Saturday, November 20, 2010

Another Reason To Hate Lawyers...!


As if we needed one, here is just another example of why we hate lawyers!

It takes a sick individual to do this if you ask me! Makes me sick to my stomach, ya know?

Freehold attorney fined $2,500 for trapping, drowning squirrels

SPRING LAKE — A Freehold-based attorney pleaded guilty to animal cruelty after his wife turned him in for using a "Havahart" trap to capture squirrels then drowning the animals in their backyard fountain pond, authorities said.

Edward F. Colrick, 62, of Atlantic Avenue, pleaded guilty to the animal cruelty charge on Tuesday in Spring Lake Heights municipal court, where Judge George C. Pappas fined him $2,500 and ordered him to cease trapping animals, said Victor "Buddy" Amato, chief law enforcement officer for the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Colrick, a partner in the Freehold-based law firm of McGovern, Provost and Colrick, was represented by fellow partner Timothy J. Provost, who told Pappas that Colrick did not know it was against the law to drown squirrels, and that the squirrels were causing damage to his property, according to Amato.

"What he should have done after trapping the animal was call a professional so the animal could be relocated. This is no way to take out an animal," Amato said, adding that a necropsy was performed on the animal by the Cornell Medical Institute, which confirmed it died by drowning.

After a three- or four-year struggle with her husband over the trapping and killing of squirrels at their Spring Lake home, Patricia F. Colrick called police on Oct. 17 to report his transgressions, according to a written statement she provided to the Monmouth County SPCA in October.

"I witnessed my husband capturing a squirrel in a 'Have A Heart' (sic) trap on the floor of our exterior side porch, carry the cage with the live animal in it, and put the cage with the squirrel in it into the small pool at the foot of my antique fountain in our backyard," she wrote.

"When I saw what he was doing, I immediately tapped loudly on the kitchen window but my husband ignored me," she explained in the statement detailing the animal cruelty incident.

"My husband has killed squirrels in this way for at least 3 or 4 years by baiting the trap with peanut butter and setting it on our side porch stairs, which leads to the patio and backyard," Patricia Colrick wrote in her statement. "His more recent way of killing them has been to drown them in our fountain pond, and he has refused to stop this senseless killing of innocent animals by saying that he feels he is saving his house from squirrels."

Patricia Colrick told investigators her husband blamed squirrels for damage to the woodwork of their home.

She went on to say she heard the sound of the outside water spigot for the hose on their patio being turned off after her husband filled "the fountain pool with enough water to drown the animal."

Sgt. Matthew Juliano the Monmouth County SPCA responded to the scene and found the dead animal inside the trap in the water-filled fountain, Amato said. The trap was confiscated, he added.

A phone call to the Freehold law office of Edward Colrick was not immediately returned.

I think that there is probably a special place in Hell for folks that deliberately cause harm to animals and/or children! It's bad enough for anyone...but when it turns out to be a so-called "officer-of-the-court", it makes it even worse!

The world seems to have more and more nut cases showing their true colors each and every day! Time to take out some of the trash, if you know what I mean!

C'mon, my friends, and let's get some fresh coffee. We can sit out on the patio this morning! You can help me protect the squirrels from any lawyers that might be lurking around!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just can´t understand people like that!

Christer.

HermitJim said...

Hey Christer...
Neither can I, buddy! Neither can I...!

Thanks for the visit today!

JoJo said...

Good Morning My Special One,
What a beast. But I guess the next Lawyer he will need is for Divorce Court. And he sure will be paying for that one and not just $2,500. LOL

Ben in Texas said...

His being a Lawyer has nothing to do with his sick mind!! People that that are just more proof that the gene pool needs more choline!!

Ken said...

...what a waste of some good groceries...gotta be a sin to kill it,and not eat it ...

Unknown said...

At least his wife had the backbone to report him. Who knows, she could have been next!

Tomorrow is Hermit's BD, folks. Just a reminder.

Dizzy-Dick said...

Maybe the squirrels relatives could find some lawyer nuts to chew on. . .

Gypsy said...

Since I just read in one of the comments that tomorrow is your birthday, and since I will be on the road tomorrow heading down to Arizona, I'd like to wish you a very happy birthday!

HermitJim said...

Hey JoJo...
Just no accounting for people like this! No matter what he does for a living, there is no excuse for him!

Like you said, at least his wife turned him in...but why did she wait so long?

I appreciate you coming by today, sweetie!


Hey Ben...
Right you are, buddy! Folks like this need some "special" attention!

Thanks, my friend, for coming by today!


Hey Ken...
Guys like this just kill for the fun of killing, I think! That makes them very dangerous people in my book!

I appreciate the visit today!


Hey Sis...
That's very possible! Just a small step up for folks of this type!

Thanks so much for coming by today! Love ya, Sis!


Hey Dizzy...
That would indeed be a fitting punishment! Probably taste way too bad, though!

Thanks, my friend, for coming by today!


Hey Gypsy...
Thank you so much for the kind wishes...and for taking the time to drop by today!

Kyddryn said...

Oh...eww...

I must say though, Mister Hermit, sir, what with having a lawyer for a Mum...they aren't ALL bad.

Sounds like that fella was nuttier than the poo from the critters he was eradicating.

While I can understand frustration at the damage the little fuzzy-nuts cause (they're chewing up Mum's porch, these days), and can understand the desire to be rid of them...I can't understand doing it in such a horrific fashion. I feel for his wife, who must have been torn between compassion for the animals and her marriage...I'm glad compassion won out.

Shade and Sweetwater,
K

HermitJim said...

Hey K...
I didn't know that your Mum was a lawyer! I'll have to rethink my opinion a bit!

He could have just called the Parks and Wildlife folks after catching them in a cage...and they would be relocated, I'm sure!

I really appreciate you taking the time to come by today...now you don't overdo for the holidays, OK?

Anonymous said...

I have done enough squirrel and small game hunting in my life using .22's and air rifles and I have had only one animal that got away wounded, my first, which was a rabbit(my grandfather made me stay out intill almost midnight to try and find the critter). Every kill afterward has been quick and clean kill.

Why anyone would want to torture animals like that have no place in this world, for they will eventually carry over to torturing human beings.

I hunt to help survive the high prices of processed foods and to being self-reliant as humanly possible, not for any sick personal pleasure.

HermitJim said...

Hey Anon 12:41...
Sounds like Grandfather was teaching you the old school way of respect for the animals.

Most folks now days would not behave like this turkey, but there is always one rotten apple around!

I thank you for coming by today!

DianeLynn said...

I give major KUDOS to the wife for turning him in. Kind of wished she did it sooner though.
*thinking* Now what can we do to that lawyer to teach him a lesson eh?

HermitJim said...

Hey Diane-Sage...
I'll bet that if we put our heads together, we could come up with something appropriate, ya know?

It is a good thing that the wife turned him in, but as you said...what took her so long?

Thanks so much for coming by today!

Mechanic in Illinois said...

I heard they're going to replace lab rats with lawyers. There's more of them and you become less attached to them. Thanks for the great info.

HermitJim said...

Hey Mechanic...
Now that's probably a very good use for them! I hadn't thought of it, but I don't see why we couldn't find a way to make it work!

Thanks, my friend, for coming by today!