By: Greg Mitchell As we have documented in recent weeks, you better be careful what you write or draw when your country is at war, even the undeclared variety. Now we've learned you also have to be careful where you point your camera.
On Wednesday, the staff photographer for the
Brattleboro (Vt.)
Reformer was detained for several hours by Vernon police -- and threatened with being charged with "treason" -- for taking a few shots of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power station from public land.
"Frankly, we're not anxious to beat up on the local police chief, but he may have overstepped his authority and the law,"
Reformer Assistant Managing Editor James Pentland told
E&P, "even in today's wartime atmosphere."
Jason R. Henske, who has been at the paper for five months, was taking a few outside shots of the Yankee facility to run with an upcoming story on how security there has changed over the years. Plant personnel contacted the police, who asked Henske if he was willing to delete the digital pictures and then took him in for questioning, citing a Vermont law that it was "treason" to take photos of a nuclear installation in time of war. The possible penalty: 10 years in the slammer.
Released after several hours and not officially charged, Henske somehow managed to retain his images, and the paper planned to publish them within days.
The nuclear plant's own Web site features photos of its control room, and aerial photos of the plant from various angles are readily available on the Internet,
E&P found. And federal law does not prohibit taking photos of nuclear plants from public property.
"Jason's photos are nothing startling," Pentland said. "We've taken photos there in the past. We're just baffled by the whole thing."
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