Church fined for trimming trees--$100 per branch

[DouginUtah]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/05/28/2333197/church-fined-for-improper-tree.html

[beenthere]

People in Gov't are going mad.  : :

[Magicman]

I happen to be a member of the "Tree Board" here in Brookhaven.  It's obvious that the Charlotte city inspectors don't know much about Crape Myrtles.  It all depends upon what you want the tree to look like.  You can't kill a Crape Myrtle by excessive trimming.

Many city building inspectors have the same mentality.

[Tom]

You mean that you can't kill them with excessive trimming, Magicman?  We are going to have to come up with another way of controlling bureaucrats, I guess.

This is one of the most asinine wishes for subservience that I've ever heard.  It falls into the same irrational logic of wanting to live in a gated community where you depend on someone else to tell you what you can do and what you can't, all for sake of controlling what someone else is allowed to do.

What in the world has gotten into People?  The country is full of a bunch of wooses.   What has happened to private ownership?  Why would a tree on a man's property become the ward of the government?   

Is a Crepe Myrtle really a tree?  Does its being a tree depend on its pruning?  What dog is this tail wagging?  grrrrr-r-r!   I get so mad.  >:( >:(

[SwampDonkey]

It reads to me that this is an ordinance to protect a job, not a tree. It looks like a landowner or homeowner in that town is expected to be an "arborist" if they want to trim their property trees, and they better know what they are doing.  That means they pretty much have to hire someone or get the certification to be an arborist to do the job themselves. Any angle you look at involves a cost.

[Jasperfield]

Towns, cities, and municipalities of all types are fast becoming nothing more than bastions of liberality. Filled with high-priced coffee shops and pushing the New York Times, they offer little more than street after street of shops selling baskets, do-dads, whatnots, trinkets and all sorts of similarly expensive carnivalware and serve no purpose other than to regulate, collect taxes, fees, and keep overstaffed departments filled with airheads and useless misfits.

Oh... and all the while reminding us how "historic" and necessary they are.

When they're not having to fight off the "governess" our new legislature & senate is working overtime shoveling down to find the pony and set him free.

[Cedarman]

Trim it at ground level, pay the $100 fine for the one branch and plant an artificial tree that never needs watered or trimmed.

[Doc Hickory]

The 'old folks', one of which I now am, used to say "Keep your own porch swept and you won't have time to worry about your neighbor's porch".  I guess that's a roundabout way of saying "mind your own business".  An awful lot of people these days think almost any activity requires permission of some council, committee, or commission.  One poor inheritance for a nation founded on individual freedom, in my opinion.  It is indeed true that the government that governs best, governs least.  That's my opinion, anyways.

[Magicman]

You mean that you can't kill them with excessive trimming, Magicman? 

You can not kill a Crape Myrtle tree by cutting anything off.  It may stub sprout, stump sprout, or root sprout, but it is coming back.  The ones beside our deck were cut back to the stem in March.  They now have over 8' of new growth.  That is our normal pruning procedure.  The ones in the link showed very normal pruning.

[Tom]

I understand that about the Crape Myrtle.  I was thinking you were talking about the Bureaucrats.  :D

[Ernie]

From the article  "Trees planted as a result of the ordinance are subject to the fines if they are excessively trimmed or pruned. These include trees on commercial property or street trees. They do not include a private residence."

I always thought that a church was the private residence of our Lord and He invites  anyone to enter who so wishes.

[SwampDonkey]

I also thought commercial property was property that was taxed. Churches aren't taxed, at least not up here. One idiot in government tried to tax a family grave plot, and the family did pay the tax on it until it was straitened out. What were the government going to do if the tax wasn't paid? Bull doze the place up? It wouldn't be the first time, but usually they were unmarked graves from centuries past.

[paul case]

From the article  "Trees planted as a result of the ordinance are subject to the fines if they are excessively trimmed or pruned. These include trees on commercial property or street trees. They do not include a private residence."

I always thought that a church was the private residence of our Lord and He invites  anyone to enter who so wishes.

you stole my thunder!

they would be right P Oed if they saw how i prune the trees that i saw on my mill!  i would guess they get to recomend the forester you use? otherwise the forester might recomend pruning them at ground level. my favorite type of pruning! it is easier to reach the limbs that way!

i heard of a couple cities that had some bad ordinances on the books too. they basically said that it was illegal to remain eating in a resturaunt that was on fire and it was illegal to walk down the sidewalk with a dead rat in your pocket. so i guess pruning your trees wrong could be a problem too. pc

[Ernie]

Hey PC, you will probably get a kick out of these sites
 http://www.memun.org/SchoolsProject/Resources/Ordinance/unusuallaws.htm
and
http://www.dumblaws.com/
I was pleased to note in the international section on dumblaws that we in NZ obviously have none, just dumb, I mean really dumb lawmakers.

[two tired]

so much for the land of the free

[cutterboy]

I think the reason for many of these stupid laws is to raise (steal) money for the town, city, state or federal government.
In my small town we have to get a permit to burn a pile of brush and pay $5 for it. If I have two piles to burn I need a permit for each one and pay for each one.

Grrrrrrr  I'm with you Tom, I get so mad I could bite someone!

[Dodgy Loner]

I had two thoughts after reading that article: First, the crape myrtles were improperly pruned and look awful. Second, the church owns the trees, not the city, and should be allowed to prune them however the heck they want. How do we allow our government to interfere with our lives to such a degree? :

[Tom]

It's called complaceny and gullibility, Dodgy.  When people place their votes for representatives who offer them the most "things" and the "free" ride, we end up with a society of chattel, sheep led to whichever pasture the elite wants.  Complacency leads to subservience, whether to the government, a church, or an individual who has the goal to lead control.

If I were the Church, I would tell the Judge that we were performing Topiary or Pooktre and it took a sophisticated mind to understand.

[Ron Scott]

I wonder if they treat the utility companies the same way when they trim the trees along their utility rights of way in the community area. Some of this work may not be the best of aesthetics either.

[Splinter]

Tom for president!

Tree committee better not get between the saw and my tree or they'll get a limb trimmed.

Anyone know if you have to resharpen after hitting bone?

[Ed_K]

 No, Keeps on cut fine  .

[indiaxman1]

Got my property assessment several years ago.....had $5000 value on "storage bldg" out behind cabin....filed protest at county courthouse...had to explain the "storage bldg" was in fact my old, now retired, outhouse!  Govt in action

[maple flats]

I think the last good law written was the Constitution. Now our elected officials keep trying to eliminate it. The intent of the Constitution and the bill of rights was to limit the power of the government. We have lost that. It was to protect us from our own government.