“I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.” — “The Lorax,” by Dr Suess When the new town board chairman for Bennett Township, south of Superior, took a drive on some of the local gravel roads, he noticed two very old, tall white pines on the edge of Summer Road. Since that day, it appears he has been on a mission to have the trees cut down.
Citing Wisconsin statutes regarding vegetation in roadway easements, he deemed the trees a safety hazard that could be a great financial liability in an imagined case of a drunk driver or another motorist running into the trees and suing the township. He put the issue on the town board agenda in June. ADVERTISEMENT One resident of Summer Road happened to see the agenda and brought it to the attention of others.
Letters of objection were sent, phone calls were made to the three board members, and a handful of residents were at the meeting to protest the possibility of cutting down these historic, iconic trees. Under pressure, the town board conceded to allow the residents two months to find an alternative to destroying the trees. On Aug.
12, the Summer Road white pines were again on the board agenda. This time, many more residents were in attendance, and there was an hour of heated debate and protest (“ Bennett residents work to save towering pines ,” Aug. 14).
Expressions of frustration and anger were voiced by many. One woman, with an almost 100-year family history on the road, was almost in tears recounting the .