The Tree Police are Coming

This is what happens when stupid people take over:

Every two to three years, Eddie Sales trims and prunes the crape myrtles at his church, Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church.

But this year, the city of Charlotte cited the church for improperly pruning its trees.

“We always keep our trees trimmed back because you don’t want to worry about them hanging down in the way,” said Sales, a church member.

The church was fined $100 per branch cut for excessive pruning, bringing the violation to $4,000.

“I just couldn’t believe it when I heard about it,” Sales said. “We trim our trees back every three years all over our property, and this is the first time we have been fined.”

Charlotte has had a tree ordinance since 1978, and when trees are incorrectly pruned or topped, people can be subject to fines.

The Char-O

This is what happens when you have too many bureaucrats and not enough things for them to do. They need to make up crazy stuff to justify their existence. This is one of those times.

Where the flippin’ hell does the city get off telling a church how they can trim their own trees? I understand if we are talking about a 50-foot monster with falling branches and such… but crape myrtles???

I hope this church throws the fine in the garbage and the city is backed into a corner. Let’s see how the tree police respond. Close the church? Arrest the pastor for improper pruning?

In the meantime, we haven’t even hit the dumbest part of this story:

Individuals who would like to trim their trees should call the city foresters to receive a free permit to conduct the landscape work.

Foresters will then meet with the person receiving the permit and give instructions on how to properly trim their trees, Johnson said.

The state Division of Forestry recommends that anyone trimming trees should be certified by the National Horticulture Board, but certification is not required to receive a permit.

Yup. It’s finally happened. You now need the government to tell you how to properly trim a tree.

Share

Read more at Carolina Politics Online