The Board of Water and Light through its subcontractor Wright Tree Services is doing tree trimming in East Lansing. You may have noticed that the trimming is much more drastic than in past years. This is because the Board of Water and Light has unilaterally decided to cut trees back ten feet from the power lines, in all directions, rather than the four feet it has been using for at least the past 20 years. At our home, while we were out they topped a row of trees in the back yard. I came home while they were working and asked them to stop. They refused and after some pushing and shoving, I threw their saw over the fence into the neighbor’s property. The police came along with a representative from the Board of Water and Light. The representative explained that we had a low power line and that some of the trees were now so disfigured, from the trimming, they should be cut down. The representative was reasonable and after some discussion agreed to only use four feet for the remainder of the job. On the remainder of the job you cannot tell they did any cutting at all. I write this because I see beautiful trees being disfigured, because the Board of Water and Light wants to save money and do tree trimming less often.
Frank McAlpine
610 University Drive
East Lansing
