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pahunkboy -> Farmer fights fine for slaying bear (1/5/2010 2:51:19 AM)
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Farmer fights fine for slaying bear Abosulute hogwash here!
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Published January 05, 2010 12:12 am - A Buffalo Township farmer accused of shooting and killing a 400-pound black bear in October will be in court today on the summary citation issued to him by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. from this site -->
http://www.dailyitem.com/0100_news/local_story_005001310.html
Mod- please bear with me on this one.
Farmer fights fine for slaying bear
By Amanda O’Rourke
The Daily Item
MIFFLINBURG — A Buffalo Township farmer accused of shooting and killing a 400-pound black bear in October will be in court today on the summary citation issued to him by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
John Nolt, of 7093 Buffalo Road, was cited by commission wildlife conservation officer Dirk Remensnyder and fined $168 for killing the bear Oct. 5 after neighbors say it terrorized them and killed their livestock for months.
Nolt initially seemed conciliatory and thanked the commission and Remensnyder for their work. It appeared as though the issue would be resolved with Nolt paying the fine with help from his neighbors, who reportedly took up a collection and offered to pay the fine for Nolt as thanks.
But according to Nolt’s attorney, Kendra Mohr, of Pannebaker and Mohr, Middletown, Nolt has had a change of heart and will ask 15 of his neighbors to testify on his behalf.
“He does not think it’s the appropriate thing to do, to plead guilty to something he feels he didn’t do,” Mohr said. “He feels he did something the Game Commission should have been doing.”
Remensnyder has called Nolt’s actions vigilante justice, while Nolt’s neighbors and Mohr have labeled him a hero.
It’s an issue that has pitted Nolt’s neighbor farmers, many of whom have torn down Game Commission signs on their property in protest of the fine, against the commission itself.
“The shooting of the bear ended a killing spree that lasted more than six months,” Mohr said in a statement to the media. “Nolt’s neighbors lost goats, calves and chickens to the killer bear. Many feared for the safety of their children and themselves.”
Nolt is set to appear before District Judge Jeffrey Mensch, of Mifflinburg, at 2 p.m. today for a summary hearing on the non-traffic citation, to which Nolt has refused to plead guilty and pay the fine.
Mohr said she has called 15 of Nolt’s neighbors to testify at today’s hearing, two of whom also have been called by the Game Commission. They are Lisa and Roger Rishel, 126 Conley Road, who had one of their goats eaten by the bear the same day Nolt shot it dead with a 30.06 Remington rifle.
Though Nolt lost none of his livestock to the bear, Mohr said the bear was within feet of his calf barn when he killed it.
“This is something that went on for a long amount of time, and the Game Commission just couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything about it,” Mohr said. “And finally they had to take matters into their own hands, and this is something I think any of his neighbors would have done. He just happened to be the one who got to it first.”
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