Protestors of pigeon shoot blast police, cry for justice

Evening Herald
June 8, 1991
By Christine M. Goldbeck
Herald writer

Pottsville – Charging that state police lacked professionalism and used excessive force with civil-disobedient protestors at the 1990 pigeon shoot in Hegins, animal-rights activists have loudened their cries for justice.

Two of the most vocal opponents of the annual event, one of the largest live bird shoots in the world, Friday held a press conference in Rumors Lounge at the Treadway Inn, turning the nightclub dance floor into a press arena.

With only three months until the 58h Fred Coleman Memorial Labor Day Pigeon Shoot, a major fundraiser for the rural Hegins valley, activists Steve Hindi of Plano, Ill., and Joe Taksel of Mobilization for Animals Pennsylvania, said they want their complaints promptly investigated and they also want to prevent police from waging a “one-sided” campaign against protestors because the anti-shoot people will return en masse this year.

Hindi said the administration of Schuylkill County District Attorney Claude A. Lord Shields has “stonewalled” protestors. The press conference was called because the activists want to pressure authorities into investigating their complaints. There is an internal probe into state police conduct and Schuylkill County law enforcement has reviewed video clips and photographs that were presented to Shields. Shields has maintained that the activists’ allegations have been checked. Months ago he told the Evening Herald that he’d compare their behavior to animals, but he would not want to insult the animals.

Frequently using the term “one-sided,” to describe police treatment the day of the shoot Hindi said, “If they don’t have the decency to quit, then they should be removed.”

Protestors charge that troopers removed their name tags so activists could not identify individual officers. Police deny that.

Although the 1990 shoot, during which more that 20 activists were arrested, had numerous confrontations, activists relived three riotous incidents with which they said they have trouble believing that police were fair to pro-shooters and protestors.

“Let’s remember that the protestors at the ‘Hegins massacre’ were leaving when most of this – when all of this – trouble happened and were literally being stalked by pro-shooters, most of them drunk,” Hindi said, adding, “They’re yelling, they’re mad, they’re scared, some of them are being hit. They were yelling to (Trooper Glenn) Cousins who did nothing.”

Cousins was on horseback, a member of the mounted detail assigned to control the crowd. State police also used helicopter and foot patrol. Mid-afternoon, additional Troop L state police were brought in.

The animal righters contend that Cousins turned his back on fights that led to arrests, failing to aid the activists.

Hindi said troopers used excessive force when they arrested his brother, Greg, for disorderly conduct, of which he was convicted last year.

Greg Hindi challenged Cousins to take a polygraph test. Cousins and Cpl. Arthur Zeplin, another lie detector invitee, declined.

Videotape obtained from a television news studio shows two officers shoving Greg Hindi onto the hood of an automobile, while the man’s arms were held behind his back.

Steve Hindi said Trooper Carl Nocket moved his hand up from the base of the brother’s neck and “flicked his wrist like you do when you throw a baseball,” forcing Greg’s face to hit the hood of the car.

That’s a very subtle piece of police brutality there” Steve Hindi said.

Clippings of the arrest of Carol Seiler were also reviewed. The tape clearly shows that a shoot proponent attacked Seiler as the woman was arrested for “loud and boisterous behavior at the scene of a fight.”

Police never cited Seiler’s assailant and that has activists fuming.

The third matter concerns the arrest of Steve Hindi for disorderly conduct and criminal mischief.

As activists were leaving the park under police under, some pro-shooters were bumping them with their vehicles. When Hindi came in contact, with a white Firebird driven by Michael Steward, Annville, he charges that Stewart left him no choice but to jump onto the hood of the car.

The video tape shows Hindi standing in the path of Stewart’s car and Stewart driving into him.

Stewart continued to drive with Hindi on his car and Hindi, charging that Stewart was trying to throw him from the car by speeding and braking, smashed the windshield of the car so Stewart would stop.

He said he does not want the charges against himself withdrawn, but he does want more serious charges lodged against Stewart.

The Annville man was cited for fighting, but charges were thrown out when Hindi failed to appear at Stewart’s hearing.

Hindi said he did not attend on the advice of his counsel, Atty. Guy Brookes, who said the subpoena was “defective” because it did not contain expenses for Hindi.

“As a matter of fact, I will scream bloody murder if they drop the charges! Don’t drop the charges,” Hindi said.

Hindi said the county has offered him a plea bargain of a $350 fine and one year probation, but he would rather spend thousands of dollars to go to trial because, in not arresting Stewart on tougher charges, he was unduly charged.

Calling the shoot “the Hegins bloodfest” and “the Hegins massacre,” and shooters’ “pigeon killers,” Taksel said many protestors are emotionally damaged by the goings on in Hegins Community Park, where the shoot is staged.

“Nobody is ever the same after Hegins. It’s something that changes you. It had done permanent damage,” Taksel told the press.

The event draws professional and amateur shooters throughout the nation and Canada. It is also a community function at which local families gather to picnic and socialize.

As the protests have gained momentum since the Pennsylvania General Assembly shot down law to ban live bird shoots in the commonwealth, the shoot each year draws more activists and more spectators.

About 10,000 people attended the 1990 shoot. Food and beverages, including beer, were gone mid-afternoon.

Throughout the years, members of the Hegins Park Association have been silent while the protestors have attacked the shoot; however than changed last summer when the association held a press conference to announce its decision to continue the shoot.

A state coalition to ban the shoots recently offered to give the park association $15,000 if it stopped the event, but organizers declined.

On Memorial Day weekend, the park was vandalized, but police have not proven it was at the hands of activists. Local citizens removed the red-paint graffiti.