Posted on 07/17/2008 11:25:48 AM PDT by lqcincinnatus
An Austin developer has been indicted by a Travis County grand jury on a charge of criminal mischief, accused of illegally cutting down a large cedar tree in South Austin last year.
Hunter Wheeler, 36, faces up to two years in prison if convicted of the charge. He declined to comment Wednesday, saying he was not aware of the case. He has previously denied cutting down the tree.
(Excerpt) Read more at statesman.com ...
The lady who stole my purse last year got 2 1/2 years. She stole my purse, used my cards, used my drivers license, froze my bank account, defrauded three banks, and took two other people for thousands of dollars.
I repeat, she got 2 1/2 years.
Bookmarked for further reading.
If someone took a sledgehammer to your $9,600 automobile parked on the street, wouldn’t you want criminal charges filed? How is it any different because it was someone else’s tree destroyed, instead of someone else’s car?
A damned cedar tree? Cedar (Juniper in this area, and Austin), is an invasive shrub/tree, cut more of them down, conserve water. My rancher buddies as well as controlled experiements in a TX wildife management area has proven this time and again. The Feds tried gaining control of 88 counties in Central Texas using cedar and two protected birds as their lever, it was halted by an outraged landowner citizenry.
But that’s Austin for you, total tree-hugging greenie, gaia worshiping idiots.
I guess I am not the onlñy one sho finds these kinds of laws stupid. Why should a man have to pay 2 and a half years of his life fo0r a frigging tree? Time for a damn revolt.
It wasn’t his tree.
Because the tree didn't cost the owner anything? Because it may not have been someone else's tree? I didn't read all of the article so have no idea whose tree this was but a tree does not equate to an automobile. The tree grew on its own, the car had to be paid for. Piss poor analogy on your part.
You don’t sent someone to prison for taking a sledgehammer to a car.
http://www.texaspolicy.com/pdf/2005-04-pp-overcrim.pdf
Soliciting???
There is now a way to help landowners generate standing in environmental litigation between NGOs and government agencies.
Okay let’s see if I got this right.
A taxpaying citizen could be jailed for 2 years for... wait for it.... cutting down a tree.
But an ILLEGAL ALIEN can sneak into this country use a false social security number, abuse our welfare, medical and educational systems to the tune of $10’s of thousands of dollars and our Goverment including both Presidential Candidates do not even recognize them as criminals?
Welcome to America......
On land owned by the city.
CONGRATULATIONS!!! You GOT it!
I live in the sane, uber-Conservative county just north of Travis County Texas in the city of Cedar Park. We not only chop down cedar trees here (have a few left to cut in my backyard), but used to even have a "Cedar Chopper" festival. The cedar trees here are veracious consumers of water and spew lots and lots of cedar pollen which is a major source of allergy related symptoms.
Likewise, who said he’s going to prison for cutting down a tree? The MAXIMUM penalty is 2 years in prison, when was the last time anyone got a maximum sentence for a first criminal offense, even if it is felony malicious destruction of property or some such?
Ok, so it was public land and he had as much right to it as the next man. There is no such thing as “government land” or “city land” only taxpayers land. So this guy cut down a tree that would never have been sent to a mill to recover it’s dollar value but is expected to spend 2.5 years in prison for it. What a bunch of communist, totalitarian a**hats we have running our country now.
Criminal charge. Police power that goes to put people in jail for cutting trees is not being used to catch criminals who assault, rob, rape and murder.
For them to throw the book at him, there must be more to the story that we probably won’t hear. He must have generated some bad karma with somebody in Austin and they are getting even.
Juniper (__________ cedar) chopping ping. The area I live in has an ordinance against cutting any cedar tree that is 8” in diameter at the 4’ above the ground level. My neighbor has two between our houses and I hope to get them cut while she still owns the house. The limbs are tearing up my roof shingles.
He cut it down because somebody who he was building a house for across the street didn’t want it blocking her view. In other words, he figured he could make more money by breaking the law and destroying public property. At least two other neighbors specifically did NOT want the tree cut down, and there’s no way a tree that size can be replaced. That’s exactly the kind of arrogant crime that should get people locked up. He figured he’d get away with just paying a fine, and still come out ahead financially. Letting him get away with that would hardly deter other developers from doing the same thing.
Having suffered through cedar fever in four of the five years I lived in Austin; I say CUT ‘EM ALL DOWN.
Damn Junipers! We have those Mexican Juniper trees at a boy scout camp well North(North Central Texas) of Austin. The damn things are a weed that kill out all the other old hard woods. The Junipers have totally taken over the top side of the camp. Only the river bottoms still has hard woods. It is so weird to look at the old photos when the camp was being built out(1929) and seeing big huge hard wood trees then looking out today and seeing runty scraggly Junipers!
“If someone took a sledgehammer to your $9,600 automobile parked on the street, wouldn’t you want criminal charges filed? How is it any different because it was someone else’s tree destroyed, instead of someone else’s car?”
How did this walking abuse of power DA come up with the figure of $9,600?
Other than lumber value, how do you place an exact dollar amount on a naturaly growing tree?
There is a ranch [25,000 + acres) close to my home NW of Austin that got a hydra ax machine and cut over 750 acres of cedar. Within a year, the artesian springs were all running again and much of the natural buffalo grass was back to growing naturally.
“hydra ax machine”
How much does that cost? You have to remember that this a Boy Scout Camp, so money extremely tight. I doubt the Scout Executive would go for it.
Hhmm I mention that to the powers that be. Thanks
I bought an acre and a half 23 years ago and, after fencing the property, I planted close to 250 1- to 3-feet juniper/cedars, dug up from my neighbor’s field, around the perimeter, eight feet in from the fenceline and about six feet apart. In that time, they’ve grown quite tall, a very effective windbreak and privacy fence. They’re green all year around, something that my late wife .. being from Australia and not used to trees that shed their leaves in the autumn .. really liked.
There’s a security asset there as well. As they grew, their branches intertwined from one tree to the next, making it almost impossible to get through the cedarline without being torn to ribbons.
Additionally, I helped myself along by going out to the range on Fort Hood .. I was in the Army at the time .. after field exercises and policing up abandoned concertina/razor wire. I brought it home and placed it over the small cedar trees. As the cedars have grown, the razor wire has been lifted off the ground to a height of about four feet or so. Still as sharp as ever, albeit slight rusted, it will be quite a surprise for someone trying to come through the cedarline after dark.
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