poll....of sorts...

[nappydread]

So last weekend a nine year old died while snow-sledding (...tobogganing sounds so weird!) down a hill in the city where i live. He hit a tree, one of 2, 40yr old elms at the base of a big hill. By tuesday...a mere 3 days! a city council had met (???) and were able to collectively vote (hmm...???) on whether or not to cut down the 2 trees......i guess to avoid further death :confused:
I actually heard more about the city council thing then i did about the death/funeral/mourning/grieving/moving on thing...

I can't speak on behalf of a parent...but IMHO i think it would be more constructive to focus energy on other things...
any thoughts...sorry not much else environmentally (have you heard of bamboo?)...i know how the city council voted tho;)...do u?

peace

[BandAide]

I do not think that the trees should be cut down. That's my vote.

[Pedata]

I'm guessing that they voted yes, cut down the trees. Or they voted to stop sledding on that hill. I imagine the child's parents totally hate the tree now. I can understand that. I'm not a parent but I've been told that you never get over the loss of a child.

Yes, I've heard of bamboo:D

Peace,
Cassandra

[PEACE FROG]

Okay the American perspective.... First we have to determine whether said trees had any terrorist ties, Mid-Eastern works best, communist, or here lately North Korean. They will do in a pinch. Then we furnish documentation that proves that this tree is used in the procurement of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The connection only has to be vague at best. We then orchestrate a couple well planned "leaks to the press", then deny any knowledge of the tree or the documents. The press loves this part(this is where they pretend to catch us, we pretend to get caught) and will now want to know what we plan to do about the dredded tree menace. Now we ask congress for funding to update our arsenal, as we now need to train new loggers, we need state of the art CHAIN SAWS, not that crap from the 80's! Because durring the tree hugging Clinton Years of land protections and environmental nonsense, we no longer have the capabillity to defend ourselves against these killer trees......Now we name the campain, and it's just like naming the prom,( mine was Sentimental Winds) Fox will pick it up and it will be the topic at every water cooler in America the next day. Now if for any reason something goes wrong , like I don't know.... say someone finds out Dick Chaney owns the chain saw company, we then fire the poor slob that leaked the documents, then go after the SLED COMPANY :rolleyes: :D

[delta9]

Not to open a can of worms and start political debate, but...

It's stupid. This is the way our reactionary society works...

I won't *even* get into Darwinism and how the boy probably shouldn't have been sledding down a steep hill with large trees - even if it wasn't his own stupidity but rather ineptness (or just plain accident-proneness) and he was somehow unable to steer his craft away from these two trees... It's not the trees fault. They were there to begin with!

I envision either a bunch of trees at the bottom of a hill or these two lone trees with clear hillage on either side... In the former, what a dumb place to sled down; in the latter, DON'T AIM FOR THE TREES.

Ugh. This is so our society... They treat the symptoms and not the actual disease. YOUNG BOY HITS TREES AND DIES. Instead of teaching children not to sled into trees, we're just going to remove (ban) the trees... Yeah, that's how it should work!

Same thing with drugs and guns... YOUNG BOY OVERDOSES ON $DRUG_OF_THE_WEEK. Instead of teaching children about LD50s, tolerances, and such, we're just going to remove (ban) the drugs... YOUNG BOY TOYS WITH GUN AND DIES. Instead of teaching children not to look into the barrel of a gun that may be loaded, we're just going to remove (ban) the guns!

*sigh*

education = k3y

Unfortunately, educated masses don't make good docile masses that do what governments tell them to... especially when they find the governments were lying to them (surprise!) in the first place.

education = k3y

[ladywithafan]

Not meaning to threadjack- but Delta's post reminded me of the book The Darwin Awards...

BTW, they shouldn't cut the trees down, they should do something to deter children from going in that direction though.

[delta9]

Not meaning to threadjack- but Delta's post reminded me of the book The Darwin Awards...
Oh don't worry, I was *totally* thinking of the Darwin Awards... And if it's the two lone trees at the bottom, I personally think he should be entered in the Darwin Awards (at least with the limited information we have now... I mean, maybe someone else PUSHED him and there was NO WAY to turn the sled AT ALL... but I doubt that) - if he were older; I think they don't accept children (because children may not know any better - adults should). I really hate to be harsh and uncaring of the poor child, but *really* who sleds into TWO LONE TREES?

[toman]

feh. People die. Kids die. It's the way it works; if things didn't die the worms would starve and die, and I find worms more tolerable than most small children.

[PEACE FROG]

feh. People die. Kids die. It's the way it works; if things didn't die the worms would starve and die, and I find worms more tolerable than most small children.Whadda ya hungry again? ;)

[mountain_mama]

ouch, so harsh on small children. :eek:

I take it you were never once a small child who enjoyed reckless forms of entertainment.......

No, it is not the trees fault a young child died but as a parent I can understand the need to find blame anywhere but within myself for the accidents that befall my child. The guilt and grief those parents must be feeling is probably unimaginable and unbearable.

It does not make it right it just makes it the way the it is.

My heart aches for the parents and I am sorry for the trees. :(

[toman]

:-) Nah, actually I just drank some beers and ate some chips. I just don't like kids much. :cool:

[LIBRA]

I agree with delta, teach the kids how to sled its not the tree's fault kids need to learn how to avoid these things, teach teach teach!!
I do feel terrible for the parents I couldnt imagine thats awefull I would be angry but the tree's wouldnt be a thought. I love kids they are awesome, I love the curiosity! I cant seem to trust people who do not like kids thats just weird, but to each his own.
Its always something they are trying to take away instead of teaching, it drives me crazy, they banned dodge ball in some schools around here because a little boy got hurt because he wasnt playing right, I loved dodge ball in school its not ment to hurt its supposed to be fun teach the kids to play right ya know!! rant :(

[nappydread]

this turned out to be a real party thread!!!
...Darwinism, starving worms...mmm not to mention beer and chips :cool: ...oh and peace_frog just between you and me, i think i did see some al Qaeda around those trees before the incident...i haven't notified the authorities yet...however back to the main point...WE WON!!!! YAY!
The murderer and accomplice are free to grow, grow, grow!!!
The city did close down the hill though.
IMO...they should go after gravity next:)

peace

[PEACE FROG]

....then they decided to blame the sled...... :)

[Sunnydaydreams]

That is redicolous... when Sunny Bono died after skiing into a tree did they strip that mountainside of its trees? No (although meds were blamed). I notice something; its never anyones fault they got hurt/died. Maybe, just maybe we should start taking responsibilty for our actions. btw, if I die fro sledding into a tree, it was my fault, not the trees & i paid the price for my error in judgement so dont hurt the trees ;)

Peace & Love
Kim

[purplepeepee]

How can you hate a tree? It doesn't hate you. Cutting them down is wrong.

[Pedata]

...to keep kids from playing on my riprap when I'm gone..
Just highjacking for a moment....in the city I used to live in they had problems with this little dam on the end of a lake. They planned to put riprap on it but the paper quoted the mayor as saying "We're going to put riffraff on it". Then there was a comic drawn of the dam with slovenly trashy types sitting on top of the dam. LOL. Just wanted to share that.

Continue......

Wow, glad the trees got to stay. Hopefully there's somewhere else for people to sled :)

Peace,
Cassandra

[nappydread]

....then they decided to blame the sled...... :)

Sorry folks...i just got an update to this story this morning!

So, they never ended up blaming the sled peace_frog....i can't explain it!
What i heard this morning was that a man "confessed" to chopping down the 2 trees on the hill!!!
He took the law into his own hands and chopped down both the murderer and the accomplice....wow...simply amazing :confused:


peace