Times Union

By LYDIA POLGREEN, Staff writer First published: Wednesday, August 23, 2000

Hearings slated in 'gun-totin' granny' case North Greenbush -- Nassau's 'gun-totin' granny' is a little closer to getting her day in court after a town judge set a date Tuesday for evidentiary hearings in her trial on the charge of second-degree menacing, a misdemeanor.

Hildegard von Waldenburg, 82, allegedly used an empty 20-gauge shotgun to chase a Nassau town road crew from the front of her 200-acre farm on Cold Water Tavern Road after the workers tried to cut down trees in February 1999.

Since then her case has bounced from court to court. Three judges in two towns recused themselves citing prior dealings with the parties involved, and one Schodack judge retired before the case was heard.

Now the great-grandmother's case is before Town Justice Raymond J. Elliot III of North Greenbush.

Von Waldenburg has repeatedly said she will not consider a plea and wants a jury trial. If convicted, she could serve up to a year in jail.

"This is a classic example of government on a small scale running amok,'' Terence Kindlon, her attorney, said.

Kris Thompson, a spokesman for the Rensselaer County district attorney, has said the case is a serious one in which lives could have been in danger, and is being prosecuted accordingly.

Von Waldenburg, who immigrated from Germany with her husband Fritz in 1955, has become something of a celebrity, attracting support around the world and from strange political bedfellows at home.

"I have received letters of support from NRA members and tree huggers,'' Kindlon said.

The hearings are set for Sept. 20, and Kindlon hopes the trial will follow soon after.