- VERNON - A newspaper
photographer
on assignment to get a picture of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant
was threatened with arrest for treason Wednesday by the Vernon Police
Department.
-
- Under a little-known Vermont law, it is illegal to take
pictures of a nuclear power station - or any power station under the
jurisdiction
of the Public Service Board for that matter - during times of war or threat
of war, according to Vermont Title 13, subsection 3481. The entire section
is entitled "treason."
-
- The photographer, Jason Henske of the Brattleboro
Reformer,
was questioned by the Vernon police, after Vermont Yankee officials
reported
him, according to Robert Williams, spokesman for Vermont Yankee.
-
- Williams said that officials at the Vernon reactor saw
Henske taking photographs and called police.
-
- "It's a police matter. We have been in a heightened
state of awareness and we've been working closely with the Vernon Police
Department," Williams said. Williams declined to say whether Henske
was on Yankee property at the time or whether he recognized Henske.
-
- Vernon Police Chief Randy Wheelock didn't return
telephone
messages Wednesday.
-
- Brattleboro Reformer Night Managing Editor James Pentland
initially said he had no information about the incident. Pentland later
said, after consulting with the managing editor and publisher, that the
paper was declining any comment about the incident.
-
- Henske couldn't be reached for comment.
-
- But Windham County State,s Attorney Dan Davis said he
had talked with Wheelock late Wednesday afternoon after Henske was
questioned.
Davis said that Henske willingly deleted the Yankee images from his digital
camera.
-
- "I don't think he was arrested," Davis said.
"The photographer was willing to delete the photographs he had taken
from his camera."
-
- Davis said he became aware of the treason statute after
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and especially after three men of Middle
Eastern appearance were seen photographing the Bellows Falls hydroelectric
station owned by U.S. Gen.
-
- "I don't think it's a good time to be publishing
photos of Vermont Yankee," Davis said. "But I didn't write the
law."
-
- He referred a reporter to the section in the treason
law regarding "obtaining maps and plans."
-
- The section states: "A person, who, without
permission
of lawful authority, while the United States is at war or threatened with
war, makes or attempts to make, or has in his possession or attempts to
obtain, or aids another to obtain, any map, drawing, plan, model,
description,
or picture of any military camp, fort, armory, arsenal or building in which
munitions of war are stored, or of any bridge, road, canal, dockyard,
telephone
or telegraph line or equipment, wireless station or equipment, railway
or property of any corporation subject to the supervision of the Public
Service Board, or of any municipality or part thereof, shall be imprisoned
not more than ten years."
-
- Davis said since Vermont Yankee was "subject to
the supervision of the Public Service Board," the statute
applied.
-
- Asked if the police would ask to prosecute Henske, Davis
said, "I'd be very surprised."
-
- Davis said he expected that Wheelock would write up the
incident and forward it to his office for review. He said he was contacted
by Wheelock and asked if he wanted to prosecute the photographer.
-
- Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, said there were no federal laws prohibiting photography of
nuclear plants from public property, and he expressed surprise that Vermont
did.
-
- Link
-
-
-
-
- MainPage
http://www.rense.com
-
-
-
- This
Site Served by TheHostPros
|