ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST SENTENCED TO 30 DAYS.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

Animal-rights activist and former child actress Pamelyn Ferdin, the voice of Lucy in the classic ``Peanuts'' TV specials, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail for carrying a wooden pole at a circus protest.

The sentencing and her formal surrender culminated a four-year misdemeanor case that was appealed to the state Supreme Court and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ferdin argued that her right to free speech was curtailed by a city ordinance that prohibits the possession of wooden poles of a certain size at demonstrations.

In August 1999 she was charged with carrying a bull hook - a two-foot wooden pole with a metal hook, used to train elephants - at a protest against Circus Vargas at Pierce College. The ordinance was written in the 1970s after pickets used their sign handles as weapons against police.

The Agoura Hills resident continued to argue her case right up to her sentencing, saying she had the bull hook as evidence of elephant trainers' cruelty to the animals. ``I'm not a danger to the public,'' she said.

But San Fernando Superior Court Judge Robert J. Schuit admonished Ferdin for making the case about her and animal rights when, in his view, it was about being a ``nation of laws'' and her possession of what he termed a weapon.

Ferdin's 30-day term was the sentence she received several years ago at her trial. The City Attorney's office originally sought a six-month sentence.

Sheriff's officials said she was being considered for a work-release program that would reduce her jail time.

Ferdin is a former child actress who appeared in dozens of shows and films in the 1960s and '70s, including ``Star Trek'' and ``The Odd Couple.'' She was the voice of Lucy Van Pelt in several classic ``Peanuts'' animated specials.

``It's a sad day that our taxpayer moneys are being used to lock up somebody like her for doing what she was doing,'' said her husband, Jerry Vlasak. ``Like Lucy, she's got a big mouth, and she's going to say what she'll say, and we're real proud of her.''

Harrison Sheppard, [phone]

harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Former child actor Pamelyn Ferdin shows a bull hook similar to the one she held when she was arrested three years ago during a demonstration against a circus in Woodland Hills.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer