Former mayor charged with turtle habitat disturbance

A member of the Township Committee has been federally indicted on charges of violating the Endangered Species Act. James R. Durr, who served as mayor in 2009 and is a flower farmer, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Camden on charges of taking the federally protected bog turtle and making false statements to authorities, the U.S. Department of Justice announced last month. The DOJ said Mr. Durr’s farm on Rahilly Road in North Hanover, which he named Turtle Creek Farm, is home to the bog turtle (Clemmys muhlenbergii), which has been designated a threatened species since 1997. Mr. Durr bought the 144-acre farm in December 2005, a property that includes a flowing perennial stream he named Turtle Creek that runs in and out of a wetland area that has been documented as an active bog turtle habitat, according to the DOJ. The charge of “knowingly and unlawfully taking” at least one bog turtle, as described in the indictment, refers to harassing, harming, pursuing, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, capturing, collecting one of the creatures or attempting to do so...read more

Looks like the Mayor got bogged down in federal reg's.