Tag: New York

Juror Dismissed in Connor Cash Trial

Earth Liberation Front Connor Cash is currently on trial in New York accused of a number of Earth Liberation Front arsons committed in Suffolk County, New York in 2000. He is also charged in a failed attempt to burn down to steal ducks and burn down a building at a duck farm.

Cash’s alleged co-conspirators, Matthew Ramelkamp, 19, and Jared McIntyre, 21, reached plea agreements with prosecutors and are the government’s chief witnesses against Cash.

This week a female juror was removed from the trial after admitting she had said of some of Cash’s supporters,

. . . they should send these kids who are anti-American across to Iraq to see what’s going on over there. Then they would not be against our government.

The juror was referring to about two dozen supporters who have regularly attended the trial in support of Cash.

Cash, by the way, seems to be adopting the Jeff Luers strategy. Despite the evidence against him — including testimony from two of his co-conspirators — Cash maintains that he is falsely accused and had nothing to do with the various arsons he’s charged with.

One can only hope that Cash’s strategy is as successful for him as it was for Luers.

Source:

Juror dismissed for remarks in activist case. Robert E. Kesller, Newsday, May 13, 2004.

SarahJane Blum Arrested?

A Lexis-Nexis search turns up nothing to confirm or add to this story, but in April animal rights activist Ryan Shapiro posted a report that SarahJane Blum, a spokeswoman for anti-foie gras web site GourmetCruelty.Com, had been arrested.

Last night, Friday, April 23, Sarahjane Blum, media spokesperson for GourmetCruelty.Com, was arrested after screening a copy of the video “Delicacy of Despair: Behind the Closed Door of the Foie Gras Industry” at Syracuse University. She was charged with felony burglary for the open rescue of ducks from Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Liberty New York. She was released on bail this morning and trial dates are pending.

Source:

Arrest for open rescue of ducks from foie gras farm. Ryan Shapiro, E-Mail Correspondence, April 24, 2004.

Animal Rights Activists: Prevent Terrorism — Stop Hunting

A New York-based animal rights group called Wildlife Watch is attempting to exploit the 9/11 terrorist attacks to push its anti-hunting agenda. According to Wildlife Watch, terrorists could use hunting season to launch terrorist attacks (I’m not making this up).

According to Wildlife Watch’s Anne Muller, hunting “is just a wonderful opportunity for someone who would want to do a terrorist act. They don’t have to report their whereabouts and can be lurking anywhere. They can lurk in groups.” The group elaborated on that view in a press release saying,

Armed and camouflaged individuals can get close to chemical, agricultural, business facilities, gas pipelines, electrical powerlines, substations, transformers and airports. Local police and environmental conservation officers will merely slough off concerns saying that the individuals are ‘just hunting.’

For its part, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation understands the real message that Wildlife Watch is trying to communicate. “We take our direction from law enforcement professionals, not groups that would attempt to use the war on terrorism to advance their own agenda,” said spokesman Peter Constant.

Wildlife Watch posted a message on an animal rights e-mail list recently asking people to send letters to various New York officials demanding a suspension of the hunting season, which is scheduled to begin on Nov. 19. It included a sample letter which, among other things, said,

Hunting is not a necessity, true subsistence hunters (those who depend on the meat) are less than 1/10th of 1% of the population. Because the wildlife management agencies are benefiting, and their bureaucratic survival depends on the use of firearms and ammunition, it is they who are putting the rest of us at risk. Their claim that hunting conditions pose no threat to the welfare of society is self-serving and doesn’t allow us to prevent against possible terrorist occurrences.

Actually, from here it seems like the animal rights activists who are desperately trying to convince the public that they are still relevant.

Source:

N.Y. wildlife group calls hunting a terror threat. Fox News, November 10, 2001.

Letters needed to suspend hunting in NY State. Wildlife Watch, e-mail communication, November 14, 2001.