We have periodically been faced with a particularly twisted class of criminals who destroy nature, including historic trees (here and here and here), out of some deep-seated anger or objectification. The latest victim is “The Senator,” a 125-foot-tall bald cypress tree in the Longwood’s Big Tree Park in Florida. It was believed to be the oldest of its kind in North America and the fifth oldest tree in the world. Now it is a burned out trunk.
Police suspect arson since there was not lightning in the area. The fire required firefighters to lay over 800 feet of hose but they were too late to save the tree. They then had to deal with huge branches falling a hundred feet down upon them.
The problem with arson and other related laws is that there is often no special code provision for the burning of historic locations. However, judges will often sentence the culprits at the top of a range in such a case. Of course, even our government can at times show little care for historical trees.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
I received my notice. It is my time. No more library privleges and 30 days of solitary before the kill me.
–ConLawCon
Edwards was a good Governor. He did some time but he has a nice new bride and is doing good in Louisiana. My favorite state.
The Texas murder by Governor Ricky boy was just a few weeks ago. I will look it up and report back. I did not realize that there was a prior murder of a guy accused of arson down in that holy hell called Texas.
of all the senators that should be burned…
junctionshamus,
lol … but I think Edwards did adjust the Texas saying to fit Louisiana politics, changing dead woman to dead hooker and live man to live boy.
I haven’t been able to get through the gate … perhaps you possess magical powers of which you were, up until now, unaware. 😉
Blouise – I stand corrected. So, Edwards is a Federal felon, and plagiarist. Next stop, sharing a cell with Arlo Guthrie, for litterin’.
FWIW – I accessed my answer on Wikipedia, and was able to get through the “gate”. I thought Wiki was on Sabbatical for the day?
junctionshamus and lotta,
I always thought the quote got its start with Texas author and reporter Larry L. King when he suggested to Texas Congressman Joe Pool (early ’60’s) that “the only way you can lose this election, Joe, is to get caught in bed with a live man or a dead woman.”
Louisiana Govorner Edwin Edwards used the saying in 1983 and is sometimes given credit for its authorship.
Whatever the cause, the loss is great.
junctionshamus- Thank you for the correct quote.
Anonymously Yours
1, January 18, 2012 at 12:59 pm
Con Can…..
Or is it Can Con…..This outta get you real burned up….
Cameron Todd Willingham: Wrongfully Convicted and Executed in Texas
Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 for allegedly setting a fire that killed his three young daughters 13 years earlier. He always claimed his innocence, and the arson investigation used to convict him was questioned by leading experts before Willingham was executed. Since 2004, further evidence in the case has led to the inescapable conclusion that Willingham did not set the fire for which he was executed.
The Texas Forensic Science Commission issued its report on the convictions of Cameron Todd Willingham and Ernest Willis on April 15, 2011 recommending more education and training for fire investigators and implementing procedures to review old cases (the commission issued an addendum to the report on October 28, 2011.
http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Cameron_Todd_Willingham_Wrongfully_Convicted_and_Executed_in_Texas.php
Texas Forensic Science Commission refuses to end inquiry into Willingham arson case
Texas Forensic Science Commission Chairman John Bradley, seated next to counsel Barbara Deane, pushed members to end their investigation by voting that misconduct did not occur in the 1991 arson case of Cameron Todd Willingham.
By JENNIFER EMILY / The Dallas Morning News jemily …@….dallasnews.com
Published: 18 September 2010 02:37 AM
The Texas Forensic Science Commission rebelled Friday against its head commissioner, refusing to accept his draft report clearing arson investigators of misconduct or negligence in a 1991 fatal fire where flawed science was used to determine the blaze was intentionally set.
Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004 for killing his three children by setting that blaze. Texas may have executed an innocent man on Gov. Rick Perry’s watch if the fire was accidental.
“There’s a lot of work to be done still,” Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani, a member of the commission, said after the meeting. “That’s why the commission didn’t approve the draft.”
The commission instead plans to question arson experts at a future meeting about investigation standards at the time of the fire and will look into whether the investigators knew or should have known the science that led them to assume the fire was caused by arson was flawed.
That puts the commission’s plans right back where they were nearly a year ago, just before Perry suddenly replaced the chairman and two members of the commission.
Perry’s October 2009 dismissals came two days before commissioners were to hear from Baltimore-based Craig Beyler, a nationally recognized fire expert hired by the panel. Beyler has called the fire investigation into the Willingham case slipshod, saying the conclusion that the fire was caused by arson was based on wives’ tales about how fire behaves.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20100918-Texas-Forensic-Science-Commission-refuses-to-5315.ece
Con here, not can. Tell us more about that Texas committee looking into that arson/spontaneous combustion case. Was that about the time Rickyboy said Ooops?
Lottakatz – “The only way I can lose this election is if I’m caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy.”
Edwin Edwards, on his 1983 Gubernatorial election against incumbent David C. Treen
Source not verified
CLC, AY, as I recall it was the current knowledge of combustion science that cast doubt on the defendant’s guilt. Texas ain’t into science. Must be nice being a religious person and being able to think evil people will actually be punished for the evil they do, if not in this life then in the next. I’m stuck hoping he gets caught with a dead hooker or live boy 🙂
(I believe a Louisiana politician coined that phrase as the only real dis-qualifier for political office in his state but it’s application seems to expand with each election cycle.)
Can,
You can take that one step further and say that the State of Texas Legislature created a commission to investigate that unjustified Killing…the day that the report was to be issued…the Gov….recalled 3 of his appointments and the report has sat stagnant …..
There was a human being down in Texas who was killed by the People of The State of Texas in recent months in one of those “executions”. The Governor, who is charged with looking into such cases and issuing a pardon or delay if something is amiss, ordered him killed. The crime was arson. The hillbilly county had some expert say it was arson. Other experts came and said it was spontaneous combustion. The Governor was busy campaigning and explaining away the name of his hunting ranch (N—-head). Ricky boy did not have time to look into the matter. Sixth Commandment. When Rickyboys time comes and he goes thru the Pearly Gates for his interview to see if he is awarded Heaven, Hell or Limbo he will have some answering to do. As will the People of The Great State of Texas who killed this innocent human.
Martin, what a sad picture. There should be crime-scene tape around that tree trunk.
Earth First!
The science of combustion has come a long way and much of the common knowledge about arson has been found to be untrue, at least in closed spaces. Maybe FL needs to spring for an actual combustion specialist to analyze the situation. Or would that be too science-y?
http://discovermagazine.com/2011/nov/12-spark-truth-science-bring-justice-arson-trials
http://bit.ly/yu23VR
Quote from a review of the movie “If a tree falls” (http://bit.ly/ApvELi)
There was also cruel and heavy-handed response by the police in Oregon and Washington to peaceful civil disobedience. The film shows police beating protesters and spraying them with pepper spray, directly into their eyes. In one demonstration, protesters were in the limbs of the trees that were scheduled to be cut down by the Eugene, Oregon City Council, to make way for a parking lot for a corporation.
Can’t nature start a fire all by its lonesome…They will probably find some homeless guy to pimp the fire on…..Not that that has not happened before….
As far as sentencing….the Treaty Tree in Austin was poisoned and the sentence was an issue….if I recall…The Treaty Oak was almost killed in Austin…The guy only got 9 year….Some wanted death….
In 1989, the historic Treaty Oak tree in Austin, Texas, was poisoned and nearly killed, and the man responsible for the vandalism was quickly caught.
The following year, Paul Stedman Cullen, 46, was convicted by a Texas jury of poisoning Treaty Oak with a herbicide. He was sentenced to nine years in prison and fined $1,000, according to a 1990 Associated Press report.
The crime “outraged” Texans, said John Giedraitis, state urban forestry coordinator for the Texas Forest Service.
“It was the biggest story in Austin for a year, no doubt about it,” said Giedraitis, who was with the Austin parks department at the time and played a part in saving Treaty Oak. “It made the front page of The New York Times. In Alabama this seems mostly a sports story because it was a sports fan who apparently did it. But in Texas history is very important, just like the traditions at Auburn are important to the people there. Someone messed with Texas, just like someone now has messed with Auburn.”
http://blog.al.com/live/2011/02/toomers_corner_trees_poisoning.html
Arson Ruled Out In ‘The Senator’ Fire
LONGWOOD, Fla. — An investigator with the Florida Department of Agriculture said he has ruled out arson in the fire which destroyed a historic tree known as The Senator.
The investigator told WESH 2 News that the fire was hottest at the top, indicating it started up high, not down low.
The cause of the fire is officially unknown, the investigator said.
Read more: http://www.wesh.com/news/30221278/detail.html#ixzz1joadUAWa