Yesterday, even as I was drafting my post on the plight of Charlie Toups, the eccentric old curmudgeon who makes a living shoveling snow and shredding gnar at big ski resorts mostly in CO, a deal was being struck. According to the Denver Post, Charlie has admitted to “resisting arrest” during the November 17 incident which landed him in jail for half the ski season.

After 61 days in jail, Toups was released late Thursday after Judge Christine Arguello signed the government’s motion to dismiss without prejudice. “He is not a danger to anyone and he never was,” said his federal public defender, Kathryn Stimson. “He’s just a skier, and he’s a great guy. It’s a shame this resolution wasn’t reached the day he was arrested so he didn’t spend half the ski season in jail.”

Unfortunately for Charlie, the plea agreement (or whatever its called) stipulates that he’s not allowed on Forest Service property any more, although he will be allowed to ski aat ski areas which are constituted of Forest Service property provided he’s a paying customer. This probably puts an end to the quid pro quo arrangements that he’s used to score lift tickets for the last 33 years, such as bootpacking in the early morning to help the resorts avoid avalanche danger in exchange for a day’s lift ticket, or doing other odd jobs in exchange for his pass. For Charlie’s sake, I hope he can work around this restriction.

In exchange, Charlie has been given back his freedom (freedom which never should never have been taken from him in the first place). That’s one hell of a raw deal: we’re going to steal 100% of your freedom, lock you in a cage for 2 months, and then give you back maybe 50% of your freedom with all sorts of strings attached.

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I’m glad he’s out of jail, but I’m really at a loss for words to explain that for a freaking parking ticket, it should never be allowed to get this far.

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