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Eco-RADICALS often use sabotage in the name of what they call environmental protection. When an Earth First! activist slipped into a restricted desert canyon near Tucson in March to foil a cougar hunt, author and journalist John H. Richardson accompanied him.
Richardson says he went along to witness radical environmentalism in action for an article for Esquire. State authorities say he crossed the line. They arrested him and charged him with trespass and disabling mountain lion traps in Sabino Canyon.
Richardson says he was an observer, not a participant.
"I didn't see what damage it could cause to the [closure] policy or a human being or the lion hunt," he said. Besides, he asks, how else could he get the story?
In a case rife with 1st Amendment implications, the incident has opened debate about how far the press can go to cover covert activism, and how far the government can go in restricting reporters' access to public land. If convicted, Richardson and activist Rod Coronado, the subject of his story, could face thousands of dollars in fines and up to 18 months in prison.
Richardson's arrest underscores the challenge the media face covering radical activists who disrupt...