A local fracking activist argued her bond restricts her First Amendment rights after she was charged with inducing panic for allegedly chaining herself to barrels in June.
Madeline ffitch, 31, of Millfield, was charged in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas and her bond limits her travel to Ohio and prohibits her attending fracking protests in Athens County.
On Friday, ffitch motioned Judge Michael Ward to alter the bond to allow her to leave the state to visit family and to restore her ability to demonstrate peacefully because the bond puts a limit on her First Amendment rights, according to court documents.
On June 26, ffitch allegedly chained herself to two concrete-filled barrels in front of a fracking injection well site on Ladd Ridge Road. For three hours, the defendant refused to release herself and was issued warnings by Capt. Bryan Cooper, of the Athens County Sherriff’s Office, according to court documents.
Her response was to let her think about it until a special unit from the Ohio State Highway Patrol was flown into Athens to break up the barrels, according to court documents.
Emergency response cost more than $3,600, according to court documents.
“Citizens act because this is a public health emergency,” ffitch said after the hearing. “This threatens the entire population of Appalachian Ohio. This is no less than a matter of life and death.”
The state argued that because of the alleged incident, ffitch cannot be trusted to remain lawful.
The defense countered by referencing Martin Luther King Jr., who would not have been able to lead the Civil Rights Movement if his speech had been limited after his arrest.
The judge granted her a request to leave the state to visit her family, but did not offer a conclusive answer to the defense’s motion. He instead said that he would take Friday’s proceedings into consideration.
Bob Fitrakis, attorney for ffitch, said the criminal label has been misplaced after the hearing.
“What it comes to is whether she was reckless,” Fitrakis said. “Who is reckless are the people who allow radioactive and toxic materials and toxins to be shipped in from Pennsylvania, where it is not allowed, and injected in to water tables of Ohio.”
Inducing panic is a fifth-degree felony and ffitch could be sentenced to a maximum of one year in prison and a maximum fine of $2,500 if convicted at a trial, according to the Ohio Revised Code.
“The only thing she has induced in Athens County is sanity,” Fitrakis said.
Her trial is set to begin Nov. 8 at 9 a.m.
ag881210@ohiou.edu
