EDITOR: On May 19, I exited Burnett Avenue onto Monterey Road,
passing two magnificent oak trees in the process. A few hours later
I returned to find only one still standing.
EDITOR:
On May 19, I exited Burnett Avenue onto Monterey Road, passing two magnificent oak trees in the process. A few hours later I returned to find only one still standing.
In the course of a morning, 200 years of history and beauty are gone, from a living monument to nature and her glory to barley a few bucketfuls of sawdust. Were the executioners told to kill it and dispose of the remains quickly so that people would not notice or did they simply go about their jobs with unemotional efficiency in order that the sacred sidewalk to the Sobrato High School be constructed? Was it really necessary to cut down such a beautiful giant?
Did anyone think that the sidewalk could be built around it as the creative, nature-loving people in Ojai, 300 miles south of us have done? There, they have left oaks untouched in the middle of streets and drive around them daily marveling at their magnificence. Is a straight sidewalk really more important than an observer of history standing sentinel as early settlers moved into the area with their worldly belongings or farm families with their produce to sell in town, or the first trains rumbling past, and finally the first automobiles to link the towns?
How many birds and squirrels lived in its branches? How much food and shelter did it provide to all the insects who called it home? What a senseless loss.
I feel sorry for the people responsible for its demise. To hold a living treasure with so little regard reflects poorly on only on the perpetrators but the town as a whole.
Joan Bowman
Morgan Hill
