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10 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday December 20, 2006 www.oakvillebeaver.com Grinch chops Christmas tree By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF FOX TRIMMED VELVET CAPE WITH CRYSTALS One size. $2500 Black Only Limited Quantities 2 0 9 L a k e s h o re R o a d Downtown Oakville (905)845-2031 www.barringtons.ca Monday-Thurs 9-6 · Friday 9-8 · Saturday 9-5 · Sunday 9-4 O Christmas tree. It appears someone has a very full, very real Christmas tree -- on the tab of the Town of Oakville and at the expense of a handful of Neyagawa Boulevard residents. That's because the tree was chopped down from beside the public trail along Sixteen-Mile Creek between Upper Middle Road and Dundas Street. The tree, believed to be a well over 6-foot blue spruce, was noticed missing Monday morning. It was in a cluster of seven the Town had planted to appease residents bothered by noise and nuisance behaviour along the trail system that winds beside the Trans Canada Pipeline and the creek near Winding Creek Cove at 2400 Neyagawa Blvd. Resident Nancy Derksen noticed the tree was gone Monday morning when she spotted some women investigating the scene. Derksen can see the area from her kitchen window. Derksen said the women appeared to be concerned about something and when she took a second look, Derksen said it wasn't long before she, too, saw why. The tree's bottom branches still sit in place fanning across the ground and still attached to the roots. A trio of saw marks score the base of the tree that remains while just above, the jagged remains of the tree trunk looks as though its top was eventually cracked off. "A handful of cases like this occur every year though it's not that common," said Town spokesperson Jane Courtemanche. "When Town staff are out on the road they often notice where a tree has disappeared and one can assume somebody did take it as a Christmas tree," said Courtemanche. When the loss is noticed or reported, a replanting does occur, she said. Courtemanche said the Town would seek punitive action against anyone caught in the act of removing a tree, but admitted, "I don't know if anyone has ever been caught." "I just feel shock," admitted Derksen. "How could someone cut down and then drag away a tree?" Though the site where the tree has gone missing is in full view of a string of townhomes, it's at a junction that can be accessed from two nearby residential complexes, Neyagawa Boulevard, the Smith Triller RIZIERO VERTOLLI / OAKVILLE BEAVER FEELING BLUE: Neyagawa Boulevard resident Nancy Derksen examines all that's left of a 6-foot blue spruce after someone chopped the tree down recently. The tree stood in a public park behind Derksen's home. Viaduct bridge on Upper Middle far from the pipeline. Road, the creek valley itself and Eventually Town landscape the housing and commercial architect Brett Lucyk was instruareas to the north. mental in moving the trail away While the site is relatively from the townhouses and having quiet it is by no means secluded the evergreens planted as a as it sits in the open. screen. Derksen said the residents "They're beautiful trees. I'm and Town staff just really went to a lot of "They're beautiful trees. shocked and trouble to get I'm just really shocked dismayed that the trees. and dismayed that someone would T o w n h o u s e someone would do this." do this," said residents fertilDerksen. ized them last Neyagawa resident And it may year, the Town Nancy Derksen have involved a has water little more than trucks care for the usual acts them and it of vandalism. was hoped that the cluster of Someone would have needed a evergreens would grow to majes- saw at least and some means to tically screen the nearby homes cart the tree away through the from the trail. trails and then transport it. Winding Creek Cove is Since the spot is in the open, about three years old. Derksen, the deed was likely done at night who has lived in the develop- when no one could see. ment since the beginning, said The tree involved, though in the townhouses were pelted full view of the townhouses, sat with eggs 21 times in the first behind its peers along the trail. year. "I just couldn't believe someLater a fire was set not once, one would do this," said but twice, in the forest area not Derksen.