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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 2017)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017 Family held captive by Taliban-linked group released By JILL COLVIN, LOLITA C. BALDOR and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press WASHINGTON — An American woman, her Cana- dian husband and their three young children have been released after years of being held captive by a group with ties to the Taliban and called a terrorist organization by the United States, American and Pakistani officials said Thursday. U.S. officials said Pakistan secured the release of Cait- lan Coleman of Stewartstown, Pa., and her husband, Cana- dian Joshua Boyle, who were abducted five years ago while traveling in Afghanistan and had been held by the Haqqani network. Coleman was pregnant when she was captured. The couple had three children while in captivity, and all have been freed, U.S. officials said. “Yesterday, the United States government, working in conjunction with the Gov- ernment of Pakistan, secured the release of the Boyle-Cole- man family from captivity in Pakistan,” President Don- ald Trump said in a statement. “Today they are free.” Trump later praised Paki- stan for its willingness to “do more to provide security in the region” and said he release suggests other “countries are starting to respect the United States of America once again.” The Pakistani military con- firmed the release and said the This still image made from a 2013 video released by the Cole- man family shows Caitlan Coleman and her husband, Cana- dian Joshua Boyle in a militant video given to the family. AP Photo/Bill Gorman In this 2014 photo, from left, Patrick Boyle, Linda Boyle, Lyn Coleman and Jim Coleman hold a photo of their kidnapped children, Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman, who were kidnapped by the Taliban in late 2012. family was “being repatriated to the country of their origin.” But as of Thursday morn- ing, the family’s precise whereabouts were unclear and it was not immediately known when they would return to North America. The fam- ily was not in U.S. custody, though they were together in a safe, but undisclosed, loca- tion in Pakistan, according to a U.S. national security offi- cial, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. U.S. officials had planned on moving the family out of Pakistan on a U.S. transport plane, but at the last minute Boyle would not get on, the official said. Another U.S. official said Boyle was nervous about being in “custody” given his background. Boyle was previ- ously married to the sister of Omar Khadr, a Canadian man who spent 10 years at Guan- tanamo Bay after being cap- tured in 2002 in a firefight at an al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan. Officials had discounted any link between that back- ground and Boyle’s capture, with one official describ- ing it in 2014 as a “horrible coincidence.” The couple has told U.S. officials that they wanted to fly commercially to Canada, according to the official, who spoke on condition of ano- nymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the situation. The release came together rapidly Wednesday. It hap- pened nearly five years to the day since Coleman and Boyle lost touch with their families while traveling in a mountain- ous region near the Afghan capital of Kabul. The couple set off in the summer 2012 for a jour- ney that took them to Rus- sia, the central Asian coun- tries of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and then to Afghanistan. Coleman’s par- ents last heard from their son- in-law on Oct. 8, 2012, from an internet cafe in what Boyle described as an “unsafe” part of Afghanistan. In 2013, the couple appeared in two videos asking the U.S. government to free them from the Taliban. Coleman’s parents, Jim and Lyn Coleman, told the online Circa News service in July 2016 that they received a letter from their daughter in November 2015, in which she wrote that she’d given birth to a second child in captivity. It’s unclear whether they knew she’d had a third. “I pray to hear from you again, to hear how everybody is doing,” the letter said. In that interview, Jim Cole- man issued a plea to top Tal- iban commanders to be “kind and merciful” and let the cou- ple go. “As a man, father and now grandfather, I am asking you to show mercy and release my daughter, her husband, and our beautiful grandchildren,” Jim Coleman said. “Please grant them an opportunity to con- tinue their lives with us, and bring peace to their families.” The family was being held by the Haqqani network. U.S. officials call the group a ter- rorist organization and have targeted its leaders with drone strikes. But the group also operates like a criminal net- work. Unlike the Islamic State group, it does not typically execute Western hostages, preferring to ransom them for cash. The U.S. has long criticized Pakistan for failing to aggres- sively go after the Haqqa- nis. In recent remarks on his Afghanistan policy, Trump noted billions paid to Paki- stan “at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. But that will have to change, and that will change immediately.” Rentals: ‘The Pandora’s box is open, and you’re not going to shut it.’ Continued from Page 1A Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Mike Holland-Moritz makes his way through part of Fort Stevens State Park on Wednesday in search of wild mushrooms. Mushrooms: Can live for several hundred years Washington state’s Cape Dis- appointment State Park have had to keep an eye out for peo- ple looking for similar variet- ies there as well. Oregon State Police Lt. Andrew Merila recently noted a decrease in the number of cases coming across his desk, but said this could be because he is not able to run as many patrols around Fort Stevens as in the past. Continued from Page 1A Hunters and hunted Mushroom caps gleam with slime, explode in over- lapping sprays on the sides of fallen trees, peek out between tree roots or under pine nee- dles. Fort Stevens State Park Ranger Dane Osis, who leads regular wild mushroom hikes through the park, has called the Oregon Coast one of the best places to hunt for mushrooms, especially for edible varieties. Even if you return from a hunt empty-handed, seasoned North Coast mushroom hunt- ers will say the worst thing that happened is you spent some time in the woods. Interest in edible mush- room hunting has remained strong over the years, if not grown in popularity. Still, one of the North Coast’s most visu- ally stunning mushrooms is not for eating. When fall turns the ele- ment-battered woods around Fort Stevens gray and brown and even the ferns have lost their shine, the fly amanita rises from the forest floor. It is a mushroom straight from the pages of “Alice in Won- derland,” the fungi you find mixed among poodles and flowers in your smartphone’s emoji options. With its bril- liant red and orange cap and scattered white warts, it is the mushroom of popular cul- ture. Troops of it march across Fungi buddies Stephen Walsh, of Port- land, holds up a chante- relle mushroom he found while foraging with friends in Fort Stevens State Park. the forest floor at Fort Ste- vens each fall; they can have unpredictable toxic, and pos- sibly dangerous, effects if eaten, notes mycologist David Aurora in his guide to Western mushrooms “All That the Rain Promises and More.” In past years, however, peo- ple have come to Fort Stevens not to gape at the fly amanita, but to hunt for an unremark- able looking little mushroom with hallucinogenic powers. These mushrooms are consid- ered a controlled substance, illegal to harvest or possess. Oregon State Police troop- ers and Clatsop County law enforcement once patrolled Fort Stevens State Park regu- larly this time of year. Across the Columbia River, rangers at The above-ground parts of the mushroom — the prized “fruiting bodies” — people pick to eat for dinner, use to get high or simply appreci- ate for their strangeness and beauty only tell one side of the story, Cole said. Underground, the forest is a world of “infinite biological pathways,” as ecol- ogist Suzanne Simard said in a talk last summer — and mush- rooms have a big role to play. In recent years, Simard’s work has contributed to a growing understanding of how forest ecosystems func- tion, revealing that the below- ground part of the mushroom that digests nutrients and pro- duces the above-ground fruit- ing bodies, the mycelium, often works in partnership with trees. The mycelium functions as an extension of the trees’ root systems. In his book “Mycelium Running,” mycologist Paul Stamets writes that mycelium is tiny enough that “one cubic inch of soil can contain enough to stretch for 8 miles.” “They’re so small that it allows the trees access to way more water and soil nutri- ents than they’d be able to get on their own,” Cole said. In return, the trees supply the fungi with food. The partnership has big implications for forest health. In addition to being able to bring more to their tree bud- dies, the fungi functions as a sort of communications sys- tem between trees. Using mycelium, a healthy tree can send nutrients to a stressed tree an acre or two away, Cole said. “This becomes extremely important in times of stress or drought or in timber prac- tices like clear-cuts,” she said. “(This network) allows trees to survive through harsh condi- tions that the tree, on its own, wouldn’t be able to survive.” Mycelium can live for a few days or several hundred years, depending on where it’s based and what it’s grow- ing in. Adaptable and quick to evolve, fungi can respond swiftly to changes in the eco- system. Trees exist on a very different time scale than fungi and may not be able to react quickly to disease or stress, but, said Cole, “Their fungal partners can.” Photographer and reporter Colin Murphey contributed to this report. County staff estimates the ordinance would impact at least 173 property owners in unincorporated areas who rent out homes for up to 30 days, nearly double the 2010 estimate for vacation rentals. The state does not regulate short-term rentals to ensure renters’ health and safety as it does with hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfasts. Commissioners held a work session Wednesday with County Manager Cameron Moore and County Counsel Heather Reynolds. Commissioner Kathleen Sullivan handed out a memo with a list of items she would like included in the ordinance. Those items include sep- tic and sewage requirements that match those in place in Gearhart, property inspec- tion at least every three years — as opposed to the five-year requirement written in the most recent draft of the ordi- nance — and a distinction between types of short-term rentals. “This ordinance is actually a great opportunity for us,” Sullivan said. “Now we’re moving toward digitizing our information on this, but also looking at the septic systems.” Commissioner Sarah Nebeker was leery of includ- ing additional regulations. Nebeker, a Gearhart resident, has been a vocal critic of the city’s new regulations that will be up for a vote in November. The ballot measure would repeal the regulations, require home inspections and place responsibility on owners to self-report issues. Nebeker and other supporters say the new regulations are too harsh and restrict property rights. The commissioner said Wednesday that she sup- ports regulations at the county level, but does not want them to be as “draconian” as those in Gearhart. “If we put all the short- term rentals into one pocket and we make the restrictions onerous on everyone, I’m not supportive,” Nebeker said. Some commissioners also raised concerns about requir- ing inspections at least every three years, citing county staff time issues and the fact that inspections would cost roughly $200. But Sullivan maintained the ordinance would be too ineffective if regular inspections are not conducted. “I don’t think a $200 inspection every few years is onerous,” Sullivan said. Commissioner Lianne Thompson agreed that septic inspections should be a pri- ority and that a more efficient system for reporting issues must be created. She lives in Arch Cape, which already has established regulations, but the neighborhood she lives in opted out of them. One short-term rental in her neighborhood is con- stantly overcrowded and she can smell the sewage from afar, she said. Other residents have told her that their com- plaints have not been ade- quately addressed by the county. “This is a growing trend, in my experience, because I’ve tracked it,” Thompson said. Scott Lee, the board’s chairman, and Moore said the ordinance is a necessary start- ing point and that more reg- ulations could be added over time. Moore added that the county’s potential regulations are much less restrictive than those in place in Gearhart. “That’s not a bad way to start in terms of policy,” Moore said. “We can always tighten it up as we go.” Reynolds, the ordinance’s author, will continue revis- ing the document with input from commissioners. They agreed to bring the issue for- ward again after the outcome of the Gearhart ballot measure is determined. County staff has discussed the issue since the summer of 2016, shortly after they first suspected that a home near Cullaby Lake caught fire due to unsafe conditions and lack of permits. They since have documented multiple com- plaints from renters. Commis- sioners were handed a draft of the ordinance in June, and Wednesday’s work session was the third that commis- sioners have held about the topic this year. All commissioners agreed Wednesday that vacation rent- als — despite concerns about their effects on long-term housing and the culture of those who reside in the county full time— have become an inevitable factor in the coun- ty’s future. “The Pandora’s box is open, and you’re not going to shut it,” Sullivan said. “The culture is changing.”
