Judge signs warrants for mom, son

Wednesday, October 13, 2004
By STEPHANIE RICE, Columbian staff writer

Judge James Rulli signed arrest warrants for a Ridgefield mother and her 8-year-old son after they failed to show up Tuesday to speak with investigators.

Tammy R. Baxter, 30, was supposed to report to Clark County Superior Court to discuss her husband's alleged attempt to circumcise their son last month.

Her husband, Edwin B. Baxter, was arrested Sept. 3 and remains in the Clark County Jail on $50,000 bail.

Baxter, a 33-year-old truck driver, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault of a child. The felony carries a penalty of up to three years and five months in prison for first-time offenders.

His trial is set for Nov. 8.

Rulli has appointed a psychologist to interview Baxter and determine if he's mentally competent to stand trial. Baxter allegedly said he tried to circumcise his son after reading the Old Testament.

Since Baxter's arrest, law enforcement and investigators from the state Department of Children and Family Services have been unsuccessful in locating Baxter's wife and their nine children.

Tammy Baxter is believed to be pregnant with her 10th child.

Clark County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kim Farr said Tuesday that he has spoken with the defendant's father, Bruce Baxter of Vancouver. Bruce Baxter said his daughter-in-law and grandchildren may be staying in Vancouver's Rosemere neighborhood, Farr said.

Members of Rosemere's Humdingers easily identified because they wore matching shirts bearing their group's name showed up at Edwin Baxter's arraignment last month.

Bruce Baxter and the Humdingers, however, have been on opposing sides of a long-running feud in Rosemere. In 2001, Baxter was among the Rosemere Neighborhood Association officers ousted by the Humdingers. Then, the Humdinger-dominated association was stripped of its city recognition in January because city officials were fed up with the group's behavior, which included blocking residents from attending neighborhood meetings.

Farr said anyone providing shelter for Tammy Baxter and her son could be arrested for harboring fugitives.

Guru Padma (MariJo) Donais, the spiritual leader of the Humdingers, laughed off the suggestion anyone in her group would be harboring the Baxter family.

"We would give them no shelter," Donais said. "We're not the type of group that would hide anyone from the law."

She said she did not know which Humdingers attended the Sept. 17 arraignment. "I have a huge following over 36,000 in Washington and Oregon," she said.

Stephanie Rice covers the courts. She can be reached at 360-759-8004 or stephanie.rice@columbian.com.

Update

Previously: Investigators have been unable to interview the family of a man who allegedly tried to circumcise his son, 8, after reading about circumcision in the Bible.

What's new: A judge signed arrest warrants for the boy and his mother after they failed to report to court.

What's next: If arrested, the mother and son could be held as material witnesses.