Kathleen Soliah is now on parole from almost a decade in a California prison, and Sara Jane Olson has come home to St. Paul. Soliah was a felon, and Olson is no hero or role model. She has earned the right to return to an ordinary life, but the public good is best served by then ignoring her.

Kathleen Soliah is her birth name, which she also used as a member of the radical Symbionese Liberation Army during the 1970s. They were terrorists of the worst sort. Her specific crimes were participating in a bank robbery in which a person was killed, holding newspaper heiress Patty Hearst captive, and placing pipe bombs under two police vehicles. Actually, this latter was attempted murder of police officers.

After committing these crimes and while others (including her brother and sister) were being apprehended, tried, and serving prison sentences, she became a fugitive. She escaped to Africa, hid for a while elsewhere in this country, and then settled in St. Paul. She assumed the role of an ordinary, law-abiding private citizen. She became an actor, even on the stage as well as in her daily life. She became a DFL activist, as if this were a redeeming virtue. She married a physician and had children.

The news media in the Cities seem delighted to refer to this as “hiding in plain sight.” This would make sense only if she had spent all 30 years under a bed. She was anything but “in plain sight” with her cleaver cover.

I still cannot believe the irresponsible and illogical treatment she received from the media upon her arrest. Not having blown up any local police vehicles, robbed yet another bank, killed anyone else, or kidnapped any more people, she was described as having become innocent of any crime and, indeed, a paragon of social virtue. This portrayal was irresponsible because it strongly suggested to other criminals they can get over crimes, and we will eventually forget them. It was illogical, because this treatment flouts the law and flaunts illegality.

The media reported her as having “lived a law-abiding life” all those post-terrorist years. Nonsense. She broke the law every day she hid as a fugitive from justice. She broke the law every time she signed her name as “Sara Jane Olson.” She was an inactive criminal, but fully a criminal. Surely, there were among those closest to her some who knew something or could have known. They had both legal and moral obligation to seek justice. She was herself unfair and unkind to those who sought to be fair with and kind to her.

Now they are at it again. She was released from prison last week, and California officials routinely granted her request to return to Minnesota to serve her one-year parole.

This was in rejection of appeals from police unions in both states and of our governor’s specific request. She invalidates the normal provision of parole at home by claiming she had already rehabilitated herself prior to her arrest. Moreover, the law refers to her “last legal residence,” but her St. Paul residence was not legal, being a fugitive. But she is here, and we should make the best of it.

However, she has already announced the liberal causes she will promote and for which she will work. And on what basis? Just what is her moral suasion? Why are we expected to respect her opinions and be persuaded by her arguments? What moral authority has she?

She complains law enforcement and the court system continue to punish her husband and children by the way they treat her. It is she who continues to punish her husband and children. She should have confessed her multiple felonies, served her time, rehabilitated her morality, and then offered herself as wife, mother, neighbor and friend.

One Minnesota legislator argues she has served her time, but this parole is part of her time. While he calls for forgiveness, I listen for repentance. What I hear is a consistently radical activist whom I can neither respect nor trust. Sara Jane Olson, welcome back to our state. Now, walk the walk among us. When you have accomplished this, we might begin to listen to you talk the talk.