[Nj_federation_alert] Anti Court Date - Dec. 18

[ap.maurosr at verizon.net]

FYI -
Ant

This Tuesday, December 18, starting at 1:30 p.m., the Vernon Township Municipal Court will be hearing all charges related to the Lake Wanda bear trap tampering case and other related charges involving the same individuals. No other cases will be heard that day. (An article about the last hearing appears below.)
 
It is expected that quite a few animal rights extremists will attend the hearings so it is important that sportsmen and women attend as well, to show their support of Lake Wanda residents Jennifer Spadaccini and Melissa Mead. 
 
The Vernon Township Municipal Court is located in the municipal building at 21 Church Street, Vernon, New Jersey. Directions: Route 23 North to Route 94 in Hamburg. Follow Route 94 through McAfee, past Mountain Creek, and to the Town Center. Or, from Route 23 in Passaic County, take Route 515 direct to the Town Center. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Related story from the postponed court case of October 9, 2007, as published in AIM Action News — Sussex County Edition:
 
Bear Ground Zero - foes have day in court


VERNON  On Tuesday, October 9, a previously convicted bear activist, two or his Lake Wanda neighbors, and the State of New Jersey had their day in court. Almost, that is. 

Lake Wanda resident Albert Kazemian along with his attorney Gina A. Calogero and Lake Wanda residents Melissa Mead and Jennifer Spadaccini were ready for their day in court. So were New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife officers Andrew Hutchinson and Charles Fletcher. Although Vernon Municipal Court usually begins at 1:30 p.m. each Tuesday, and several of the “bear war” complaints were expected to be heard at 3:00, it wasn’t until around 5:30 that Municipal Court Judge C. William Bowkley, Jr. made a series of announcements.

Several of the charges and counter-charge complaints that were to be heard that day, along with additional offenses to be tried in the near future, were put on temporary hold. Judge Bowkley, announced that due to the amount of time expected to be needed to hear all related charges and complaints, he felt that an entire day in court, with no other cases to be heard during the session, was the best solution for all concerned.

Tuesday, December 18, is now the day set aside to hopefully put the matters to rest. Both the prosecution and the defense were advised that the period of discovery, or the introduction of all pertinent evidence, would be Friday, November 30.

In July, Kazemian was charged with tampering with an official, non-lethal culvert bear trap and resisting arrest. He was also charged with threatening a neighbor. Although the charges were sent from Vernon Municipal Court to Superior Court in Newton, the case was referred back to the Vernon court where Kazemian was previously found guilty of other animal activist-related charges.

Kazemian was arrested shortly after midnight on July 17 for allegedly pouring human urine from a gallon container near a bear trap that had been set up on his neighbor, Jennifer Spadaccini’s property. Both Kazemian and Spadaccini live on Woodside Drive, a short dead-end street off Paddock Lane, that is known to be the €œground zero € for New Jersey s burgeoning black bear population. It is widely acknowledged that the smell of human urine acts as a repellent to bears. He was also charged with trespassing on Spadaccini’s property during the week preceding this arrest.

Additional charges against Kazemian included a third-degree charge of threatening another neighbor, Melissa Mead and her children earlier in July. Kazemian allegedly told Mead to safeguard her three children saying, “You need to watch your babies, because what goes around comes around.” 

In 2006, Kazemian was one of four animal rights activists convicted in a hunter harassment case that occurred in Wawayanda State Park in Highland Lakes. Additional animal rights demonstrators were also arrested and subsequently convicted during that same time period for refusing to stay within a designated protest area near the bear check-in station at the boat launch in Wawayanda State Park.

Unlike the filled courtroom that was common during those trials, this hearing was attended by only two people who appeared to be hunters and perhaps two or three animal activists including Susan Kehoe and Angi Metler. Several Lake Wanda residents were also present.

After the court session, Kazemian declined to comment, as did his attorney.




Anthony P. Mauro, Sr.
Chairman, New Jersey Outdoor Alliance http://www.njoutdooralliance.org