Via The Green Vibration
Action is needed to protect trees in our very own state! We need to stop companies like LAMAR not only littering our landscapes but destroying our trees to achieve their goals. Send letters of support to Blumenthal and please visit www.scenic.org to send a letter to Jodi Rell stating your support of her bill to ban new billboard contracts in CT, including digital billboards.
Article Written By
BY ROBYN ADAMS REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
WATERBURY-- Nancy Voghel grew up on a "little piece of heaven," but she said Friday that the land near her childhood home has been destroyed.
Last year, Lamar Advertising of Hartford got a permit from the state Department of Transportation to trim and remove undesirable growth on state land off Sidney Street to increase the visibility of one of its billboards.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a lawsuit against the billboard company and Long Hill Tree and Lawn Care Services of East Hartford for cutting down 83 trees that included birch, maple, oak and white pine that were between 85 and 200 years old. Long Hill Tree was hired by Lamar to do the work.
Hal Kilshaw, vice president of governmental relations for Lamar, headquartered in Baton Rouge, La., said the attorney general got it wrong.
"We got permission from the landowner and a permit from the state. We hired Long Hill and met with the state's landscape person, who was on site and agreed to everything that was cut," Kilshaw said in a telephone interview.
Many of the trees that were planted on the land in question were planted by Margaret Casey's grandfather.
"In less than one day, less than an hour, Lamar Advertising came in and changed our lifestyle," said Casey, of 56 Sidney St. "The noise -- we cannot open the windows anymore. We cannot hear the television because of the noise. It is unbearable."
The trees provided a buffer to highway traffic and noise, and soaked up water that spilled down the hilly terrain.
"Last year, I had five feet of water in my basement," said Jerod Voghel, 30, who is Karen Voghel's son. He bought the house that his mother grew up in four years ago; she now lives in Wolcott.
With the open swath of land in the background, Blumenthal and Rep. Selim Noujaim, R-75th District, talked to residents about the lawsuit.
Blumenthal said Lamar "clearly and disgracefully broke the law" by cutting 83 trees that provided a buffer to I-84. The state is suing for unspecified monetary damages to replace the trees.
Social Media at Its Finest
The 100 percent electric sports car goes 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds and over 200 miles on a single charge-which comes from a 220 v plugin.
A two-seater and priced at $100,000, it's well beyond my means, but some people in this area may be able to do the planet a favor and trade in their HUMMMER for one.
Well, I wasn't able to get a Roadster for the event...we're getting TWO...one for display and one to test drive around the Windermere Eco-Village grounds!
So how did I do it? Using social media, networking and groupsites. People from around the U.S. wrote back and gave me connections that I followed until I got an inside connection to Telsa Corporate.
It's amazing how connected we all really are, and what you can turn up if you only ask!
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