For the week of August 14 - 20, 2002

People ‘targets’ 
bring terror concerns 
to valley

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By PAT MURPHY
Express Staff Writer

Most potential U.S. targets for international terrorists – dams, nuclear power plants, tunnels, bridges, communications centers, oil pipelines, electricity transmission grids, airports, financial centers, deep water harbors and the like – long ago were listed by American intelligence agencies.

But, Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling believes "targets" aren’t always concrete, technological systems or transportation networks.

People, too, can be targets, the sheriff says.

Blaine County Sheriff 
Walt Femling

Although the Wood River Valley seems far from the frontlines of the war on terrorism, Femling said Blaine County law enforcement has been forced to make "big changes" in its thinking because of Sept. 11.

During an interview in his office, Femling said police agencies are giving more attention to security in the Sun Valley and Ketchum areas because of the celebrity residents and high-ranking corporate executives and government officials who gather here for meetings.

He cited the annual Sun Valley meeting of Allen & Co., the New York investment firm, that brings together some of the world’s major media and entertainment executives and their families, who could be targets of terrorists. Apropos, the meeting’s host, Herb Allen, hired members of the New York City SWAT team to provide additional security at this year’s July meeting.

Femling also pointed out that other visitors to the area have included the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and top echelon U.S. military figures.

"Some of the homeowners, the people who come here, they’re very high profile," he observed, and tempting targets for any group "if they’re after headlines."

Without mentioning specifics, Femling presumably had in mind the entertainment celebrities and corporate executives who live in he area, as well as their multi-million dollar private jet aircraft parked at Friedman Memorial Airport.

Femling declined to discuss specific measures law enforcement agencies are taking in their intelligence gathering and preparation, but said "we’re training differently and thinking differently" as the result of the Sept. 11 attack by terrorists on Washington and New York City.

But although he said "‘suspicious’ is hard to define," law enforcement agencies welcome assistance from the public in reporting any activity or person that seems out of the way, regardless of how seemingly inconsequential.

As an example of how basic curiosity can assist law enforcement, Femling pointed out that a visiting Oregon couple suspicious of two men at the Corral Creek trailhead called 911 to report them two weeks ago, leading to the arrest of two credit card thieves.

More attention will be given by law enforcement to storage units, he said, where contraband and illicit materials could be stashed.

The old days and old ways of casual homeowner attitudes toward security are over, Femling said. "It’s a very bad idea," he said, for homeowners to leave their home doors unlocked. Unsecure homes, he said, create "crimes of opportunity."

Femling said that in addition to the concerns created by Sept. 11, Blaine County is seeing more violent crimes – especially sexual assaults and assaults with weapons.

Some of the increased assaults are related to substance abuse, but they also can be explained by the area’s increased population and changing character of population.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.