Words Fail Me (Almost)
Every once in a while, a story comes along that is so full of over-the-top bloggy goodness, that it's hard to know where to start.
Every once in a while a story comes along that so beautifully demonstrates and defines the moral and ethical vacuum occupying the skull of the average Massachusetts moonbat, that most people reading such a story would discard it as poorly conceived fiction.
This is one such story.
Bear with me as I try to put my words together here. Typing can be difficult when you find yourself overcome with the urge to smack people about the back of the head and shoulders with the butt end of a shotgun.
There's a guy in Somerville who had a large willow tree growing in the yard next to his triple-decker house. According to the story, the tree had already dropped several limbs and presented a serious safety and liability issue, so he hired a tree cutting service to cut it down.
Should have been a simple enough operation right?
The tree was situated entirely on his private property.
What could possibly go wrong?
Enter the guy's "progressive" neighbors.
Trespassing? Private property rights? What are these strangely foreign concepts of which you speak?
How they managed to have their hearing in front of one of the very small number of rational judges currently seated in the Commonwealth escapes me. But they did.
So, anyway, that should have been the end of it.
Emphasis on "should".
Let's not forget where this story is taking place. And, as is WAY TOO OFTEN the case in Massachusetts, it gets worse.
If there's one thing we learned from the recent presidential campaign, it's how much outright hate and contempt the Left holds for hard-working, blue collar workers who dare call into question, or act in ways contrary to, their socialistic, collectivist ideals.
Joe the Plumber, meet Joe the Arborist.
Benoit Kills Willow, Despite Community Outpouring
A citizen takes lawful measures to exercise and protect his rights, and these people find such behavior "mysterious". Enough said.
Pure Chicago-style thuggery. I'll say this, though. They're fast learners. Their president-elect and mentor would be quite proud.
Hope! Change! Destroy!
Property rights? We don't need no stinkin' property rights.
To say there's something fundamentally wrong with these people and the way they see the world would be a gross understatement.
Some of the neighbors are even taking a page from Al Gore's Apocalyptic Hysteria Playbook:
Like I said, you can't make this up. Who'd believe you?
And, to think, I once called Somerville home.
Gah!
Now, if you'll excuse me, it's a chilly Sunday morning here in New Hampshire, and I have to burn a few more pieces of my dismembered and axe-butchered trees.
Every once in a while a story comes along that so beautifully demonstrates and defines the moral and ethical vacuum occupying the skull of the average Massachusetts moonbat, that most people reading such a story would discard it as poorly conceived fiction.
This is one such story.
Bear with me as I try to put my words together here. Typing can be difficult when you find yourself overcome with the urge to smack people about the back of the head and shoulders with the butt end of a shotgun.
There's a guy in Somerville who had a large willow tree growing in the yard next to his triple-decker house. According to the story, the tree had already dropped several limbs and presented a serious safety and liability issue, so he hired a tree cutting service to cut it down.
Joe Benoit, who owns the property where the willow grew, said he had no choice but to fell the tree. After the tree began dropping huge branches several years ago, damaging electrical wires, cars, and fences, he consulted an arborist, who determined that the tree could fall and should never have been planted so close to Benoit's three-decker.
“It was a dangerous situation, and I was concerned about the safety of my tenants and other people,” Benoit said. “That’s the bottom line of that, or I would not have taken it down.”
Should have been a simple enough operation right?
The tree was situated entirely on his private property.
What could possibly go wrong?
Enter the guy's "progressive" neighbors.
When Benoit first tried to remove the tree Nov. 12, neighbors “literally stood under the tree and stopped it from being cut down,” Nadeau said.
They held handmade signs that read “Tree Butcher” and “Save Our Tree."
Trespassing? Private property rights? What are these strangely foreign concepts of which you speak?
When word spread today that the work crew had come a second time to chop down the tree, two neighbors raced to Middlesex Superior Court to seek a restraining order to save it. Benoit hurried there, too, to argue his case. During a brief hearing, Judge Joseph Walker "certainly heard the various arguments, and agreed to let the tree come down,” Benoit said.
How they managed to have their hearing in front of one of the very small number of rational judges currently seated in the Commonwealth escapes me. But they did.
So, anyway, that should have been the end of it.
Emphasis on "should".
Let's not forget where this story is taking place. And, as is WAY TOO OFTEN the case in Massachusetts, it gets worse.
If there's one thing we learned from the recent presidential campaign, it's how much outright hate and contempt the Left holds for hard-working, blue collar workers who dare call into question, or act in ways contrary to, their socialistic, collectivist ideals.
Joe the Plumber, meet Joe the Arborist.
Benoit Kills Willow, Despite Community Outpouring
Several of us confronted the arborist. Ellie and Kirsten went to court in Woburn where Joe Benoit mysteriously turned up and successfully challenged their request for a temporary restraining order.
A citizen takes lawful measures to exercise and protect his rights, and these people find such behavior "mysterious". Enough said.
Paul Harlow from Cambridge Landscaping should have his arborist license revoked. His evaluation proved false. There was no evidence of decay. I have a call in to the MAA to see if we can challenge his license.
Pure Chicago-style thuggery. I'll say this, though. They're fast learners. Their president-elect and mentor would be quite proud.
Joe Benoit is a coward. He never dealt with any of us with good faith or honesty. The city has to stop turning a blind eye to his lack of maintenance to his many rental apartments. He has to be held to account.
Hope! Change! Destroy!
Our Ward Aldermen Bob and Rebekah have pledged to work together and with all of us to help pass a meaningful tree ordinance. We will hold a community meeting and pot luck within the next couple of weeks to help ensure that this ordinance becomes law.
Property rights? We don't need no stinkin' property rights.
To say there's something fundamentally wrong with these people and the way they see the world would be a gross understatement.
Some of the neighbors are even taking a page from Al Gore's Apocalyptic Hysteria Playbook:
Al Bermani, watching the willow’s branches being cut down by chainsaw, noted there is a spring that starts near the willow, and in colonial times, he said, a brook ran from Thorndike to Alewife Brook.
“They’ll need three trees to suck all that water,” Bermani said, saying the water will be up to his chest in some basements if there isn’t another way found to absorb the water.
Like I said, you can't make this up. Who'd believe you?
And, to think, I once called Somerville home.
Gah!
Now, if you'll excuse me, it's a chilly Sunday morning here in New Hampshire, and I have to burn a few more pieces of my dismembered and axe-butchered trees.
