Hegins protester’s trial starts a day after this year’s shoot

September 2, 1991

The Morning Call

By Susan Todd

An Illinois animal rights activist who has waged a crusade against a live pigeon shoot in Hegins Township will go on trial for criminal mischief and disorderly conduct tomorrow.

Steve Hindi’s trial will begin the morning after this year’s shoot, which animal rights and advocates say could be the largest demonstration yet. The shoot is held each Labor Day at the Hegins Township Park.

Hindi, who lives in Plano, Ill., was arrested last Labor Day after he allegedly broke a car windshield.

Authorities upgraded the charges from summary offenses to misdemeanor charges in October. Police said damage to the vehicle exceeded $500, which differentiates the two charges. Schuylkill County District Attorney Claude L. Shields said the case took a year to come to trial because Hindi’s attorney, Guy Brooks of Harrisburg, filed several motions for postponements.

“This would have come up in January, if they had not filed the first motion,” Shields said.

Shields, who harbors no love for the media attention surrounding Hindi, said there was no attempt by his office to schedule Hindi’s hearing to coincide with this year’s shoot.

Such cases are typically completed in a single day, but the district attorney said, “We figure this one will take four or five days.”

Shields said Hindi’s attorneys told the court during jury selection last week that they expected the trial to take that long because of the number of witnesses and the amount of evidence they intended to present.

Hindi, a 37-year-old owner of a tubular rivet manufacturing company, maintains that the driver of the car ran into him, and he was forced to jump on the vehicle to avoid being run over last Sept. 3. He broke the windshield, Hindi said, in an effort to stop the driver.

Local authorities, however, say Hindi jumped on the vehicle as it moved through a crowd of protesters and then kicked in the windshield.

Animal rights advocates, who initially protested the Hegins shoot in 1986, have tried to heighten public awareness about the shoot since a proposal to ban it was overwhelmingly defeated in the state Legislature in 1989.

The 58-year-old shoot, which is sponsored as a fund-raiser by the Hegins Park Association, is considered by many residents to be a tradition and a sporting competition.

Hindi first attended the Hegins shoot in 1989. In the past 18 months, he has challenged organizers to fistfights, has offered them money in exchange for canceling the shoot, and has orchestrated several news conferences this year to focus attention on the shoot.

Hindi could not be reached yesterday for comment.