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Selected Articles from our newsletterThe C.A.S.H. CourierARTICLE from the Spring 2010 IssueJoin C.A.S.H. at AR2010 in Washington, D.C.
The Hunter Harassment Law: Why It Must Be Annulled As managing editor of The C.A.S.H. Courier, the newsletter of the Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting, Anne Muller has received reports from landowners in many different states of Hunter Harassment Law abuse. Landowners who told hunters to leave their property were charged with hunter harassment. The law amounts to a backdoor taking of property, and violates First and Fourth Amendment Rights. This panel provides the first public exposure of hunter harassment abuse of regular citizens who had no connection with the animal rights community — until they fell victim. They could not get help from law enforcement officials who had charged them with the crime, nor from the courts that upheld the charges, nor from their neighbors who, in some instances, had caused the abuse. The Hunter Harassment Law must be annulled. The first step is….exposure. Kathy Andrews lives in South Carolina. She is an award winning journalist and a former reporter and anchor with BET, WJLA-TV (ABC) in D.C., and PBS. She works for a university in S.C. Kathy’s dream was to return to S.C. to live on her family’s farm. That dream turned into a nightmare as hunters trespassed and terrorized Kathy with gunfire after she complained to police. Kathy was arrested for removing a tracking dog collar from a hunting dog on her property after local authorities advised her she needed proof of trespassing hunters. Today, Kathy is an outspoken voice against hunting and hunter harassment. Jan Haagensen lives in Pennsylvania. She was an English teacher prior to getting her law degree. She specialized in environmental and civil rights cases, and lived quietly on a farm in Pennsylvania UNTIL the local hunters decided to invade her home ground. Because her family resisted any and all attacks on the creatures with whom they shared their lives, the local hunters would not leave them alone. Jan was ultimately arrested and charged with nine different “crimes” as defined by the PA hunter harassment statute, basically because she insisted that the police stop hunters from trespassing. She has had to spend years appealing her original convictions and is presently in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the harassment law; she is also seeking damages for the harm inflicted on her by the State Police, Game Commission, and law-breaking hunters. Terri MacKenzie lives in Michigan. She has two bachelor’s degrees, one from the University of Minnesota in Social Work, and the other in Special Education from Western Michigan University. She has a master’s degree from Concordia University. She served two years as a volunteer for the Kalamazoo County Sheriff Police Reserve Division. She owns a house with 10 acres and an additional 5 acres of leased power line property. Voicing the regular concerns about safety of her family and companion animals on her property during hunting season, she became a victim of the hunter harassment law. Fighting these charges will cost her both time and money. The Hunter Harassment law was used as a club against her for trying to keep her family out of danger. Go on to Next Article |
