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64 Year old lady treehugger gets arrested...

Started by kantuckid, November 30, 2021, 11:37:10 AM

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kantuckid

In my todays Lexington, KY newspaper, they found a way to write something not political about the Kentucky Utilities tree crew chopping down some trees in town in Lexington. Says they have a policy to cut down trees under power lines, or trim them, their choice. This is on public or private right-of-ways. As I read on it turns out the trees they cut down were ornamental Crab trees, not a tall growing species. The company CEO says they will plant new trees. 
The 64 year old lady lives near the trees and says it's a travesty that they have been removed and makes no sense. Many friends & neighbors nearby to cheer her on. 
Even the city politicians agree with her. I question what tree they could choose that will be much smaller than a Crab? Lexington has a FT forester so you'd think the utility would at least lean on that person for advice vs. the huge ill-will they've managed to fester up?
I normally don't have much empathy for tree huggers but this lady seems to have been right. 
She was arrested, cuffed & hauled downtown & booked by the police, then released on bond.  
Kan=Kansas;tuck=Kentucky;kid=what I'm not

Southside

Around here the utility hires the absolute worst folks they can find to do ROW maintenance. 

I have seen them lay big poplar onto a 3 phase line and tear the whole thing down. Send in a 40,000 lb brush saw to the very bottom of a mile long hill and try to start trimming along the flooded creek the morning after 4" of rain fell, actually drove the machine all the way to the bottom to start cutting. Didn't work out so well. 

The list goes on and on. 
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

Tacotodd

SS, that's were those "folks" get their fantastic training, by trial and error. Unfortunately it's usually error, but hey you have to start your journey to greatness somehow ;) :D!
Trying harder everyday.

chet

Many of the utilities I dealt with as a utility contractor will push the limits of what they do both legally and morally, until they get push back. After contracting to them for many years I am now their worst customer to deal with.  :D 
A few years ago I had a fresh out of school utility forester tell me they were going to cut all my "Fir" trees I had planted in my yard. I had him sign an agreement that only the "Fir" trees would be removed. When the tree crew arrived we all had a good laugh, as the only trees I had planted were White Spruce and Red Pine.   
I am a true TREE HUGGER, if I didnt I would fall out!  chet the RETIRED arborist

Wudman

I had a pair of Bradford Pears in the yard at my previous home.  The contractor for the utility company made an L out of one side of them.  I caught up to the supervisor of the crew and he sent somebody back to "shape the tree" a little.  It did look a little better, but I suggested that trimming in the future be done by committee.  I suggested that they didn't want to deal with my wife over another hack job.....(and I can assure you that they didn't).

Wud
"You may tear down statues and burn buildings but you can't kill the spirit of patriots and when they've had enough this madness will end."
Charlie Daniels
July 4, 2020 (2 days before his death)

kantuckid

In my area the tree contractor crews vary from inept to chainsaw wizards. I've had some great co-operation from them by talking with the main guy before they whacked something I'd called in. Our service line runs 6 spans to the house and once in awhile a pine will be dead and I'll call them. If it's sawmill material I'll tell them which saves them work mostly. I have a pine that was growing under the drop service to my shop and called it in back maybe 25 yrs ago. They came in when I was at work and topped it but left the tree growing. It now has a new top shoot thats tried to replace the old top and overall was a waste of time what they did. 
Bradford Pears are illegal in Lexington, KY where I reference the lady tree hugger. The limb breakage they create is a mess for the city to clean up after so they stopped people from planting them some years back. Life in the city=yuk in my mind. 
Kan=Kansas;tuck=Kentucky;kid=what I'm not

HemlockKing

A1

mike_belben

Line contractors dropped another load of chips off for me today.  He took a tree down off my service line that was my problem, on exchange for dumping chips a few weeks ago.  

Today i gave him a vacuum sealed 2lb backstrap.  Dude has 6 kids and he is 6 months off the meth pipe.
Praise The Lord

Southside

What's funny but not funny is when they brush hog the grass right to the dirt in August, and instantly release every pine and gum seed that is there. 

They could go into the seedling germination business and do quite well. 
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

chet

From my experience the poor tree guy gets blamed most often for standards of work the utility sets forth. I swear some utility managers think Drop Crotch Trimming means cutting with yer pants down, and Directional Pruning refers to working left to right.  ::)   The utility I worked most of my career for was very conscious of proper techniques and procedures. They were bought out a few years ago, thankfully I had already retired. The new owners view all that as a total waste of time and money, and poor customer relations as a cost of doing business.
I am a true TREE HUGGER, if I didnt I would fall out!  chet the RETIRED arborist

Southside

I will say there is a significant difference in how things are done out in the sticks vs the residential area even within the same co-op. I had a discussion one time after the swamp logger wanna be incident. Had the head ROW maintenance guy and CEO out at my place and they were telling me about all they do. Perfect timing as I was showing them photos of work they had just done in town and one of the labor guys on their crew chucked a Mtn Dew bottle into the woods on my land, 50' in front of us. I didn't have to say a word, just looked at the CEO. 

On the flip side last year when we had a 20 year ice storm and everything was on the ground I ran around with my skidder pulling bucket truck into and out of places they could not access. Different level of need. 
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

kantuckid

Quote from: mike_belben on November 30, 2021, 06:06:34 PM
Line contractors dropped another load of chips off for me today.  He took a tree down off my service line that was my problem, on exchange for dumping chips a few weeks ago.  

Today i gave him a vacuum sealed 2lb backstrap.  Dude has 6 kids and he is 6 months off the meth pipe.
It's true that the tree services often hire parolees and/or former drug users. The most recent crew I had on our place was one experienced guy who knew whats, what. His co-supervisor was a trans girl dressed as a man who honestly knew nothing about the felling of trees-she told me so as we watched the other young guy who ran a saw with the "real boss". I'm not trying to offend anyone but it was what appeared to be a woke hire. She went on to tell me she'd been with them (my electric co-ops tree contractor) for some years-like 4 or 5. So, it was a three person crew with two who did much.
Their rule is not to touch a tree unless it's within 20' of the line. I'd seen three pines, all about 14-16" DBH, and one dead, one dying and would have certainly fallen on my line. The co-op office girl sent the main guy who ran several crews and he agreed it made sense to break the rule and take them down.
I'll take the tree whackers any day vs. the browned out version.  As our service lines enter our property via a steep slope, I have that slope on agreement for no herbicides to be used. I help them some by bush hogging as far as I can backing down the top of the slope. Every few years they bushwhack the rest by hand labor. I'm not real crazy over the aerial bush hogs but at least they don't poison streams as I see done all the time-against the rules. 
 
I had ulterior motives to use them for 2x6's as I told him when he saw the other pine logs lying near my mill. The crew guy who felled them was ~ 6'5" and not real keen on bending over so he chopped them up where he holds a saw handily, not down where I didn't lose much of each trees goodie wood.
That 64 yr old lady got the main newspaper editorial today in her defense asking why you chop down nice mature ornamental trees that will never get anywhere near the highlines they were under.

Sort of a timely subject as it's in the news today that the potus plan for a better USA includes $3 Billion bucks to plant urban trees. Maybe they'll doze up some old shopping centers and plant some? Given the way we shop now, might make a bit of sense to have less retail mess? My shoulder doc is in a huge former department store the university bought and converted to medical.
He's near the stores shoe spot where I spent a small fortune on NIKE's for our three son's.  :D

FWIW, our oldest son is no longer a test pilot, he's called a Utility Pilot in NC now for the 7th largest energy company. Some of his flights will be power lines, as discussed above.  
Kan=Kansas;tuck=Kentucky;kid=what I'm not

wisconsitom

Kantuck, Bradford pear may also be getting banned down your way because it's a terrible invasive.  So I hear anyway.  Up here it's )$#*%^&$ buckthorn.
Ask me about hybrid larch!

samandothers

I had a voice mail a day or two ago they'd be doing aerial trimming via a saw suspended from helicopter in our area for the first two weeks of December.  It went on to say that there could be outages as a result.  Every time I see a copter with a saw under it I think how could they keep limbs so close to the line from getting into the lines.  Fortunately, if a limb does not hang and is not long enough to reach the neutral/grounded wire they will probably be ok if the supporting poles and hardware are in good shape.  

mike_belben

There have been a number of line contractors here over the years.  Theyve all been capable of tree butchery as standard practice.  The recovering addict is a climber on the side. Hes pretty good in a bucket truck and is clearly the brains of the 10 or so guys on the road when 3 trucks are going, offered me a job. The others not so impressive.  The company is very controlling of what they do.


$160k bucket truck with a broken PTO cable, so someone has to climb under every time the bucket or bed need to move.

They had a 192T and a 60ish cc echo that wouldnt start.  I handed the adult ground kid my running 372 and tried to look away from his cutting skills.  If not for about 6 grown men pushing the 20ft spar, including from the bucket.. It woulda gone right into the only thing it coulda possibly hit. He notched it right at the fence, bless his heart. Maybe an off day for the guy.

Every tree load i have ever accepted has their trash in it.  Just the universal tree guy garbage barrel. Small price to pay for something i want.
Praise The Lord

kantuckid

Regarding the original post I made, todays news shows the city of Lexington, KY is now suing that utility co, KY Utilities' over their policy of cutting trees under lines when trees are over 15'.
 It goes on to give the utility's side of those crabs being cut down. Says the lines over those crabs is 41' high and the lines will sag up to 4' so the crews need a safe space of 15' or more which those crabs didn't allow them as certain trees were 25' tall. The utility says it's planting new trees in that median beside what's a high end neighborhood adjoining. Must be a tiny species huh? 
Bradford pears are very popular and legal outside of Lexington, KY. Many people plant long rows of them on entry roads to rural homes. Bradfords are commonly being seen now in the wild as an escaped species here along roadways. 
Burning Bush is even more prevalent! Before I realized it was an issue, I planted one below my home. There are now literally hundreds of them on our property as they show up right after leaf fall what with their bright red leaves. 
Speaking of utility crews and invasive plants- Across the paved road from my mailbox, there is a main line power pole that was replaced a few years back, by the co-ops contractor. A couple years later I began to see these pretty wildflowers (forget the name but it's got attractive light purple/violet flowers) I'd never seen before all over that area near the pole. I found them on the web as a bad & invasive species that had obviously been brought to that spot via the contractors equipment. It's not a spot that a roadway bushog can access so has to be the pole crews blame.  
Kan=Kansas;tuck=Kentucky;kid=what I'm not

wisconsitom

Sounds like Dame's Rocket, Kantuck.

I'm tasked in this job with dealing with invasives.  But Dame's has never been a top priority for me.  So many non-native mustards here in WI ( Dame's Rocket is a type of mustard ), why pick on the one with pretty flowers, that's just growing where burdock, thistles, or buckthorn, i.e. some other invasive crap, is just going to grow anyway.  Try to keep the crews from wasting time with Dame's.

By the way, "this job" has an endpoint in 18 working days!
Ask me about hybrid larch!

samandothers

Quote from: wisconsitom on December 02, 2021, 08:42:28 AM
By the way, "this job" has an endpoint in 18 working days!
I hope this is a good thing, and if so congratulations.

barbender

Most tree crews up here are pretty good. They'll have an at least somewhat knowledgeable and experienced foreman. The ground guys are typically brand new, green with a high turn over rate. So that is where most of the dumb stuff happens😂 The situation here seems opposite to most of your experiences, as the utilities typically bend quite a ways for landowners and homeowners to pacify them. I have seen some funny looking branch tunnels surrounding the power lines, lots of trees cut of at 8' up which to me is the stupidest looking thing ever. A big bushy yard spruce topped at 8', just don't look right.
Too many irons in the fire

mike_belben

We have wild chicory growing along the roadside and it definitely attracts deer to the shoulder. 
Praise The Lord

wisconsitom

Samandothers said "I hope this is a good thing, and if so congratulations."...to which I can reply, thank you, and yes it is a good thing to be retiring after 41 years with this outfit.  I like my work but it is time to move on.









Ask me about hybrid larch!

Ed

The crap hit the fan a number of years ago here with the tree trimming. The power co hadn't done it in decades. 
Lots of ugly trees when they left, no choice with the neglect of keeping the lines clear.

Yes, power outages are much fewer now.

Ed

SwampDonkey

The utility has been clearing lines the last 4 years here, but only select locations. I never could fathom clearing lines for two remote houses back in the woods 8 miles and neglecting to touch a road that has never been cleared for at least 30 years (cut one of the trees and count rings). We have ash by the thousands  the height of the poles as well as elm and apple trees with 1000 branches into the wires. If it weren't for farmers, it would be a lot worst, keeping ditches cleared and end of fields bush hogged and mowed. I guess low farm tax rate means keep the road cleared. :D Now skidding firewood down the pavement isn't in the contract. ;D





"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

kantuckid

The Lexington newspapers front page, lead article today is the utility there is doing a moratorium on their tree cutting practices.   
Kan=Kansas;tuck=Kentucky;kid=what I'm not

Kodiakmac

Quote from: barbender on December 02, 2021, 09:04:27 AM
Most tree crews up here are pretty good.
Yup.  That's the story here as well.  The fellows who work for Ontario Hydro out in these parts have been around for a while and they're very well paid and certainly not overworked.  So they take their time and do the "door-knock-have-a-talk".
The worst butcher job I've seen on easement trees is in Cornwall, about half an hour south of here.  Man, it's enough to make  clear-cutter cry.
Robin Hood had it just about right:  as long as a man has family, friends, deer and beer...he needs very little government!
Kioti rx7320, Wallenstein fx110 winch, Echo CS510, Stihl MS362cm, Stihl 051AV, Wallenstein wx980  Mark 8:36

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