Salmon Thrower Goes On Hunger Strike

Fri., Sept. 29, 2000

From Staff

The Idaho activist who threw canned salmon at Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage during a congressional field hearing in Montana is on a hunger strike because jailers will not serve him vegetarian meals.

Randall Mark, 20, of Moscow has refused all meals since he was jailed in Missoula on Sept. 16, insisting that he be provided with a diet free of anything derived from an animal, and he has recruited some other inmates to his cause.

While the jail can and does accommodate special diets for legitimate medical or religious reasons, it does not cater to inmate requests, McMeekin said.

Mark faces two counts of assault on a member of Congress - federal misdemeanors - for throwing the salmon on the Idaho Repoblican and fellow Republican Congressman Rick Hill of Montana during the hearing on the summer’s wildfires.

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