New article in today's on-line news about a meeting held this morning (Feb 20) stating how upset residents of CDD5 are about this tree removal. Ms Tutt reiterated that the matter is under investigation and the offender will be prosecuted when caught. Nobody can explain why this investigation is taking so long, since the incident occurred back in Nov or Dec.

It is taking so long because just like in the inner city no one is talking......the lake miona ghetto

Someone in that village knows who cut the trees, or had them cut. In time, the truth will be known. It would be nice for that someone to come forward and "do the tight thing". Sorry, but I can't quite picture a person or persons arriving by boat and cutting down big oak trees. I CAN picture trucks parked in front of the homes with neighbors seeing them and the workers.

Would you take offense if your village was referred to in this way??

No.

If my village was behaving in this manner, no I would not. Someone saw something and the only motivation for the act is to improve the view from houses along the lake. Environmental thugism, hence the title.

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It isn't the WHOLE village who is at fault.

You're right- but it is hard to believe that no one in the neighborhood knows " Who done it". My bet is that there are several neighbors who know the answers to most of -who,when, and how JMHO

Maybe up the reward to $5,000, or offer immunity from prosecution to the actual cutters if they come forward and disclose who ordered and paid for the damage. Or offer both, just a thought..

you're right the whole village is not at fault. Maybe everyone stays in their houses with blinds drawn. All I know is when we were out of town and CVS called to see if they could install the enclosure for our lanai we had ordered to which we said yes. We had two neighbors call us to see if we knew guys were around our house. Very thankful my neighbors noticed, I guess in some villages the neighbors are blind, deaf and mute.

But it is the WHOLE CDD5 that is being asked to pay the $30,000 fine. These residents are outraged because someone felt entitled enough to break the law and now hides out somewhere. Come forward, pay the fine, apologize and move on. JMHO

Actually $30,000 is pretty cheap. If they wanted to be hard nosed they could have demanded larger trees be replaced instead of the small size I see called out in an earlier post.

Well according to the on line newspaper ... "The good news for CDD 5 residents is that they won’t foot the cost of restoration alone.

The cost of restoration is estimated to run from $30,000 to $50,000 and will be shared by districts in the Project Wide Advisory Committee."

IMHO you are overly optimistic. Can't help but think there's more to this than the public has been made aware of. It's sad. :confused:

At the PWAC meeting this morning, it was announced by Sam Wartinbee that the price for replacing these trees has risen to $45,000 to $50,000. This according to a new article in the on-line news.

It was also announced that no arrests have been made in this case, although the investigation continues.

Also, according to TV web site, a house that was for sale for $1,100,000 that benefits from the improved view, is no longer on the market. The plot thickens.