"Pa. activist unsure why surveilled by state"

By Bernard Harris, Scranton Times-Tribune/Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, November 17, 2010:

Lancaster, Pa. (AP) -- Until recently, Virginia Cody's community activism extended to being president of the arts council in Wyoming County.

That was before she found her rural north-central Pennsylvania home surrounded by land leased to natural gas drilling companies. That was when she began asking questions and trying to get information.

That led to her and her husband writing letters to the editor of the local paper, posting those letters and other information on an Internet blog and posting comments on Facebook.

Handing out brochures at a picnic was the most direct action she took, she told a group of about 30 people at a public meeting Tuesday evening in Lancaster city's Southern Market Center.

"We merely spoke our minds," she said.

Yet, on Aug. 31, a whistle-blower leaked a confidential bulletin from the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security that listed her and her activities as subversive and under surveillance.