Inside: Today’s Trail Plus

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Friday edition October 5, 2001 Estes Park, Colorado www.eptrail.com Volume 32, Number 25 50¢ Community/page A 6 A guest of the Islamic Jihad Former hostage relates his experience from six and one half years of captivity in by religious extremist group By JAY GENTILE said in an interview in prisoners. They locked him The trio was later joined On June 9, 1985, a little Estes Park Wednesday. “I in a six-foot by six-foot cell by David Jacobsen, the brown car carrying four spent the next six and a in a Beirut apartment and director of the American Lebanese men with sub- half years as a guest of left him with his thoughts University Hospital in machine guns sideswiped Islamic Jihad.” for a month. Beirut, and Terry Ander- the Chevrolet Caprice that Sutherland, a Fort The captors placed a son, the Associated Press’ was taking Tom Suther- Collins resident who had large steel sheet over the chief correspondent for the land from the Beirut air- spent 25 years as a profes- window, blocking out air Middle East. port to his job site at the sor at Colorado State Uni- and sunlight. A paisley Sutherland and the 53 American University of versity, left CSU in 1983 to cloth blindfold sat on his other Western hostages Beirut. take the position as dean forehead at all times, and were moved frequently, The screaming men in at the highly-respected had to be pulled down over usually chained to the wall the car then cut off the university in war-torn his eyes whenever the of their new cell by their Caprice, forcing it to a Beirut. He spends much of guards entered his pres- ankles or occasionally by halt. Along came another his summers at his cabin ence. the wrist. car complete with four in Estes Park’s Tahosa The paranoid captors Sutherland himself “did more men and their sub- Valley. feared the hostages would time” in 16 different loca- machine guns. One of the He knew the risks later identify them to the tions — nine in Beirut, men ordered Sutherland to inherent in the job, but CIA. They were especially four in southern Lebanon get into their car. admits being a bit naive. suspicious of Sutherland, across the road from Israel Sutherland, the dean of His naiveté was shattered whose possession of an and three in the Bekaa the American University of on January 18, 1984, when article on at the Valley of northern Beirut’s College of Agricul- the university’s president time of his kidnapping con- Lebanon. Time spent in ture, had been kidnapped. was gunned down in his vinced the men that he any one location varied He was thrown in the office. was a member of the CIA. from one week to 18 trunk of the kidnappers’ But Sutherland was After a month, he was months. car. When the trunk determined not to leave. In joined in captivity by a But many things opened a few harrowing order to recruit more Presbyterian minister and painfully remained the minutes later, Sutherland Americans to come to the a Catholic priest named same over his 77 months of was greeted by the bright university, he left Lebanon Father Martin, to whom captivity. Besides being Lebanon sunshine and a on May 19, 1985 but quick- Sutherland was chained in woken up at dawn by the crowd of 30 to 40 men ly returned on June 9 — his cell. prayer call of the Shiite and was promptly kid- “I was chained to Father , Sutherland could chattering in . “Cov- Photo by Jay Gentile er the eyes,” one of the napped. Martin and Father Martin count on the same three men said in English. He was given no reason was chained to the wall,” meals a day every day. “That was the last time for his kidnapping, as his said Sutherland. “I’d never Breakfast and dinner Tom Sutherland recounted his six and one half years of I saw the sun for six and a captors seldom engaged in been that close to a consisted of a piece of pita captivity by the Islamic Jihad during an interview discussion with political Catholic priest in my life.” Wednesday in Estes Park. half years,” Sutherland See Guest: Page A 2 Impatient hunter pays a hefty price pulling exotic plants or restoring Matheson man campgrounds. convicted of illegally “We’re very pleased with the fine,” said Park ranger Doug Rid- killing a six-point bull ley. “Hopefully, this will send a message to potential poachers. elk in RMNP We need to make a statement By JAY GENTILE about removing a large bull in its genetic prime from the ecosys- It was just hours before the tem.” onset of hunting season last year, According to officials, the story but Jeffery Belveal just couldn’t began last year at approximately wait. And now he has to pay the 2 a.m. October 21, 2000, when price for illegally killing an elk Belveal drove through Rocky within the boundaries of Rocky Mountain National Park’s Fall Mountain National Park. River entrance with a high-pow- On September 25, 2001, ered rifle, on his way to a legal Belveal, a resident of Matheson, hunt on the western slope which was convicted of taking wildlife was set to commence at dawn. from a national park under the Then he spotted a herd of elk Lacey Act. Violations of the Lacey in Horseshoe Park. He picked out Act are the most serious crimes the largest bull and parked his for taking and transporting car, positioning the headlights in wildlife in the country for federal the direction of the herd. areas. Then he pulled the trigger, Under the terms of a plea ending the life of a six-point bull Photos by Walt Hester agreement with prosecutors of that was grazing about 75 yards the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Den- from the side of the road. ver, Belveal was fined $2,000, “He dropped the elk with one sentenced to 100 hours of commu- shot,” said Ridley. “Being Park nity service and received a life- elk, they are very accustomed to time revocation of his hunting cars and headlights.” privileges within eight Rocky Belveal then drove into the Mountain states. meadow, gutted the animal and The sight Half of the fine will go to the loaded it into his car. He hid the court, the other half to the animal in a ditch on the western National Park Service in Wash- slope until enough time passed to and sound ington D.C. The community ser- make it appear as through he vice will be carried out either for had killed the elk during the the Division of Wildlife or within legal, post-dawn hunting hours. of education Rocky Mountain National Park, Later that day, he took the in which case he would likely per- animal to a processing plant in form Park project work like See Hunter: Page A 2 Volunteer Ann Dinsmoore (top photo) checks the hearing of 3rd-grader Dustin Hays on this past Wednesday. Building permits skyrocket Pictured on the left is Emily Betts, an Estes Park 5th-grader, as she reads the Building permits issued by the Town of Estes Park reached a lines for optometrist Dr. Langley Parker valuation of $2,788,934 in September, well exceeding the $612,309 at the Estes Park Intermediate School in valuation issued last September. on Wednesday. Parker was one of This caused year-to-date valuation to pull ahead of last year, many volunteers who offered his time when $15,950,964 in valuation was issued — versus $16,608,524 to screen students for possible hearing in valuation through this September. and sight problems. Colorado requires Permits for new construction included those issued for Bill Web- all of its 3rd and 5th-grade students be ber, 2845 Kiowa Trail, new single family detached log dwelling, given vision and hearing tests. $341,347; Richard Volkstorf, 2017 Uplands Circle, new single fam- ily detached dwelling, $461,392; Richard H. Willie Trust, 1502 & 1504 Raven Circle, new two-unit condominium, $263,586; Jay & Carol LLC, 2051 Big Thompson Ave., SK-2, new detached accom- modation cabin, $27,013; Jay & Carol LLC, 2051 Big Thompson Ave., SK-3, new detached accommodation cabin, $27,013; Jay & Carol LLC, 2051 Big Thompson Ave., SK-4, new detached accom- modation cabin, $27,013; Jay & Carol LLC, 2051 Big Thompson See Permits: Page A 3 Page A 2 The Trail-Gazette, Friday, October 5, 2001 Guest: Former CSU professor spent over six year as captive Continued from page A 1 bread with processed cheese wrapped inside, along with a cup of “terri- ble” bitter stewed tea. It was the same meal for 2,354 days — except every six months or so when the cheese was substituted for yogurt. Lunch was rice and beans. The guards did not tor- ture the men, but did not react with understanding when the men failed to obey their orders. Big bull elk such as this one spotted in Estes Park One day, Sutherland recently, provide a sometimes too enticing shot for peeked out from beneath impatient hunters. his filthy blindfold and was punished with the Hunter: Tips led to conviction beating of his life. Continued from page A 1 “They took me into cell 11 and laid me on my Kremmling. Four days later, the Colorado Division of back,” he describes in his Wildlife received a tip that this animal may have been 1996 book, At Your Own the same one taken from the Park — whose gut pile was Risk, which chronicles the left behind. ordeal. Park rangers teamed up with several Division of “One of them held up Wildlife officers to investigate the case, which was prose- my feet while another cuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Anderson. began to beat on the After receiving the initial tip, a Division of Wildlife insoles with some kind of officer on the western slope seized the meat from the rubber truncheon,” he Lebanon is in the heart of the Middle East. The country struggled through a bitter Kremmling processing plant as evidence. The DOW went wrote. “Quitting my civil war during the 1980s. to Belveal’s house and secured a confession in late Octo- insoles, he switched to my ber. Sutherland with the spe- In August of 2001, he agreed to the plea agreement calves, thighs, ribs, shoul- cific reason for his kidnap- ders, and by the time he Sutherland’s thoughts on and pled guilty to taking wildlife from a national park ping. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Schaffer in Denver’s U.S. was done, I was black and Mughnayeh, who would blue from my neck to my the Sept. 11 terror attacks District Court. often visit Sutherland and Ridley said a very large bull can fetch between $4,000 feet.” the others in their cells, Sutherland believes that Mughnayeh, the man and $5,000 as a trophy mount. Fines under the Lacey Act Staying positive consistently repeated this can go as high as $100,000, he said. mantra to the men who who kept promising he would be “free next day,” was Sutherland lived in wondered when they’d be the real mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks on Other cases Scotland before coming to America. released: “When our broth- Poaching violations resulted in the convictions of two America at age 23 to study ers in Kuwait free, you He said this has been reported in the respected at Iowa State University British “Chains Defense Weekly” and is the belief other hunters in Rocky Mountain National Park within free next day.” the last year as well. for one year, where he met held by Israel’s military intelligence. On November 4, 2000, Daniel Shomers, of Littleton, his wife Jean, got the job “Welcome to freedom” Believers of this theory say that Osama bin Laden was cited for killing a mule deer buck in the Park, along offer at CSU and extended provided funding for the attack, which was organized Those 17 terrorists were the hunter access trail at McGraw Ranch. He was fined his stay for good. in close coordination with Mughnayeh, Saddam Hus- finally freed on August 2, $250 and forfeited the deer. He credits “sheer Scot- sein, and Egyptian Ayman Zuwahiri. 1990, when Saddam Hus- On January 4, 2001, Bridger Penttilla, of Boulder, was tish-American cussed- sein invaded Kuwait and, “I think that the average American doesn’t appre- ness,” a wonderful family, also cited for killing a six point bull elk in the McGraw as is custom when an out- ciate what’s happening in the Middle East,” Suther- Ranch area along the Park boundary. Penttilla was fined and mutual support of fel- side nation takes over land said. “They’re very happy with life in America low prisoners as key to $250, forfeiture of parts and was charged with other vio- another, opened up all the and they should be. This is the greatest country in lations by the Division of Wildlife. staying sane during his jails of the fallen nation. the history of civilization. That’s not to say it’s with- period of incarceration. In these cases, the offenses occurred within season by Yet the “next day,” out faults. hunters with valid licenses. They took place in areas that The prisoners were also which was supposed to “There are a lot of guys in the Middle East who allowed to read books and were confused with legal hunting grounds, as the hunt- mean Sutherland’s free- have nothing, and they look at America as being an ing corridor along the North Boundary Trail passes magazines to keep their dom, did not come for oppressor, both economically and militarily. Why mil- minds active and, after through a half-mile of Park property. another 18 months. itarily? Because we arm Israelis, and they oppress Another hunter access trail is near the Twin Sisters four years of pestering the Sutherland turned 60 in the hell out of the Palestinians. guards, they were given a Trailhead, and other access trails are on the Park’s west his cell. “Why economically? Because we support dictators side. Hunters are responsible for carrying current maps radio so they could listen The tide began to turn in Middle East, like the king of Saudi Arabia and the to the BBC and Voice of and knowing the correct boundaries. when a British man who Kuwaiti leader. When we give them money, they Belveal’s case took place miles within the Park bound- America. shared a cell with Suther- spend most of it on an army to keep people under a Because of the litera- ary. As blatant as it was, Ridley said it is not the most land was released in June dictator’s thumb. None of that money goes to the poor blatant poaching case in Park history. ture, “we had thus, almost of 1991. He sent a message people. Children in Iraq are still starving.” literally, freedom in cap- He said in 1978, a man dropped a six-point elk on the to the secretary-general of He added that many Arabs see America as a hyp- Park tundra in the middle of the day in front of tourists. tivity,” he wrote in his the United Nations, urging ocrite for acting against Iraq when it invaded another book. “If Islamic Jihad But the Belveal case was the most blatant in recent Park the release of Sutherland, Arab country, Kuwait, while at the same time giving history. could chain our bodies to Anderson and another billions of dollars to Israel, which is oppressing the wall, they couldn’t In fact, the last major poaching case in the Park British man. another Arab population. imprison our minds.” occurred in 1998, when several hunters were charged The task of negotiation “If we bomb anyone, it’ll prove we’re a military He also spent much of under the Lacey Act for taking a large mature bull at was given to Giandomeni- oppressor,” Sutherland said. “Under no circum- his time talking with McGraw Ranch. co “Johnny” Picco, under- stances should we bomb Afghanistan or Saddam Anderson, with whom he Poaching on the rise secretary of the UN chief, Hussein. I think these (terrorists) should be brought spent 70 months in captiv- who had negotiated the to justice and tried in an international or United Park spokesperson Kyle Patterson said that as more ity. The two imparted end of the Iran/Iraq war private land is developed on U.S. Forest Service property every bit of wisdom they Nations court.” and convinced the Rus- surrounding the Park, there are fewer places to hunt and possessed to each other sians to leave Afghanistan. more illegal animal slayings. through millions of words now, and at age 70, he bitter. I learned a long The star diplomat came Ridley said more people are calling authorities with spoken day in and day out. appears a man at peace. time ago that bitterness through once again. tips in recent years, which has allowed rangers to catch In 1983, terrorists blew He doesn’t let a little thing and anger will ruin your On November 18, 1991, more offenders. But they still fight an uphill battle. up the American embassy like losing 77 months of life. If I got up and said, ‘I “they released Terry and “We had three (cases) in which we received informa- in Beirut and blasted his life to darkness and hate these guys,’ I’d have a me together,” Sutherland tion and charged people,” he said. “My guess is that’s the apart a U.S. Marine air- captivity get him down. terrible day. Instead I say, said. “They drove us down tip of the iceberg. If we hear about or investigate two cas- port barracks, killing hun- “Tom Sutherland was a “Good morning sun and a road from Beirut to es a year, there’s probably many more we don’t hear dreds of Americans as part true American hero,” said have a great day.’” Damascus, (Syria). We about.” of Iranian leader Ayatol- former president George He said positive were pushed out of the car In all three of last year’s cases, tips from the public lah Khomeini’s holy war Bush in a quote from thoughts of the past, of by guards at about 9 p.m. lead to the arrests. against the West. Sutherland’s book. “He being reunited with his Out of the shadows comes “There’s so much land to cover in the Park,” said Patter- Seventeen Islamic was a hostage, yes; but he wife and three daughters, General Baaloul from Syri- son. “We try to be everywhere, but we can’t be in many extremists were later never felt sorry for himself and of plans for the future an intelligence.” instances. We appreciate and rely on the public to help us caught trying to blow up nor did he complain of his helped him survive as well. The two Americans out and advise us if they know of any poaching activities.” the American and French situation. He inspired us “When we were five looked at Baaloul, who The first rifle season for elk this season begins October embassies in Kuwait and all with his grit and his guys in a cell, it would spoke two sentences that 13, followed by the first rifle season for deer on October 20. thrown in a Kuwaiti jail. unfailing faith in his God stink in there,” he said. Sutherland will never for- During this year’s hunting season, Rocky Mountain One of the terrorists and his country.” “I’d close my eyes and get: “I’m General Baaloul of National Park urges anyone with information related to was the brother-in-law of “People have frequently imagine I was at my cabin Syrian intelligence,” he poaching in the Park to contact the Park’s dispatch at 586- Imad Mughnayeh, a Shiite said they don’t detect one in Estes Park and so help said. “Welcome to freedom.” 1399, the nearest local sheriff’s office or the Division of Muslim leader in Lebanon ounce of bitterness,” me, I could bloody well Sutherland has been Wildlife’s Operation Game Thief hotline at 1-800-332- who would finally provide Sutherland said. “I’m not smell the pines.” free for almost ten years 4155. Permits: September permits increase dramatically over last year Continued from page 1 Ave., SK-5, new detached accom- N. Sharon Court, new single rough in bath, $1,500; Bob Gray, Sprint PCS, 543 Big Thompson Albert M. Clearman, 1980 Mor- modation cabin, $27,013; Jay & family detached dwelling, 1109 Brook Drive, bath, kitchen Ave., repeater installation, ris Court, re-roof and install sky- Carol LLC, 2051 Big Thompson $147,982; and Roy & Michele remodel and repair deck, $6,000. light, $2,500; Vernon Cole, 851 Ave., SK-6, new detached accom- Johnson, 363-365 Virginia Drive, $30,000; E.P. Con. Jehovahs Permits for miscellaneous con- Panorama Circle, replace boiler modation cabin, $27,013; Jay & new two unit condominium, Witness, 1760 Olympian Lane, struction included those issued and regulator, $12,530; Jeff Carol LLC, 2051 Big Thompson $258,744. church addition and remodel, for Con & Joan Lund, 1399 Barker, 710 Fall River Rd., Ave., SK-7, new detached accom- Permits for additions and $57,162; Charlene & Mike LeP- Cedar Lane, basement finish, Units 12, 14-B, 15,16; replace modation cabin, $27,013; Karen alterations included those issued ore, 900 High Acres Drive, base- $5,000; Dennis Brown, 220 Vir- copper gas lines, $800; and Bob & John Ericson, 413 Pawnee for New Stanley Associates, 333 ment addition, $19,585; E.P. ginia Drive, garage remodel, Howell, 172 W. Elkhorn Ave., Lane, new single family Wonderview Ave., remodel of Sanitation District, 610 Big $4,719; Jeffrey & Kristin Barker, remove underground storage detached dwelling, $215,770; Stanley Hall, $500,000; Bill Thompson Ave., chemical feed 710 Fall River Rd., Units 9, 10, tank, $21,000. Michael & Audrey Seybold, 1980 Ruth, 2021 Cherokee Drive, building addition, $260,000; and 11; demo of building two, $6,000;

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