legal hounds on them) they will not print his picture. Stand up to bullies guys. Show us the mug shot!
How many other people has Ritter done this to over the course of his adult life?
The guy at the gas station, the person selling movie tickets, staff at a restaurant…
This idiot needs jail time!
Early organizers included Rick Dubrow, Robyn du Pre, ***Lincoln and Patti Rutter***, Tris Shirley, Lynnea Flarry, Eric Hirst, and Dan Warner. This diverse group was made up of long-time residents and newcomers to Whatcom County, former leaders of Pro-Whatcom, and a board member of Futurewise. They decided to approach Futurewise about affiliation as a chapter – a new concept for the state organization headquartered in Seattle
^^^ What does that have to do with Mr. Rutter being a bully and assulting a public employee?
In my small amount of dealings with Willnauer I can completely understand why Rutter got upset, although he did handle this the wrong way. If you ask a very simple question to Willnauer you get a very long off the topic reply, lots of blah, blah, blah. Personally I think Willnauer does a horrible job and I don’t believe he runs a very good office either. If you do your research on valuations some of them are all over the board. One example would be the assessed value of June Street development off Cordata. Do a search on that property and there’s no question about it, value is way off and the county is taking it the shorts.
Fred Meyer – this has everything to do with Rutter being a bully. He’s a bully to the people of unincorporated Whatcom County as well!