Shoot foe ruled guilty

October 29, 1990

Pottsville (PA.) Republican

By Matt Assad

Tremont – A Pottsville teenager was convicted of disorderly conduct this morning for protesting the 57th annual Fred Coleman Pigeon Shoot on Labor Day in Hegins.

Kyle Quandel, 16, of the city’s Hillside section, was fined $100, plus $54 in court costs by District Justice Earl J. Matz Jr. of Tremont.

Quandel is the 15th protester who pleaded innocent to be found guilty before Matz.

While state police called him disorderly, Quandel said he was simply exercising his First Amendment right to free speech. Not only should he not have been arrested, he said, but he should not have been “brutalized” by police in the process.

After the hearing, Quandel said, “I was brutalized by police who kicked me and choked me with a night stick. I was bleeding and I was black and blue.”

He was arrested after he and other protesters said they were trying to protect protest organizer Stephen O. Hindi, of Plano, Ill., from a crowd of people after Hindi sought safety under a car following a fight with shoot sympathizer Michael A. Stewart of Annville.

Quandel and fellow protester Carol Seiler, of Hazleton, told Matz this morning that state policeman Arthur B. Zeplin and other officers put a night stick to his neck and threw him to the ground.

Both testified an angry mob was screaming “get him, kill him” at Hindi. One man was carrying a broken beer bottle and another, a handgun, Seiler said.

Taking the stand, Zeplin denied Quandel’s account, saying he warned Quandel twice to stop screaming “police brutality.” He said he grabbed Quandel by the shirt and arrested him, Zeplin also denied that anyone was found to be carrying a gun.

Quandel also testified that he was warned several times, but thought he had the right to verbally protest.

Seiler was convicted by Matz earlier this month of disorderly conduct.

Quandel was among an estimated 300 animal right activists protesting at the shoot. The activists, led by Hindi, say they are determined to stop pigeon shooting in Pennsylvania, calling it cruel and inhumane.

About 250 shooters participated in this year’s event, killing about 6,000 pigeons.

Quandel is one of 23 protesters arrested Sept. 3 and charged with disorderly conduct. Fourteen others pleaded guilty and paid fines.