February 1, 2012
From CentralJersey.com
Last Wednesday, Jan. 25, somebody shot her house, says Linda Hoefele.
The bullet came into the house above the garage, through a linen
closet and lodged in the upstairs bathroom, she said.
She has three kids, and the youngest, 5, was home from school that
day with her mother, she said.
Needless to say, Ms. Hoefele is concerned and said she intends to
rally others to come with her to the Feb. 14 Township Committee meeting
to ask about hunting in the area. She lives on Crane Court in the
Hillsborough Chase development.
”We want them to stop allowing gun activity in that area,” she said.
A canvass by the Police Department revealed hunting had occurred in
the area throughout the day, and the state Division of Fish and Wildlife
was contacted and responded.
Police said an investigation revealed Chase Catalano, 27, of Edison,
was hunting for deer on private hunt club property in the area of New
Center Road and Orchard Drive at about 1:30 p.m.
The hunting area was not part of the township Wildlife Management
Commission’s designated hunting areas, which still supports a
100-percent safety record, said township police.
Mr. Catalano was charged by Fish and Wildlife with discharge of a
firearm without caution while hunting, damaging property while hunting
and discharge of a firearm across a public roadway. He was using a
12-gauge pump-action shotgun, said Larry Hajna, spokesman for the
Department of Environmental Protection.
The complaints will be heard in municipal court, and tentatively are
scheduled for March 13. Mr. Hajna said potential penalties are
revocation of Mr. Catalano’s hunting and fishing license, restitution to
the property owner, a remedial hunter education course and fines.
