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11/26/96
ACTIVIST STEVE HINDI OUT OF JAIL ON $50,000 BOND

Excerpted from the Chicago Tribune 11/26/96

Steve Hindi walked out of McHenry County Jail Monday afternoon ending his abbreviated 6-month confinement and 11-day-old hunger strike.

Hindi, 42, was released by Judge James Franz on $50,000 bond after an Illinois Appellate Court ruling Friday ordered that Hindi no longer be held without bail.

Hindi had been sentenced by Franz to 6 months without bond on Nov. 6 on a charge of criminal contempt of court, following an Oct. 12 fly-over on a parasail at the Woodstock Hunt Club designed to disrupt hunters gathered below. Protesting his incarceration, Hindi launched a hunger strike Nov. 15.

Franz had issued a temporary restraining order directed at Hindi and his Chicago Animal Rights Coalition, banning their disruption of the hunt club activities.

Earl Johnson, owner of the hunt club, died of a heart attack Nov. 13.

In setting the bond, a clearly nettled Franz said Monday that he was doing so because "I am ordered by the Appellate Court to set an appeal bond. The hunger strike means nothing to me."

Franz said that as a condition of the bond, Hindi must agree to stay beyond 1,000 feet of the club--"and that means air space as well."

Matthew Litvak, attorney for the hunt club, suggested that the bond should have been set at $100,000.

Fellow activist, Greg Campbell charged that authorities did not follow proper procedures inarresting Hindi, adding, "We don't break the law. We know where the line is."

Hindi praised the jail staff as "very professional" and said that although he felt "a little weak," it was "nothing a few meals won't cure."

"I'm very happy to be out, and I'm excited to go see my girls," referring to his 6- and 11-year-old daughters. "I missed them very much."

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11/22/96
JAILED ACTIVIST MAY BE FREED SOON

Jailed animal rights activist Steve Hindi may be released on bond in the next couple of days after an Illinois Appellate Court panel last Thursday stayed a 180-day sentence for contempt of court.

Richard Grossman, Steve Hindi's attorney, hopes that Circuit Judge James Franz will soon set bond so that Hindi may be released. He is charged with violating the Illinois Hunter Interference Prohibition Act at the Woodstock Hunt Club.

Hindi has been on a hunger strike since last Friday the 22nd. He was jailed for 180 days without bond on Nov. 6 for contempt of court.

Wildlife organizations and legal experts have called the contempt of court sentence extreme punishment for someone who is not a dangerous criminal.

Steve used a megaphone to speak to hunters from public property next to the club and flown over the premises in a light aircraft. The club is complaining that Hindi is interfering with its members' right to hunt and that he scares away migrating geese.

Hindi's lawyers have appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.

The hunt club's property is leased to the club by the state. The lease was recently renewed until 2001.

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11/16/96
JUDGE SAYS - ACTIVIST TO STAY PUT

A ruling in McHenry County Court will keep a well-known animal rights activist behind bars for at least 90 days.

On Friday (Nov. 15th) Judge James Franz refused to grant Steve Hindi the release on bond that had been requested by his attorney. In addition, the judge refused to grant a stay in an indirect criminal contempt of court charge that he was facing.

Hindi is accused of violating a temporary restraining order that prohibited him and other activists from interfering with hunting at the Woodstock Hunt Club.

The hunt club has claimed $411,000 in damages in a lawsuit against the Chicago Animal Rights Coalition and its president, Hindi. The hunt club says it had to refund fees to hunters when the activists allegedly disrupted the hunt with an ultra-light plane, sirens and bullhorns. Their actions are alleged to have scared away geese during three protests that were held earlier in the year.

At a hearing held during the first week of November, defense attorney Louis Bruno argued that Judge Franz did not allow for the presentation of mitigating evidence .

Bruno explained to the judge that Hindi was not intentionally violating the restraining order, in fact, Hindi thought that he was in compliance even though he returned to the property to carry out other activities.

Matthew Litvak, attorney for the Woodstock Hunt Club, noted that Hindi had been arrested three times in the past for protesting the activities of the club. Litvak said of Hindi; "He has no respect for the law whatsoever."