County officials testify in Olson trial

By ERIN MATHEWS

Salina Journal

Two former Saline County commissioners, the county administrator and the sheriff were among witnesses who testified Tuesday in the opening day of a criminal threat trial against Gypsum resident Gary Olson.

Olson's attorney, Roger Struble, told jurors his client believes one of those commissioners saw Olson as a political rival and influenced a county department head to characterize an "innocent statement" he made to her on the morning of Dec. 20, 2007, as a criminal threat. What Olson told county Planning Director Vicki Koepsel, Struble said, was, "Vicki, it's not that big a deal whether you approve this or not, I'm not going to get a gun and do anything to you."

However, Koepsel testified that she felt alarmed and upset when she heard Olson say he would have to get a gun and shoot her.

The trial is expected to conclude today in Saline County District Court.

Olson was convicted by a jury in January of one felony count of making a criminal threat and a misdemeanor count of harassment by telephone for threatening to shoot his ex-wife, Connie Olson, during a dispute via cell phone on Sept. 5, 2007.

The jury found him not guilty of an additional count of making a criminal threat against Southeast of Saline School, where he was a school board member at the time.

Koepsel said she discussed Olson's threat with several people before describing the incident to former County Commissioner Craig Stephenson. Stephenson drove her to the sheriff's office to make a report following a Christmas luncheon for county department heads and commissioners at County Administrator Rita Deister's house.

"She was extremely upset," Stephenson testified. "She told me about an incident in her office where she felt she had been threatened."

Stephenson, who said he had known Olson for years, said the fact that Olson was the person accused of making the threat did not affect the county's handling of the situation.

"We treat any incident that happens in the building in a like manner," he said. "We don't take threats lightly in this building."

Koepsel said the threat was made about 11 a.m., shortly before the Christmas luncheon. She went to the luncheon planning to talk to her supervisor about the situation before reporting it to law enforcement. Koepsel said Olson threatened to shoot her after she told him he would not be able to sell a portion of property he owned in Kipp without spending the money to address the property's zoning issues.

Threatened to shoot me

"I sat there for a second, and then it hit me with a rush that Gary had just threatened to shoot me," she said. "Each time I talked to somebody, the first words out of my mouth were, 'Gary threatened to shoot me.' "

Several witnesses described Koepsel's demeanor after her conversation with Olson in the county planning and zoning office.

"If I were to describe her, I would say that she was stunned," said Nancy Bassett, administrative resource coordinator for Saline County.

Former County Commissioner Sherri Barragree described Koepsel as "pulled into herself and very uptight" when she told her about the incident.

"She had her arms wrapped around herself tightly," Barragree said.

Capt. Brian Shea, of the Saline County Sheriff's Office, said when Koepsel reported the threat she was visibly upset.

"She would start crying, and she was shaking," he said. "She was shook up about something."

Insulting, loud, demeaning

Koepsel said Olson had been insulting, loud and demeaning during several previous discussions about the property's zoning problems and other land-use issues, but that morning in December his comment surpassed anything he'd previously said.

"The first thing that went through my mind was, 'Don't escalate this,' " Koepsel said, so she said she tried not to react and did not look at him.

"I wanted him gone, so I did what I had to do to stay calm and to keep him calm and to get him out of there," she said.

Attorney James Sweet, who said he had known Olson since third grade, testified that he took Olson to the sheriff's office where he was arrested without incident. He said he assured sheriff's deputies who were seeking Olson that he could bring him in and that "there wasn't any reason for me to fear anything about Gary Olson."

"He told me he'd made an off-hand comment like, 'Well, it's not like if I don't get my way I'm going to get a gun or anything,' " Sweet said.

Sweet said he told Olson that since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, comments about guns were not tolerated.

"I've known him all my life," Sweet said. "Sometimes things don't stop before going out of his mouth."

n Reporter Erin Mathews can be reached at 822-1415 or by e-mail at emathews@salina.com.

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I hate bullies says....
This guy is a bully and a jerk. Seems kinda funny the people he threatened in both cases were women. What a He-man.
4/8/2009

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