EDITOR'S NOTE: Newsmakers '09 explores the stories that made headlines in northwestern Michigan in 2009. Past articles in this series can be read online at record-eagle.com/newsmakers.
CHEBOYGAN -- People still talk about two men who prowled the road at night and shot a big buck out of season, from a vehicle, with a spotlight, and then had the nerve to enter the illegal antlers in a big buck contest.
The incident was unlawful, but not incredibly shocking -- save for the fact that the offenders were on-duty Michigan State Police troopers.
Donald Bolen and Jeff Hadley grabbed northern Michigan's attention in the months that followed the Nov. 13, 2008 incident. Both served short jail sentences after pleading guilty to several misdemeanor offenses, but Bolen is back on the job after an arbitrator overturned his firing.
Reaction was and remains mixed in the hunting community. Some are outraged by Bolen's reinstatement, but others believe he deserved another shot.
"I think (hunters) have a pretty forgiving community," said Angie Cranney, owner of Archer Full Throttle in Petoskey.
Bolen made a mistake, Cranney said, but his reputation and career suffered for it.
"I would bet probably 100 to 1 that he'd never do it again," she said.
Bolen, who couldn't be reached for comment, transferred in October to the East Tawas post. Cheboygan Post Commander Lt. Dale Selin said Bolen is a Tawas area native and requested to be transferred so he could be closer to his family.
The transfer didn't have anything to do with the poaching incident, Selin said. Bolen didn't face challenges from people he dealt with after he came back to work, Selin added, and the post didn't receive any complaints about the reinstatement.
Capt. Tim Rod commands the state police's 7th district, which includes the Cheboygan post. The incident was troubling for many in the state police, he said, though it's not often talked about anymore.
"From a personal perspective, it's just disappointment that those guys would go out there and do that, and I think that's the general consensus," Rod said.
Bolen drove a state police Tahoe patrol vehicle and Hadley propped a rifle on the passenger door and shot the buck as it stood on private property along Mograin Road in Cheboygan County's Benton Township. They shot the deer two days before the firearms deer season opener.
They used a saw to cut off the buck's head and antlers and threw the rest of the carcass into a railroad ditch, according to a Michigan Department of Natural Resources investigation.
Two anonymous tips led DNR officials to launch an investigation. Hadley told curious officers at the Cheboygan post that blood and hair found in his patrol vehicle belonged to a road-killed deer he took to a needy family.
Bolen eventually returned to work because an arbitrator determined his role in the crime wasn't as significant as Hadley's.
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