By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
April 14, 2007

Hood River developer Pasquale Barone made a trip to Canada two years ago — and was banned from returning to the United States.

The native of Canada was pleased to learn on Thursday that his “persona non grata” status had been lifted.

“I might pop down to Hood River this weekend just because I can,” said Barone, 60, who now makes his home in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“I am now free to come back and it feels good — but perhaps a little bittersweet.”

On April 12, the U.S. State Department granted him permission to return to the U.S. In May of 2005, Barone was in Toronto, Canada, when he was ordered by U.S. Embassy officials not to re-enter the country. That edict was delivered while he was attempting to renew his investor visa.

At issue was Barone’s arrest 34 years earlier for possessing a small amount of drugs. He had omitted the conviction on his original visa application.

He later said the oversight was simple — the incident had simply been forgotten. Barone said after paying a $250 fine for the infraction he had gotten on with life and mentally shelved the incident.

For almost two decades, he resided in Hood River and then, due to technological advances, his fingerprints turned up in an FBI database. And the state department expelled him for excluding the arrest on an official form.

Barone admitted in 2005 that, like many young people, he had experimented with recreational drugs. But then he had matured and became a mainstream member of society — clearly posing no security threat.

In a telephone interview on Thursday, he said many good things had come out of his exile. And one of the most humbling experiences was the strong support shown by so many people in Hood River. He said hundreds of letters were written by local residents to petition the U.S. government on his behalf. And just as many notes arrived regularly in Vancouver to encourage his family, including wife, Jacquie, and daughters Kesia, 16, and Nina, 11.

“Truly, how many people who are alive and well get to find out how people feel about them,” said Barone. “When I felt down, I’d take great comfort from reading those letters.”

He said it has also been advantageous to have the girls in a larger city with more opportunities to pursue cultural activities. For that reason — and the near-completion of a major home remodel — Barone is unsure whether the family will return to live in their Hood River house.

“We sort of have the best of both worlds now,” he said.

However, Barone has business plans underway in Hood River — such as completion of the Willow Pond Subdivision — that will, if nothing else, make him a frequent visitor. Jacquie has been traveling into the Gorge to oversee their projects during the past two years. And Pasquale is pleased that she will no longer have to carry that burden of responsibility alone.

“In my absence, when we called anyone in Hood River they went above and beyond to get things done on our behalf. It was always very heartwarming,” he said.

One of the local citizens who fought hardest for Barone’s return was Eric Burnette, his good friend and project manager. On Thursday, Burnette said the news “was the best that he had had on the political front for a long time.”

“Pasquale is exactly the sort of person we need to bring into this country and not kick out,” said Burnette.