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Prologue
- State University of New York Press
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Prologue D E C E M B E R 7 , 1 9 8 9 — THE SHERIFF OF ALLEGANY COUNTY leaned back in his chair and considered his chances for reelection. Three months earlier he had resolved to put thoughts about his future on the back burner and focus on the difficult task that lay ahead. He had, in fact, convinced himself that his career in law enforcement was over. Only a couple of weeks earlier he had told the district attorney at lunch that no one would elect him dogcatcher after this whole affair was over.“What I’ll have to do in the next few months will make me the most unpopular guy in the county.” Larry Scholes knew that in normal times a sheriff can assure his reelection by enforcing the law impartially, by preserving the peace, and by maintaining personal integrity. But these were not normal times.The citizens were unified against putting a nuclear dump in the county and many of them were willing to act outside the law, committing acts of nonviolent resistance. Far worse, Scholes feared that some people might start shooting. “Sheriff” is the only elected law enforcement position in the United States, making sheriffs’ departments unusually responsive to citizens’ needs. This is the reason why many people bring problems to their county sheriffs more frequently than they do to state and local police. Allegany County in western NewYork was, however, an exception. Sparsely populated and relatively poor, it was one of only two counties in NewYork State that did not have its own road patrol. For all practical purposes the state police were the primary law enforcement agency in the county. Sheriff Larry Scholes glanced up at his calendar, noting that it was Pearl Harbor Day. He was awaiting a delegation of state troopers to discuss a looming battle between protesters and the New York State siting commission, 1 SUNY_Pet_chFM.qxd 9/13/01 1:58 PM Page 1 charged with finding a suitable place to build a nuclear waste dump. Scholes was pleased that the state police had requested the meeting. He was puzzled, though, that three high-level troopers from the superintendent’s Albany office were driving nearly three hundred miles to conduct it. Usually, Lieutenant McCole, who was in charge of the district office, or Captain Browning from the regional office near Buffalo would ask for a meeting to coordinate efforts between the agencies. The state police must have recognized, Scholes surmised , that the sheriff’s department in Allegany County could not handle large-scale protests, and they were preparing to take charge.The troopers from the superintendent’s office in Albany, he figured, were coming to muscle him out of the way. The sheriff had mixed feelings about this possibility. He approved of the state police taking primary responsibility for enforcing the state’s efforts to site a nuclear dump, but he hoped he could still play a role in keeping things peaceful. During the last six months, he had carefully cultivated relations with leaders in the anti-dump movement in order to assure them that he and his men would remain calm. He had never identified with the movie image of the “gun totin’” sheriff who bullied hoodlums into submission. In fact, he rarely carried a gun and never wore a star on his chest; his uniform was a white shirt and tie, with a fleece-lined leather jacket for cold weather. Larry Scholes had joined the sheriff’s department on April Fool’s Day 1973, when he was twenty-four years old; he was appointed undersheriff two years later. Now forty-one years old, he had just been elected to his third term as sheriff, a position he had held for nearly seven years. The sheriff’s department had been his only career. Now he faced an uncertain future. He knew he would have a serious challenger in the next election, requiring him to spend between three and four thousand dollars, nearly ten percent of his yearly salary. Far worse was his anxiety about providing financial stability for his family. These personal concerns gave way to even deeper worries about maintaining the peace between irate citizens of the county and the technical team from the siting commission. Scholes had talked with BillTimberlake, his undersheriff , about handling the protests and coordinating activities with the state police. They concluded that the most reasonable approach would be for the two of them to escort the technical team until it...