Two southeast Iowa men are facing charges of poaching turtles.

Officers charged 36-year-old Mike Kerr of Mount Pleasant and 38-year-old Jack Schafer of Fairfield with using illegal methods to take turtles, failure to have commercial gear tags and illegally taking and possessing a turtle. They face fines totaling $2,299.

The Department of Natural Resources says conservation officers acting on a tip staked out traps on July 9th.

Fortunately, we don’t poach turtles here in South Carolina, and to hear that two people in their upper 30′s are doing so is just a crying shame.

We all had a great time yesterday at Alhambra Hall for the annual Blessing of the Fleet. I’ve never seen so many people there, something spurred on by the awesome weather I’m sure.

It was also cool to see some turtles – or were they tortoises? – and some slithery snake bracelets brought in by local animal lovers.

Unfortunately, all the money being spent here isn’t gonna be much help for Shem Creek’s shrimping boats if these gas prices stay so high and the amount of shrimp out there keeps dwindling.

Of course I took a bunch of pictures while I was there, click the clown to see a gallery of 27 of them.