Dear Editor:
To the person who cut the 10-foot spruce in half with a chainsaw on Dec. 23 at a protected GRCA location: I realize this has become a Christmas tradition for you. You did the same despicable thing last year on the other side of the trail.
I imagine you are neither unintelligent or financially challenged. What you are is thoughtless, mistakenly entitled and miserly.
You have killed the half of the tree that you butchered and maimed the part left behind. That latter part was home to wildlife.
I have watched last year’s victim struggle to come back. It is now an out-of-place bush, instead of the towering ecological beauty it was meant to be.
Sycamore Gap knows the pain.
There are places called tree farms, where yes, for a price, you can have your tree. At least there they are grown, harvested and replanted in a sustainable manner, but you didn’t want to spend any money, did you?
If everyone exercised what you mistakenly think is your God-given right to take a tree from this place, there wouldn’t be much left, but you don’t care , do you? What you did is immoral, but also illegal.
I suddenly know who you are. Your name is Ebenezer Scrooge! Thoughtless, cruel and miserly until his awakening. I don’t expect you’ll have the latter.
You will enjoy your green prize until it no longer serves, then you will toss it to the curb, or burn it for firewood. At least the tree will have lived with dignity.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Scrooge.
May you have a visit from three ghosts or perhaps a GRCA officer in the not-too-distant future.
Happy 2024!
Karen Bentley,
Ariss