Actor, 2 others get jail time for protest
Oscar-nominated actor James Cromwell and two other members of the so-called “Wawayanda Six” have been sentenced to seven days in the Orange County Jail for disorderly conduct in connection with a protest at a power plant construction site.
Crowell, Madeline Shaw and Pramilla Malick each refused to pay the $375 fine imposed by Wawayanda Town Justice Timothy McElduff. So in court Thursday evening, the judge ordered each to be at the county jail by 5 p.m. Friday to start serving their sentences.
Their attorney, local civil rights lawyer Michael Sussman, asked McElduff for a delay so he could seek a stay in the sentence and appeal the conviction. The judge then set 5 p.m. July 14 as the time and date for the three to begin their sentence.
The six protesters were charged after a Dec. 18, 2015, sit-in at Competitive Power Ventures’ power plant construction site on Route 6 in the Orange County town of Wawayanda. They were convicted this past April.
The protesters said the natural gas-fueled plant would harm the immediate area and contribute to climate change.
“This is going to impact people for miles around,” she said. “My family bought our house in 1949. I will have to move because of the matter that will be spewing out of there . ... This affects all of our health, our children’s health, our grandchildren’s health and possibly the black-dirt crops that will be affected by the particulate matter.”
Malick said she is the primary caregiver for her children, because her husband often is out of town for work, but that she doesn’t see “any other alternative” to going to jail” because “paying that fine, for me, is feeding the corruption that brought this to us, and I can’t do that.”
Cromwell, 77, an Orange County resident, has more than 170 movie and TV credits to his name, according to imdb.com, and is remembered by many for playing Archie Bunker’s friend Stretch Cunningham on the 1970s series “All in the Family.” He was nominated for the best supporting actor Academy Award for his role in the 1995 film “Babe.” His other notable film credits include “L.A. Confidential” and “The Green Mile.”
The other three members of the Wawayanda Six — Naomi Miller, Maureen Murphy Smolka and Terri Klemm — each paid their fine with money provided by the Infrastructure Committee of Sustainable Warwick.