Pope County Sheriff warns public of dangers of hiking, how to stay safe
POPE COUNTY, Ill. (KBSI) – After years of service, Sheriff Jerry Suits knows Pope County like the back of his hand.
When it comes springtime, he knows both experienced and beginning hikers will be out exploring the Shawnee National Forest.
“I’ve talked about this for fourteen years, and I hate it for people,” he said.
“You know I’ve got eight incidents that something happened since the first year,” said Sheriff Suits. “Hundreds of incidents that did not happen, so if you’re balancing that out that’s pretty good odds, but if you sit where I sit every day, and have for the last fourteen years, it’s not very good odds.”Suits encourages hikers to wear proper clothing and footwear, pay attention to the trail signs, and keep a fully charged cell phone on your person, “You know, don’t go out there and you only got one bar, and never been there before, something happens.”
On Saturday April 27, a 38-year-old male from Paducah, fell to his death at Jackson Falls, in the national park.
Suits says the man was wearing proper attire and was prepared for his hike, but where he fell was a common place people have fallen before.
“It gets pretty slick out there pretty quick, especially on the edge, and everybody wants to go on the edge,” said Sheriff Suits. “Everybody wants to go on that edge and they want to look over, and it’s pretty fantastic looking over the edge, but this day here, it became tragedy for us and for that subject, and we’re sorry for that.”
Sheriff Suits encourages everyone to come to the national forest, but to pay attention and be careful.
