To the editor:
Has anyone else noticed the butchering of trees along our county roads? The first time I noticed it was a month or so ago along County Road 100N between 200W and Sugar Creek. Someone has come along and mangled these trees beyond belief, creating one of the most unsightly messes I’ve ever seen.
Some of the branches aren’t even cut off cleanly and are hanging by a loose piece of bark. Others look like they’ve just been chewed off by an animal. There are no overhead lines along this road, and none of these trees hung over the road, so I’m wondering why this was done.
About a block west of 200W on the north side of 100N is a lone little tree that is about 15 or 20 feet tall. It wasn’t interfering with anything. It just stood there by itself, but whoever did this took the entire south side out of it. It would have been better to have just taken the whole tree down.
I originally thought the landowner might have done this until I saw the same thing had happened on the west side of 700W just north of 200S. Now, I’m wondering if (God forbid!) the county was involved. It appears that whatever equipment was used went south on 700W then turned right on 200S and continued the devastation along the north side of 200S. All of these areas look as if someone came through with a bunch of AK-47s and just went nuts.
I travel both of these routes several times a week and have never had to swerve left of center to get past them, so they weren’t presenting a safety hazard. So, what was the purpose of this mutilation? If this had happened on private property, I doubt if the tree service would have been paid.
If the county was involved in this, I’m assuming taxpayers paid for it. I’m also assuming that when someone else comes in to clean up this mess we’ll have to pay for that too. It may have been cheaper in the long run to have had a professional tree service remove the trees completely, using the proper method, instead of creating these eyesores.
If this method was used to save time, then someone should remember that if there isn’t time to do it right the first time, there won’t be time to do it over. Surely, the time spent creating this devastation could have been spent doing something to improve the county instead of destroying it and this method of mass destruction won’t be used again.
Marlena Linne
Greenfield
