Those cities were not where the U.S. Attorney General wanted to see the trial held. Her preferences were San Francisco, home of the Ninth Circuit, or Seattle. Either would provide a jury pool that would be more sympathetic to the Federal government’s case. When word of this made its way into the media, Governor Thomas was put on notice by many who had supported him in the past that such a decision, unopposed by him, would not sit well with them. His own Attorney General was quick to remind Thomas that his failure to make a stand would be politically disastrous. “When it comes to state’s rights and an overly intrusive Federal government,” the State Attorney General pointed out, “you’ve talked a good case. Now it’s time to pony up.”

What his Attorney General expected him to do was beyond him. Stopping at the end of the track, GO looked up into the pale blue sky. Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath and held it. The weather was changing, he told himself. The warm, easy days of summer were coming to an end. All he had to look forward to was a long, cold season of storms and dark, gray days. Opening his eyes, Thomas exhaled. Something would come to him, he told himself as he marched back to the governor’s mansion. This was not the first storm he faced, he reminded himself. Faith in himself, and his acute sense of timing when it came to seizing an opportunity, had always come through for him before. He was confident that this crisis, if it came to that, would be no different.

For the army of journalists, TV crews, and reporters who had descended upon Boise, the lack of activity by the state’s outspoken governor and the delay in making a decision concerning where the trial of the Idaho Six would be held was intolerable. “I can’t understand it,” Jan complained to Scott in one of her nightly calls to him. “For the briefest of moments Boise, Idaho, the Potato Capital of the world, has the nation’s full and undivided attention. And yet no one, not even the county sheriff, is willing to take advantage of all this free publicity.”

“Did you ever think,” Scott asked innocently over the phone, “that perhaps folks up there just aren’t into having their business splattered over every TV screen?”

“Well, I don’t know what the hesitation is, but the lack of a story is starting to make most of the journalists up here cynical.”

Seeing an opening, Scott blurted out, “Gee, I didn’t know there was a difference between an ordinary journalist and a wee bit cynical one.”