  Following Up: June 2011 Archives  Open letter to the Elizabeth
Park tree vandals  | | Comments (1)  Hey Damaris, Elija...  You
too Sonia, Amber, Ashley and Joshua...  You guys lucked out.
Turns out the damage you did to the 100-year-old tree at
Hartford's Elizabeth Park during the Rose Weekend Festival isn't
fatal.  Not that it's all good news. The tree will likely lose
two major limbs. Tree experts said the damage will be
disfiguring thanks to you guys stripping it of so much of its
bark and carving so many names into it: Iris, Erika, Robert..Was
there a whole classroom full of you guys out there Sunday? Or
just one really prolific whittler? Maddie, Kerry...  There was
lots of love scratched into that tree: Scott loves Cindy. David
loves Marissa. Krista loves Jeff. There just wasn't a lot of
love, or respect, for the tree or your surroundings. Why is
that, I wonder?  Lots of people I've talked to are giving you
guys the benefit of the doubt and suggesting that maybe you guys
didn't realize the damage you w