Newsday (New York), February 9, 2006, Thursday

Copyright 2006 Newsday, Inc.
Newsday (New York)

February 9, 2006 Thursday
ALL EDITIONS

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A14

HEADLINE: French framer held at JFK

BYLINE: BY JOSEPH MALLIA. STAFF WRITER

BODY:
Jose Bove, a French farmer who was once jailed for attacking a McDonald's, was detained yesterday at Kennedy Airport by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to the coordinator of a Cornell University forum where he was scheduled as today's keynote speaker.
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-Saugerties) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's staffs have called customs officials at the airport but have not been able to find out why he was held after arriving, said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor research at Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
"Congressman Hinchey's office was able to find out that he was detained by customs officials. They were saying at this point they are planning to return him to France," Bronfenbrenner said. "All they are saying is 'there are serious issues' involving him."
Bove had a visa to enter the U.S., she said. Cornell learned of his detention when one of the conference coordinators went to the airport to pick him up and he never emerged from customs, Bronfenbrenner said.
Jennifer Hanley, a spokeswoman for Clinton, said the senator's office responded to a request for help from Cornell. "The Cornell people told us that he was being detained, so we made a call on their behalf as we would for any constituent."
The conference, sponsored by Cornell, the University of California, the University of Massachusetts and other schools, is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, Bronfenbrenner said.
Titled "Global Companies - Global Unions, Global Research - Global Campaigns," it is to be held at the Crowne Plaza Times Square in Manhattan.
"This is sponsored by the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, which is not a subversive group," Bronfenbrenner said.
Bove also was scheduled to lead discussions titled Fighting the Commodification of Food, and The Struggle Against Monsanto in Europe.
Bove, a Roquefort-cheese producer who in 2002 dismantled a McDonald's in southern France that was under construction to protest trade policies that threaten small French farmers, also has protested genetically altered corn by ripping up plants grown for Monsanto. He received a 6-month jail sentence.
He is also scheduled to speak in March at Yale University.
Customs didn't respond to requests for comment.

GRAPHIC: AP PHOTO, 2002 - Jose Bove was to speak at todays conference.