It looks like oak trees don't need a lot to sustain growth.
Posted on 07/19/2005 1:41:41 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
ZEPHYRHILLS - The lake at Zephyr Park was like glass early Monday evening as 63-year-old Nancy Booth and her two adult children sat at a picnic table beneath a great oak tree.
No rain, no wind, mostly clear.
Then, witnesses heard a horrible crack. The oak at the water's edge was splitting.
Booth's children scampered out of the way, but one of the huge falling limbs pinned their mother to bench where she sat.
Booth's daughter, Caloie, ran to a passing van yelling for help.
The driver, 39-year-old Gary Killeen, having seen the tree fall, jumped out of the van and ran toward the table.
Nancy Booth still was alive, Killeen recalled, and her son, Glenn, was trying to lift the branch. The mother looked at Killeen.
"Please help me," he recalled her saying.
Then, she closed her eyes.
Killeen and at least a dozen other bystanders rushed to the scene and tried to lift the limb.
Minutes later, Booth's son told Killeen to stop. The limb couldn't be lifted, and Nancy Booth was dead, Killeen said.
Debbie Streets, who has walked the path around the lake nearly every night for a decade, said she often saw the Booths.
Streets didn't know Booth and her children by name, she said, but they always smiled as she passed.
It was about 6:30 p.m. Monday when she had passed the Zephyrhills family, sitting around the wooden table.
"I just started hearing the tree rip apart," Streets said. "You couldn't see anyone."
The crack was so sudden, Streets said, it seemed inexplicable.
"A hurricane came and didn't knock any trees down," she said.
Zephyrhills police Chief Russell Barnes said the great oak appeared to be in "good shape."
The tree was alive and mostly green except for a dead part in the center, but that was surrounded by good bark, he said.
The limbs that fell near the table were about a foot in diameter, Barnes said.
"For as long as that tree's been there, it could have happened at any time, it could have fallen in the middle of the night," Barnes said. "For (her life) to end like this is just ridiculous."
--Times staff writer Jamal Thalji contributed to this report.
Falling tree kills man as he sleeps***.....But Ed Timmons died — on the morning of his 36th birthday. It took tree cutters seven hours, using a crane to remove large segments of the massive poplar, its trunk 40 inches across, before his body could be retrieved.
The tree had fallen across the back yard — over a swing set and bright yellow slide — before smashing across the roof and into the front yard. Other trees in the back yard had also fallen, but in different directions.....***
What a lousy way to go.
Kiss your family every day.
You never know when the last day might be.
It looks like oak trees don't need a lot to sustain growth.
Indeed!
If there are any left, cut them down!
The beaver are in cahoots with the trees.
An example:
Falling Tree Kills 2 In Moving SUV
POSTED: 9:42 pm PDT May 22, 2005 UPDATED: 10:02 am PDT May 23, 2005
BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- A Bellingham couple and the family dog died when a 70-to-80-foot tree fell on and crushed their SUV as they drove southbound on Lake Whatcom Boulevard Sunday in Bellingham.
Oliver G. Larson, 69, his wife, Mary I. Scott-Larson, 45, and their dog died at the scene, Washington State Patrol troopers said.
Witnesses driving behind the SUV and on the opposite side of the road saw the tree snap, fall across Lake Whatcom Boulevard and land on the couple's 1998 white Ford Explorer XLT about 12:15 p.m.
Firefighters cut the tree to remove it from the SUV and used the "jaws of life" to pry the roof of the Explorer open, said Trooper Jim Van Diest. The investigation is continuing, but Van Diest said strong winds may have been a factor.
The National Weather Service said wind gusts were recorded at 20 to 25 miles per hour between noon and 1 p.m. in the Bellingham area Sunday.***
Hey!! I used spell check........
I think trees have been getting a free ride.
Look at all the fire damage they've caused.
Man, that story has karma or revenge or something written all over it.
Damn beaver!.....
Ban acorns
Somehow, it's Boosh's fault.Seriously, my wife's long association with churches & the synagogue in town gave her access to their records, and it's amazing how many people get killed "by misadventure"-- falls, trees, drowning in 3 inches of water-- just about any way you can imagine to get killed has happened, repeatedly.
People and their property are important too!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.