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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 2020)
SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 2020 Baker City, Oregon 4A Write a letter news@bakercityherald.com EDITORIAL Balancing protection The coronavirus pandemic has forced Baker Coun- ty Sheriff Travis Ash and other administrators at the County Jail to make diffi cult decisions since March. Ash, along with Lt. Ben Wray, who supervises the Jail, and Undersheriff Jef Van Arsdall, have to use discretion when deciding which suspects stay in custody and which are released after being arrested. Generally, people accused of serious crimes against people remain in jail. Since the pandemic began, the Jail, which has a capacity of 45 inmates, has gener- ally incarcerated 15 or fewer. Having fewer inmates makes it easier to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 in the building, which was constructed in 1991 and also houses the sheriff’s offi ce and emer- gency dispatch center. A situation earlier this week illustrates the dilem- ma that offi cials face. Forrest Lee Entermille, 41, of Baker City, was ar- rested Sunday night in Haines after allegedly break- ing beer bottles during an argument and throwing an object at a pickup truck. Baker County Circuit Court Judge Matt Shirtcliff granted Entermille a condition- al release from the Jail the next day, Monday. Later that day Entermille was arrested for alleged- ly entering a Baker City man’s home, hitting him in the head and, accompanied by Margaret Samantha Lacey, 33, stealing the man’s wallet and two phones. Shirtcliff revoked the release agreement, and Enter- mille remained in jail Friday. The precautions at the Jail are reasonable, to be sure. And only with the benefi t of hindsight does the release of Entermille clearly seem a mistake. But county offi cials, and judges, need to consider the potential benefi ts in protecting the public by holding inmates such as Entermille, even though that might slightly increase the risk inside the Jail. Entermille has a criminal history in Baker County dating to 2013, including convictions for fourth-degree assault and disorderly conduct. That background, combined with his arrest on Sunday in Haines, justifi ed keep- ing him in custody. — Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor OTHER VIEWS Rethinking Edward Snowden pardon Editorial from The Pittsburgh Post- Gazette: President Donald Trump has put Edward Snowden back in the news. Asked if he would consider pardoning the former National Security Agency contractor, Trump said “I am going to take a very good look at it.” Snowden faces criminal charges after he leaked classifi ed documents reveal- ing the scope of the NSA’s surveillance apparatus in 2013. He has been living in exile in Russia ever since. From the beginning, most young Americans believed Snowden acted with the public’s interest in mind. The passage of time has revealed a broader shift in sympathy for Snowden, includ- ing from Trump, who once called the exiled American a “spy who should be executed.” His leaks are now being seen for what they were intended: a much-needed reckoning of government overreach. Trump loves cutting deals, and it’s time to cut one with Snowden. Short of a pardon, Snowden can admit wrongdo- ing in exchange for a probation sentence. Seven years in exile has been enough; he should be allowed to return home without going to prison. Snowden revealed that under the auspices of the Patriot Act, the NSA secretly and indiscriminately collected the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans. Also exposed were the lies that came from the very top of the U.S. national security establishment. The Obama administration’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper, lied to Congress in denying the collection of data. There are competing interpretations of Snowden’s actions. For his critics, it is simple and straightforward. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney — a vociferous defender of the NSA spying that he helped facilitate — called Snowden a “traitor,” adding that a pardon would be “unconscionable.” This was echoed by Reps. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, who said it would be a “serious mistake” to consider clem- ency. On the other hand, Sen. Rand Paul, Letters to the editor We welcome letters on any issue of public interest Writers must sign their letter and include an address and phone number (for verifi cation only). Email letters to news@bakercityherald.com. R-Ky., and Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Justin Amash, I-Mich., all support a presidential pardon. Sen. Paul, who called Snowden’s leak “an act of civil disobedience” said, “Mr. Clapper lied in Congress in the name of security. Mr. Snowden told the truth in the name of privacy.” The former committed perjury and got a sweet book deal; the latter told the truth and potentially faces life in prison. Snowden was not selling secrets to the Russians or the Chinese. He simply revealed that the privacy of American citizens was being violated on a massive scale, with no demonstrable gain in secu- rity. Furthermore, members of Congress knew almost nothing about what the NSA was really doing, and this included members of the committees who were in oversight of intelligence gathering. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called Snowden’s act a “public service” for good reason. There has always been a robust debate in America about the balance between security and liberty, and the extent to which govern- ment should be spying on its citizens, but regardless of anyone’s views on surveil- lance and privacy, who among us would say that we are better off remaining ignorant about all the things our govern- ment is doing to us? Following in the boots of a legendary hiker I probably wouldn’t have de- toured from the trail except that my son, Max, insisted. I’m glad his power to persuade is considerable for a kid who’s celebrated just nine birthdays. Because without Max’s cajoling I likely would have plodded ahead, as though I were on a schedule, and in my stubbornness I would have missed one of those serendipitous and joyful moments that happily interrupt the humdrum passage of our days. But that’s not quite what hap- pened. We were, it turned out, two days too late for what would have been a memorable encounter for me and for my wife, Lisa. Max would have remembered it, too, albeit for different reasons. The person we missed meeting is not a celebrity on the level of, say, Paul McCartney. But William L. Sullivan is, I daresay, famous among many of us who think one of the better ways to appreciate Oregon’s beauty and variety of landscapes is to get our boots dusty tramping its trails (or muddy, or snowy, as the season and the situation dictate). Sullivan is to Oregon hiking guidebooks what Stephen King is to horror novels. Not that I mean to typecast either of these fi ne writers. King, as anyone knows who is more than slightly familiar with his work, has authored many compelling tales which feature no monsters and carry nary a whiff of JAYSON JACOBY the supernatural. Sullivan, though he is best known for his series of “100 Hikes” books that divide Oregon into fi ve regions, has also penned many other books. These include “Cabin Fever,” a memoir about building a log cabin with his wife near the Oregon Coast, a history of the state’s greatest natural disasters, and six novels, including ones that feature such iconic (and real) Or- egon characters as skyjacker D.B. Cooper and guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. But Sullivan’s fi rst book has always been my favorite, and I suspect it will retain that title no matter what subject he turns his prodigious talent to. “Listening For Coyote” is Sul- livan’s story about the 1,361-mile solo backpacking trip he made in 1985 from Oregon’s westernmost point, at Cape Blanco, to its east- erly extremity in Hells Canyon. As someone who relishes hiking but rarely stays out for more than a couple nights in a row, or covers more than 30 miles in one excur- sion, I have long been drawn to accounts of truly epic journeys such as Sullivan’s. I own several books describing hikes on long-distance routes such as the Pacifi c Crest and Appala- chian trails, and I can while away hours following in the authors’ bootsteps while I relax on a sofa or a reclining lounge chair in the backyard. But none of these accounts has ever endured itself so thoroughly as “Listening For Coyote.” I suspect this is due in some small part to my age when I fi rst read it. I was in high school, an era when I think many of us are susceptible to the lure of an adventure story in a way that we never are later, as our own experiences accumulate and our sense of wonder at new things atrophies. It’s a sad, but I think also inevitable, transition. But for me the most powerful attraction of “Listening For Coyote” is that it’s simply a cracking good story, and Sullivan tells it with deft and piquant prose. I have probably read the book a dozen times, and never does the scent of Sullivan’s campfi res fail to reach my nose, never do I not shiver when he’s trudging through snow after an early blizzard in the Blue Moun- tains. That snowbound trail where Sul- livan left his tracks is the very one that Max, Lisa and I walked earlier this summer, the path that follows the North Fork John Day River through its wilderness canyon west of Baker City. The conditions could scarcely have been different on the day of our trip. The mid-July afternoon was that rare sort when the old chestnut about there not being a cloud in the sky happened to be true. We couldn’t, at any rate, see so much as a scrap of cumulus or ten- dril of cirrus in the somewhat ab- breviated scope of sky visible from our vantage point in the depths of the densely forested canyon. We bought Max his fi rst real backpack a couple of years ago and just lately he’s been nudging us, like a frisky horse too long stabled, to get out in the woods. Lisa and I picked the North Fork trail, which we had hiked before, albeit without children in tow. We chose the path largely because, as riverside routes often are, it lacks the lung-straining climbs that can quickly sap a young hiker’s enthusiasm. (And, if I must be honest, a some- what older hiker’s.) When Max spied the cabin’s met- al roof glinting among the lodgepole pines he darted onto the spur path leading toward the structure. Guy Hafer of Cove, who died in 2007, built the cabin on his mining claim. It stands on public land and the cabin is left unlocked. There were a few rodent droppings inside but it appears the people who use the cabin respect it, and Hafer’s legacy, and try to ensure it remains usable. I noticed a notebook ensconced in a plastic bag on a table. It looked to be a sort of guest book. I pulled it out and was shocked by the most recent entry. It was signed “William L. Sullivan.” The date was July 16, just two days earlier. He was doing research for an updated version of his “100 Hikes In Eastern Oregon” book. I hollered at Lisa, who was outside. We were both thrilled, albeit a trifl e disappointed to have come so close to having met Sullivan. I interviewed him in 2006 when he made a presentation at the Or- egon Trail Interpretive Center. But meeting him on the North Fork trail would be another mat- ter altogether. And the reason is that one of the most memorable chapters in “Listening For Coyote” is the one in which Sullivan, hiking through a rainstorm that soon turned to snow, was spared from having to pitch his tent in inclem- ent weather when he came across another old mining cabin about a mile or so downriver from Hafer’s. This other cabin, nicknamed the “Bigfoot Hilton” by someone who visited it before Sullivan, has become something of a shrine for hikers due to its inclusion in “Lis- tening For Coyote.” Not to belabor my earlier refer- ence to Paul McCartney, but for me, coming across Bill Sullivan in a cabin on the North Fork John Day would be comparable to bumping into the ex-Beatle while taking the requisite photo in the most famous crosswalk on London’s Abbey Road. It was not to be. But I was pleased just the same to have shared a trail, in a man- ner of speaking, with the man who must be Oregon’s most famous hiker. Jayson Jacoby is editor of the Baker City Herald.
