Duh! Whose view(s) benefitted from the trees being cut down? Why not start there? How about "free golf for life - at the country clubs".

From the online news the CDD 5 officials are not giving up. Kudos to them!

I don't understand that part. Usually you and I are on the same page, but that puzzles me.

I was struck again by the fact that so many think the whole village of Lake Miona are " in on it". I think that a lot are as sure as those who don't live there as to who did it, like most of us are sure who did it, but we have so many loud motor sounds going on in our neighborhood with edgers and blowers and trimmers, unless you were looking at something, you wouldn't know a tree was being cut on. You have to go to sumterpa.com to look at the map to see that those trees were on a little Island behind the properties.

I am just thinking it unjust to blame other innocent people for covering up something they had no real knowledge of.

And the part I am reading on the online news of people blaming people for a cover-up who live in a larger home who they think are the "monied rich" is REALLY unfair.

Someone on that street has knowledge of this act. While the whole village is not in it I find it unbelievable that that many people saw nothing. I thought the oaks must have been relatively small but after taking a ride thru there the other day I saw these trees were huge. If this was a ghetto thing folks would be all over the "don't snitch" ethos but because it's concerning the wealthiest of TV they get a pass.

That is just so much BS!

how so?

Nobody's got a pass yet.

The sheriff has dropped the investigation....seems to be a pass to me. 50 k is not chump change.

Where do you get your information? The Sheriff has exhausted all leads, the case has not been dropped and is still open.
This was in the DS, online news.

I couldn't have said it better.

All, here is my suggestion, since we the people are going to be stuck with the bill, put the entire $50K into a reward. With that amount on the line, I am sure we will get results, then collect the 50K from the perps, and use that to reduce future VCDD bills. Personally, I would go for the repair cost AND the reward cost....

Now please do not shoot the messenger, but this whole mess has stirred up a lot of passion, and finger pointing, and I doubt that the existing $1000 reward is going to bring someone forward. The larger reward, with the stipulation that it leads to an arrest and conviction, may work. If that does not work, I have no idea, what to try next.

GG, what I was attempting to convey was that a meaningful reward needs to be offered. The 'golf for life at the CC's' was a feeble attempt at humor.

It seems to me likely that several folks were complicit in this; even if initiated by one person it was a cooperative project at minimum through post if not prior knowledge . Now who would risk doing such a thing other than those who would benefit from it?

I doubt some looney tune thought to himself, "Just for the heck of it I'll just go cut down that stand of oak trees to improve the view of the lake from those houses over there."

Furthermore, how could it possibly have gone unnoticed by those in the area, especially those whose lake views were obstructed?

What you think seems valid to me and as best as I can figure out there is only a few homes whose lake views were obstructed. Now they are obstructed again.

Good! If it was up to me I would have planted even larger trees and more of them right where the trees had been cut down.

I agree with your sentiment, but you would have found it very difficult and expensive...almost impossible...to plant trees larger than those cut down.

I know. I was expressing my sentiment.

Totally agree. :)

About two weeks since the last post here. Sometimes rumors are useful. Although I am not politically involved in TV or Sumter County, I find it not surprising that a rumor is circulating that the tree cutter is a person with " powerful political" ties.

Whoever , we need to keep the pressure on our elected reps to up the ante and increase the reward to at least $10,000 or more.

Does the rumor offer any clue as to why a person with "powerful political" ties would want these trees removed?

There is a man running fo rsome local office who lives in that village but he doesn't live where the trees have gone and come back again.

No info on who!

301 Posts on a single run......is this some kind of record?

Rumors like this seem to never offer clues as to why or who commits crimes, just why they might be swept under the rug!!

Seems to me that there would be a very small number of persons who would have derived a perceived benefit from the tree cutting. What type of investigation is being conducted? This really doesn't smell right to me. I'm not going to be unhappy today, but I do resent some pompous and gutless bonehead making us all pay the price!

do you remember when janet stated she had no knowledge why, when and who erected the gate durning the night that separated the villages and stonecrest ???

I know that I have said this on this thread at least three times but I will try again. They found the wood stacked behind four homes if I remember correctly. (Now I can't find the source of this, so I may have remembered this wrong) That would make me suspect that one or two or all of those homes would be involved in this. However, you can't charge someone with something without proof. AND you can investigate but you can't go too far without some probable cause. It's against the law. (I know this from watching NCIS) So we all may be danged sure who we think is the perps, but which or all is the problem.


AND daughter one is visiting and we were out by the pool a good share of yesterday and we couldn't have heard anything two streets over for a good share of the day because our lawn and four of our near neighbors were being cut, trimmed and blown. VERY NOISY.


You can't ask for people's personal records without a reason and I would have to guess that this deed was done with cash. I also want to remind everyone that it was on an island out from the property of the backyards adjacent to it by at least 100 yards, I am guessing.


The man running for county something lives there in that village but not RIGHT there on top of these homes. It is worth a drive through the Village and a look at the maps on sumterpa.com to visualize all this.


I imagine the folks who live close have some really good guesses but you can't acuse people without proof.


I don't live there. I live in a similar small village that is separated from others and I have a hearing loss. As I stated before, someone could be cutting trees apart in their backyard here four streets over and I couldn't see it or hear it. It isn't logical or nice to blame everyone in that village for knowing and not telling.

I cannot see how any of this could have benefited anyone other than the people who were trying to get visual access to the water of Lake Miona. Not the neighbors, not the developers, not the man running for office.

Now that makes four times I have said this, but heck, you can't shut up a person who has taught children for decades.

We do pay her salary, she is hired by the VCCDD. The board members who serve on the VCCDD board are elected by a single landowner who is the only person having a vote. That landowner is the Developer. So anyway you cut it, the Developer has complete control the VCCDD board who has complete control of hiring Janet Tutt and we do in fact pay her salary. I cannot point out an obvious case where a conflict has occurred under Janet
Tutt's watch, but can offer a case where the person who previously held the position had the Village residents pay for a pond liner for a pond that was on the Developer owned Lopez golf course. An alert Villager successfully headed the effort to get the cost refunded.

Bump

Janet Tutt is an excellent administrator. The bill came to the CDD, the CDD paid the bill. I am sure if they can nail the perps they will.

We had better hope the investigators never have to investigate a serious crime. This should have been a slam dunk for the sheriff's office. The neighborhood residents should give a sworn deposition.

(1) Motive is obvious, to change the view of a small number of homes. That narrows things down. Is there any other reason?

(2) You say the wood from the crime was stacked on the property of only four homes? I didn't know that. That leads one to believe that this may not have been the work of one homeowner, but quite possibly four. Otherwise why would the wood be stacked there? If someone stacks wood on my property without my consent or knowledge, then I'm going to ask questions, and/or object. If I don't ask questions or object, then that leads one to suspect me.

(3) Ask each of the gang of four the question, "Why is the wood on your property?" Don't accept the answer of "I don't know." If I discover cocaine on your property or a stolen Corvette in your garage, would I accept your response that you don't know why it is there? Is that wood from those trees, that belonged to the VCCD, not stolen property, and is that not a crime? Why do you have it?

(4) Charge someone with something and press it hard, and offer to plea bargain for information and this little conspiracy will unravel like a sweater when you pull a loose yarn. These people aren't going to jail. They are just going to have to pony up the money to pay the costs for their stupid and inconsiderate actions, and suffer the public embarassment for what they did, as well they should.

I've never spent one day in law enforcement or criminal investigation, and I've never watched NCIS. :icon_wink:, (I'm a "Law and Order" guy) so maybe I'm being naive, but I'm thinking somebody is dropping the ball on this, and that costs us all. And furthermore, I'm wondering why!

Well, I am one of those who believe what Dr. Phil says; People who have nothing to hide, hide nothing.


But saying that, the law does protect innocent people from being harassed on a suspicion.


I cannot see who would gain anything by this being covered up, or the bill being paid. ( Again, I think I remember that the water authority that imposed the fine would add further charges if it weren't taken care of in a certain length of time.)


As I said previously, I thought I remembered reading that about the wood being stacked...I used to have a better memory. My disc is getting full.

:clap2:If the perp had admitted his"mistake" and paid a fine early on, I think that might have sufficed. Now , I believe that there is a good possibility of a criminal conspiracy amoung a group of neighbors and a more severe crime has emerged. Quite often people can not be convicted of a crime, but are tripped up by the conspiracy or obstruction that follows.

I think your post makes good sense and agree completely. Is it possible that a real investigation never took place? Has Sumter sheriff ever made findings public or is it more convenient to continue to say the investigation continues and specifics can't be made public? Did TV think 50k wasn't worth the hassle...just pay it and be done and everyone would forget about it? Mystifying.

Proof of the details of a crime...no matter how obvious circumstances may seem to the public...is not always easy to attain.

With a bigger reward, immunity, continued pressure from CDD boards and citizens, some rat will emerge. JMHO

Very possible. But even with a rat, that little issue of proof is still there.

In the case of a "Rat" who was involved and came forward for cash and immunity, evidence would be his testimony.

We just drove down that street s-l-o-w-l-y and I'll eat my hat if I could figure out where the trees went missing and if any trees have been replaced. There are a lot of houses with a lot of trees in back of them that back on Lake Miona.

District to Pay for Unauthorized Tree Cutting
 

Evidence yes.

Proof? No.

Proof is what the Jury(Judge) says it is.

Absolutely. And rarely is it one person's testimony.