Looks like there might be some oak available if you want to cut it into boards.
I hate to see old trees cut down but what's worse is to cut them down and turn them into firewood.
Me, too. He wants government funds to help out his church. Faith based woodcutting.
Bur oak is a great wood, by the way, looks a lot like QS white oak,makes great veneer I'm told, and it would really be a shame to see a tree that size fed to the shredders. But it would be a much bigger shame to see this guy succeed in blackmailing the town.
"Hey Mama, is it true what they say, that Papa never worked a day in his life? And Mama, some bad talk going around town saying that Papa had three outside children and another wife. And that ain't right. Hey, talk about Papa doing some store front preaching. Talked about saving souls and all the time leeching. Dealing in debt and stealing in the name of the Lord."
The Temptations
I think I see a use for that obscene court ruling on eminent domain. He must have learned his ethics from Sharpton.
Dave in Fairfax
ultimatum: Come up with $75,000 in 30 days or he would chop down a giant bur oak tree on his church's property to make room for parking spaces.
Sounds like good Christian attitude to me.
I wonder if he'd let me chop her down and keep the lumber.....
That's not how that story read to me at all. The guy needs a parking lot for a church, and this tree is in the way. A bunch of who-knows-who got their panties in a wad about "saving the tree" and he gave them an alternative. How is that blackmail? He stated his position, gave them the option. If they choose not to follow it, he'll cut the tree down, which is perfectly within his right's it seems to me.
Hopefully he'll be smart enough to sell the tree to a lumber company that will mill it into nice wood and he'd probably even make a profit for his church. Good for him if it works out that way.
If what you say is correct, then at the very least he could have stated his case a little clearer. If there's any confusion about his intent, then it looks like it was his own fault.
One should never underestimate the ability of the reporter to confuse an issue,, either... :(
You got it, Mike! If this was a private citizen instead of a pastor, he wouldn't be catching this flak.
"Upscale" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@rogers.com:
You have to admit that there is the possibility that the person writing and/or editing the story induced a little spin...
Yeah. I guess I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. There isn't too much in the media these days that can be taken at face value. Seems like everybody is out for themselves these days. Everybody except the few like the person who handed me the $20 bill I didn't know I'd dropped at the grocery checkout a few days ago.
He would if the goal was extortion.
We may not be getting the whole story, but how do you interpret: "The Rev. Johnnie Wilson gave the people of Centralia, Ill., an ultimatum: Come up with $75,000 in 30 days or he would chop down a giant bur oak tree on his church's property to make room for parking spaces."
Perhaps a lot of the story was left out, perhaps a lot of facts are missing. But what I read does not come across very well. If it was in fact, an ultimatum, not a request for help.
Good point. I dunno which came first, the public outcry to save the tree or the pastor's offer to spare it for $75K. The story is cunningly ambiguous.
After reading her "balanced and neutral reporting", the odds appear fairly high that Georgina Gustin is a tree-hugging liberal.
The fact that the living tree might be worth a lot of money in timber never got covered by the newspaper. I wonder why. (No I don't.)
- - Let Exxon send their own troops -
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Nonsense Larry. Not many sawmills are going to want to cut a tree that stands next to a parking lot of any kind. Too, there's no knowing what's inside that "200 year old" tree without a look at it, at least. It could be about half rotted or it could be perfect.
It's also quite possible the reporter, like many people, does not look at a tree as a valuable resource, or, really, has any idea it could be.
But you know the answer: the reporter was out to get the preacher.
Not everyone is a wood expert, or interested in becoming one. For that matter, why didn't the pastor check into the possible value of the tree? If he did, he didn't bother to mention it. Should we extrapolate and say he was going for a double payment because it wasn't mentioned?
The guy comes across as a horse's ass based on his words and actions, and you guys blame the reporter.
Jesus wept.
"Upscale" wrote in news:FfSdnQV snipped-for-privacy@rogers.com:
And there are good, honest, helpful folks in churches around the world, whatever your personal experience with some folks and/or churches may have been.
Unfortunately, like 200 year old oak trees, you're never quite sure what's really inside. People or churches or news stories.
Patriarch, hopeful as always...
Also, consider that at the end of his first deadline, he had received only 10 cents with a note stating God is watching. Apparently no one in the church congregation is even motivated to donate to the cause. There are enough slash'n'burn folks out there that he should have gotten at least something more than 10 cents - unless his horse's assness is well known and his ultimatum is felt by the locals in the same tone as the news report comes across.
Here's another article on the story:
Seems the pastor really just wants one thing and isn't willing to give alternative solutions a try - the city is willing to lease the strip of city land at $1 for 100 years. The church has been at this location 1 &
1/2 years and this guy's got his panties in a bunch about an issue 101 years down the road.That he didn't have the tree cut after the first deadline also sounds as though he's got dollar signs in his eyes - according to another news item on the story there's a feeling that the donations might not ultimately go to saving the tree. It could end up that if $75,000 isn't reached the money could be used to pay for the tree's removal.
True, but we haven't seen any of those estimates.
Yeah, they probably see it as either a temple or a stack of firewood. Sad, ain't it?
Hey, I'm usually the one railing -against- religion. But my read of that story was that the guy was trying to find ways to save the tree since the townfolk had put up such an uproar.
Ever stop to think it might have been the reporter's calculated wording which made it sound like the preacher was an ass? Reread that story and show me her balance. ANY balance or openmindedness. It didn't give her question, only his answer. Much is hidden in that story, I'm sure, and it felt awfully one-sided.
??
- - - Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever. ---
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