Justice

Justice prevailed today in my little rural county!

Guy S.

Wow, what a maroon. That is outstanding, I am glad to hear that Schuster guy got jail-time (40 days to think about it). Not only shooting the defense-less Persimmon tree, but discharging a 44 magnum at nite, in the dark, is reckless, like he said, he used very poor judgement.
The 40 days in jail, $2000 fine, and 2 year probation might clear up his head a little.

Will

Guy do you need bail money? Steve

What this gentleman needs is a little community service that is horticulturally oriented.

If this past weekend's storms were anything like the ones earlier in March, there ought to be plenty to do as far as cleanup and replanting. Some education about plants and wildlife, and maybe just a little work involving invasives removal......that might put this remorseful person back on the path to being a good citizen and a little less worried about the random raccoon.

Creative sentencing...I like it! Maybe "hanging judges" of days past will be replaced by contemporary "hort judges." The prospect of spending sixty days eradicating Buckthorn might serve as a deterrent for these low-life criminals. With good behavior, the sentence might be reduced to planting annuals in municipal beds. ;)

I think he would eradicate buckthorn if he could be allowed to do it with small arms fire!

And NOOOO, I don't need bail money, Stupid-dip!

Guy S.

Sorry to disagree with you VV, but the punishment must be something this loser would understand. I'm sure he can't be educated, so getting him away from everybody else, even if it's only for a month, is the best answer.

Scott

Sorry Guy I could not read the paper (too small). Definatly a poor joke. Steve

Steve, maybe your monitor is set to a lower res than mine or something. Is anyone else having problems reading it? If so I can try to post a bigger version (but it will take a long time for me to load via my old dial-up) -- let me know. It's definitely worth reading!

FYI, the headline is "Man gets jail time for shooting tree"!

Guy S.

Guy, I got out a magnifying glass to try and read it. Still couldn't. So yes, others are having troubles reading it. Start loading.........

I can't read it either, but I get the drift from the headlines.
I would have a perfectly good time arresting that man. I would have gotten the Judge to sentence him to "planting trees or tending trees" every weekend for two months under the supervision of an urban forester.
I love Soferdig's reply!!!!

Is this OK? My rural dial-up connection is the Little Engine that Can't!

Ah! I can read! Now to go back and read........thanks Guy :o)

Terry

10-4!

OK now I can read it. Good the guy needs to have a persimmon tree drop a branch on his car, head, or whatever. Then the raccoon could urinate from the branch over his car when he was getting in. Then justice is served. Sorry Guy for the joke.

Don't be sorry -- it was funny!

I was thinking maybe he could slip on rotten persimmons while he's walking his dog, and land face first in dog-doo, breaking his leg in the process so he couldn't get back up and would have to roll in 'simmons and dog-doo and racoon pee all the way back to his house . . .

Actually, it might be better just to turn him over to LOL (LiveOakLady). I've seen pictures of her in action back when she was on the Force, and it's a scary thing to witness, like those hot-looking bad girls with guns in James Bond movies. But if she pushes my buttons too hard, I might just tell y'all her top-secret nickname . . . hee-hee-hee! (The only reason I feel safe poking fun at her sometimes is because I'm 1000 miles away!)

Ahhh, getting punchy -- gotta go to bed.

Guy S.

Now I know Guy she is Moneypenny.. on 007 when the Bond was Sean Connery. Yes Moneypenny!!!! Now I know too.

No, not Moneypenny.
More like Ursula Andress!
Hubba-hubba!

(Can't wait for her to see this!)

Guy S.

Thanks Guy for enlarging so we could read. I think your accident type punishment would be right, if it could be arranged!!!!!!

Donna

Ursula Andress, Guy....c'mon. Who is she, anyway?
But, I am proud of saving that big live oak from the State Highway, the Corps of Engineers and the developer. I didn't use a gun but they thought I might. If I knew how to do it, I would post a photo of Old Dickory for everyone to see how beautiful it is.

. . . and we won't even begin to mention your close family ties to that hot, steamy, sultry, drop-dead-gorgeous TV star Ali Landry!
Triple hubba!!! Hee-hee-hee!

Oh -- you mean this little oak seedling here?

We are talking trees here. Just for the record, readers, I am in no way related to that person Starhill referred to.
However, I feel a kinship with the oak that he pictured.

Uhhmmm....Guy maybe you need to go find a nice cold shower? Or attack your wife?

Poor Guy they just don't know when we are giving them compliments. They always have their minds in the gutter. We guys are maintaining our purity and virtue. Hee Hee.

Guy is gone to for a few days off to Nebraska. Something about speaking at a 30-Year Celebration of Tree City USA! He'll be back soon enough to help maintain purity and virtue.

Actually,I don't leave until early tomorrow. I must go maintain the virtue of Nebraska -- my work is done here!

LOL, tell them the story of OD!

Guy S.

Guy wants me to tell the story of Old Dickory.

Once upon a time, before Christopher Columbus discovered America, an acorn sprouted in the alluvial soil from the Mississippi River in Jefferson, Louisiana, though at the time it was called Attakapas for the Attakapas Indian tribe.
It grew and it grew into a huge beautiful tree. Through the decades children played in its branches, squirrels and birds nested in it and ate its acorns for food and residents enjoyed its beauty.
Around Thanksgiving of 2000 there was a big red x put on the tree and rumor had it that a highway was coming through.
I had a friend take a professional type photo and immediately got it to the desk of the Governor of Louisiana. Upon seeing it he called the highway director and said "stop that road." So, the engineers redesigned the road to the tune of $500,000 so the tree could be saved.
The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers also had a plan to put a drainage system through at the same time. Negotiations were made to do a certain type of system so as not to hurt the tree. That is probably the only battle I will ever win with that group.
A developer bought all the property and had plans to build. Without a change in zoning he could not build. An agreement was made that if he donated the property that the tree lived on to public domain, his zoning would be approved. It was.
All of this government negotiations took place within 6 months time--a record for government. Old Dickory was dedicated in formal ceremonies with all parties involved present and a priest to bless the huge live oak.
Guy had been invited to speak but his schedule did not permit it. The dedication plaque and party was paid for by the Sheriff of the Parish who had told me "no" when I asked for his help. He also offered to pay Guy's air fare to come down to Louisiana.
Old Dickory is a member of the Live Oak Society. He weathered Hurricane Katrina just fine and has put on his new clothes for spring. Hopefully, he will live for many more decades.
Saving Old Dickory was probably one of the best things I have ever done.

I was in Seattle helping my friend move and I found this in a local paper while looking for an apartment. I thought it might be relative. The arboretum looks amazing right now - tons of blooms.

LOL you are truely an angel. What a legacy. As I said before how many people are to yet see the beauty of OD and how many in the past were blessed by its grace.

You're headed this direction, Guy? Where are you speaking and when? I need DETAILS, man!

My guess would be Nebraska City, NE. That is the headquarters of the Arbor Day Foundation. Nebraska City is about 45 miles South of Omaha. Arbor Day is the founder of Tree City USA. I don't know where he is at, thats just a guess. You might call Arbor Day, it sounds like Guy may have already left.

A couple years ago I called Arbor Day about my city being a TREE City USA.
A developer here was clearing and killing some trees, but there was nothing they could do because it was the developer's property.
I even called our "urban forester", but I got no return call.

Arbor Day is a neat place to visit, I've been there twice. The second time I even stayed in the Arbor Day Lodge.

Will

Tell me the Arbor Day Lodge wasn't a log building!

Scott

I went to the site, but they only have dates for some of their seminars, not all. Isn't that odd? Anyway, that was my guess too. I'm very familiar with the place as it's not that far from here.

Hehe.. No, not a log building, but it does have a lot of designs in its architecture that is log-building-like. It is more closely modelled after a Swiss chalet, I think, I've only seen pictures of Swiss chalets!

Its kind of funny about the park there, it is probably near half populated by Norway Spruces and Austrian Pines. For a company that touts "native planting", I would say their own landscape is far from it.

Its still a neat place, I'd highly recommend it. There is much more than Norway Spruces and Austrian Pines there.

Will

If one has not been there, it is worth a visit.

My strong memory is of the wooden "egg" collection. Each hewn from different woods, they uniquely display the grains of many different species of trees all in one presentation.

McGlory, sorry we couldn't connect. Will was right, it was at the Lied Conference Center, for the 30-year celebration of the Tree City USA program. Just got home this evening. If I'd had more time I would have bugged Will to feed me on my way home!

Donna: Let's work on making those arrangements!

Sofer: Aaarrrrgh! ;-)

Terryr: Aaarrrgh again! ;-)

Growin: That's a great clipping you found! The bark even looks right on at least some of them

By the way, LOL's saga about Old Dickory also was featured in the journal of the International Oak Society and in several newspapers around the country. I was very sad I couldn't get down there for the dedication event recognizing her work, but I did try to help and encourage behind the scenes.

Guy S.

Hi Guy,

Glad to see you made it home.
Yeah, come on by anytime. I'm kind of in a slow transition getting moved into my new mobile home.
I'll be getting the guest room all fixed up too.
Within a year I hope to have the home all furnished and everything.

Old Dickory is a large tree. The limbs down low just look so gigantic, I don't think I've ever seen a tree of those proportions. Those photos by that road look funny, that one large, low branch on it seems to disappear in the other photo.

I have a few photos from my trip to Arbor Day if anyone would like to have a look. -

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v243/w4i0a/Arbor%20Day%20photos%202004/

Will

going back to "topic" for just a sec...i have a question for guy please...

guy what is the name of that newspaper?? i printed it out and couldn't find it.

reason i would like to know is..that it is so interesting how each state handles someone that messes about with one's trees. without going into great detail .....someone came onto our property and cut down over 20 ....28 year old trees and bushes, changed the lay of land, stripped over 30 years of top soil out of the ground. (you might as well had ripped out my heart...which it did...i couldn't sleep for over a year..:(((... and that's why we are planting so much the last few years trying to replace all that had been murdered). anyway....once again trying to make a 4 year horror story short....we were willing to let it go when the nice new city neighbor sued US because he wanted his friend to be paid for taking down our trees! (there were property stakes up at the time the NEW neighbor was doing his work around the line which they were instructed that while we understand they want to clear up his land, please please please don't touch our trees). well, we just guess that the trees blocked the guys view of something he wanted to see, because he cut down everything from 20 feet into our property going back approx 100 feet ......ahhhhhhhh....

of course since we got sued...(which to this day i just can't figure out...we of course had to file suit....just what our lives needed). but....i know in new jersey the laws are clear....you mess with someone's trees and your in trouble....it just getting to that "justice" has costed us 4 years of our lives and well as so much money we could have purchased enough trees to begin another national forest. it was great to see that someone where you lived got thrown in jail for shooting a tree....i wish we were there in front of the same judge come time these guys face the music! (big difference though in the case by you is the gun...which brought charges to a point where there could be a sentence

This message was edited Apr 8, 2006 6:24 AM

This message was edited Apr 8, 2006 6:24 AM

I do believe the person got jail time for simply being stupid (drunk and firing a gun in a residential area)...not just for shooting a tree. Newspapers like to grab attention and it sounds more interesting to say 'man gets jail time for shooting tree'.....rather than 'man gets jail time for wreckless dischrage of firearm'....even though the latter is more accurate.

This thread is funny! That's for some perspective Hczone6 - that's what this thread appears to really need! LOL!!!

Nicole