GREAT BARRINGTON – In one of the longest civil trespass hearings yet, 26 Otis State Forest pipeline project protesters had their day in court.

On Sept. 26, a group of 22 people – arrested July 29 during the “Picnics, not pipelines” demonstration – had their civil hearing.

The same day, four other protesters – arrested Sept. 13 while attempting to deliver a poster board citizens arrest to Kinder Morgan’s headquarters in Sandisfield – had their civil hearing.

Most, if not all, of those arrested July 29 admitted “responsibility” for their “actions”: guilt, essentially, in a civil hearing for charges that had been downgraded to civil trespassing.

Pick up this week’s Record for more on this story.