Woman Charged With Threats Against Church

A longtime abortion-rights advocate here was arrested over the weekend and charged with threatening to blow up a Roman Catholic church and school, local authorities said Monday.

Alice Hand, 54, of Suffern, was charged with aggravated harassment, a misdemeanor, after police said she made at least three threatening telephone calls to the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Suffern.

Hand, who has acted as a patient escort at the Gynecare clinic in nearby Monsey, N.Y., told police that she was distraught over recent killings at clinics around the nation that perform abortions and that she believed the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on abortion was partly responsible, said Detective Craig H. Long of the Suffern police.

Police, however, found no evidence that would indicate Hand intended to carry out the bombings or even had the capability to do so, he said.

Long said Hand first called the church rectory shortly before midnight Friday and placed her last call as police officers arrived in time to hear it on a speaker phone.