As my buddy Paul Nyden reports in this morning’s Gazette, criminal charges against West Virginia political legend Ken Hechler — stemming from the big June 23 anti-mountaintop removal protest down at Marsh Fork Elementary School — have been dropped.
Hechler told Paul:
The videotape showed very clearly that I neither impeded traffic nor in any way obstructed justice. The State Police arrested me very politely and motioned for me to get into the front seat of the police cruiser. There was no pressure or contact during my arrest.
The 94-year-old former congressman was prepared to fight the charges, and he wrote a Gazette commentary last month looking back on his transformation into what he called a “hell-raiser” over coal industry abuses.
Here’s some video of Hechler’s involvement in the big protest:
Subscribe to the Coal Tattoo
Well, we still have Daryl Hannah and Dr. James Hanson facing the same charges. Still no word on the date of their upcoming court appearances.
Of course no one knows what happened with criminal charges against Daryl Hannah, no one covered her case (unfortunately).