Shoot costs state $500.000 past 4 years: Two sides debate expense

February 14, 1995

Pottsville (PA) Republican

By Jason Green

The Fred Coleman Memorial Pigeon Shoot in Hegins cost nearly $500,000 over the last four years for state police coverage.

That figure was gathered by State Police Press Secretary Charles M. Tocci this week at the request of an animal-rights group.

As a result, The Fund for Animals, Inc., is calling on Gov. Tom Ridge to push for legislation that would make pigeon shoots illegal in Pennsylvania.

According to Todd, state police expenses for the 1994 pigeon shoot were more than $109,000. The greatest expense, however, was incurred in 1993 when the event cost more than $162,000 to police.

Troopers from throughout eastern Pennsylvania were brought in to patrol the area every Labor Day since protests began in 1986.

The number of police varies from year to year, said John F. Oches, state police public information coordinator. He would not estimate how many troopers attend on average, saying police do not want organizers or protestors to know how much police coverage there was.

If they knew, Oches said, they’d better be able to combat police.

Thirty-one people, protesters and shooters were arrested during the 1994 event.

“We feel it’s an appropriate amount of money to police the event,” Tocci said. As far as protests between two groups go, Tocci said the Hegins shoot is the most expensive for police in the state. But, he said, “It’s only a fraction of the state police’s annual budget - $308.8 million in 1994.

The Fund For Animals, a group based in Silver Spring, Md., said the cost, in addition to what it calls animal cruelty, and is another reason the event should be banned.

James P. Diehl, a Pottsville attorney who represents The Labor Day Committee Inc., the shoot’s organizer, said protesters are the reason police are needed at the event. Before protesters targeted the event, problems did not exist, he said.

The animal-rights group mailed and faxed a two-page letter to Ridge Monday, pointing out the expense to taxpayers and asking for him to support legislation that would outlaw pigeon shoots.

Diehl said the police costs should not be pinned on Hegins’ people.

“There were no problems there before the protesters,” Diehl said. “The reason police came eight years ago was that protesters requested them.”

If not in Hegins, Diehl added, state police would be working somewhere else. Hegins gets its share of the state police budget.

The issued should be decided by the state Legislature, Diehl said.

People have the right to engage in legal activity, and police should protect people doing legal things, he said.

“That’s what we all expect the police to do,” Diehl said. “They come to take care of the people of Hegins from being assaulted.”

The governor’s office received the faxed letter Monday, but had no comment on the situation, Press Secretary Tim Reeves said.

With the backing of the Fund For Animals, three humane society agents, Keith Mohler of Farm Sanctuary of Pennsylvania, Inc., Clayton Huisizer of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Kathy Hecker of Animal Friends Inc. filed a lawsuit for an injunction June 30 to stop the shoot.

They contended state law bars pigeon shoots and the court should stop the Hegins one immediately.

On Aug. 16, Schuylkill County Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin denied the request to stop the shoot.

The group appealed the ruling to the state Superior Court. Arguments will be heard March 7 and a ruling will follow.

In January, the National Rifle Association joined six sportsmen’s groups in asking the Superior Court to allow it to intervene in the lawsuit.

While not parties to the suit they want their side to be heard.