Call the law!

[MasterBlaster]

Ya'll ever had the cops called on ya? I have, several times. The coolest was when I threw a a thick 36' pine log. The resulting concussion caused a 'lil 'ole lady across the street to call the cops, she thought a bomb went off. The Man shows up at the back gate, and asks us if we had just thrown that. We said ya, and he told us why he was there. There were three cop cars that showed up.

It did make a good thud!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

quite a while back I had once where they constabulary showed up because the neighbor did not know we were suposed to be working there and thought we looked suspiciouse...a Int. 4700 with a chipper????

 

[NickfromWI]

Yep, working in Oshkosh WI, removal where bucket had to be parked on a busy street. Boss told me we had permits, etc. We set up as usual (cones, signs, etc). Cop shows up, asks for permit, told him to call boss. Says boss has no permit. We had to leave the last tree. We got two down before he got there. Last tree looked like a lovely trim job when we left

love
nick

 

[M.D. Vaden]

No cops, but some lady started yelling on Friday that I was parked IN the bus stop.

I walked up and confronter her - she said I was interfering with the "good energy" she had so far.

My son was helping. Later, he laughed and commented about how blind the lady was. (she was facing two signs - not me - I was on the other side of the pole)

Yes, it was a bus stop, and the sign was under the one that said PARKING.

I'd have parked there anyhow. It's in the city and nowhere else to park. Bus drivers always understand and leave us alone.

Later that day, cops did show up. We wondered if she called, but actually there was a minor fight in the area.

 

[treeman82]

Once. I was picking up some stone from a former client's place when his neighbor called the cops. Probably 3 cop cars came over, they took copies of my liscense, and my friend's then let us be.

 

[okietreedude1]

I was doing a line clearance job a couple yrs ago and the resident came out and demanded us to stop as she was calling her hubby and the city manager. I informed her the city man hired us and to go right ahead. the elec super, city man, and cop came. this lady was PISSED OFF! to the extent she was taking pictures and threatening to call her attorney.

after some discussion, not to her liking, we were able to continue.......with a police escort!



one other time had a cop drive by a small town park we were working in...figured someone called in a 'motorcycle' in the park as the homelite 2100 sounded like one. he never stopped though.

 

[Tree Machine]

I was in a neighborhood, on a little-travelled street. Truck and chipper parked in a parking zone alongside the sidewalk, the tree to be worked on right over other parking spaces behind the chipper.

I did the tree work, and was about 90% of the way done, feeding the chipper like a madman. This kid drives past, headed opposite the direction my rig was pointing. As he slowly passed, he was lookin at me, I acknowlewdged with a head nod, and he continued on. 20 minutes later a cop shows up, as it is now getting dark, it's raining and cold.

Seems the kid was watching me feed the chipper, over his left shoulder, not watching where he was driving, and bumped a car about a hundred feet down the street. He went and got his Dad, called the cops, and tried to pin liability on me because of the distraction I was causing.

The cop told them the truth of the matter. When you drive a car, it's your responsibility not to run into things.

 

[JCSJC]

Removing a Water oak from a lot

We were clearing a lot so a house could go up. Had a fair sized water oak we were taking down, when 2 women come walking up. Basic questions... "What are you doing?", "Who said you could?", "Do you have a permit?", "Why do you have to destroy such a beautiful tree?", when they got to the "Could you stop long enough for us to check this out?" it got fun.

Foreman called on the two-way radio, and informed the boss of the request, the radio crackled back...."I'm not paying you guys to stand around, drop that tree."

Well, the two concerned citizens sprinted to a near by house to use the phone, with in 5 min, we had 3 TPD cars, and 5 Leon County/City of Tallahassee vehicles. Growth management, building inspectors, every body but the meter readers.

We had an imediate shut down, while everyone clustered around the permit set of plans, and hashed it out. Ten min later, everyone was getting back into their vehicles, and clearing out. Permits were in order, site plan (which was approved) was being followed, go back to removing the tree.

The "ladies" stomped off down the street, and one of the officers told us that one of the two was a City Commissioner. She was part of the "I got mine" mindset that permeates Tally.

I joked with the foreman that I could have shot somebody, and not had the police react any faster.

When I remember that day, I wonder if anyone in planning lost their job because they aproved the removal. I'll tell ya, she was one mad woman.

 

[hobby climber]

I was sub-contracted by a tree co. (that didn't have any climbers), to remove the crown of a very big (115'-120') Carolina Poplar. I got it down to about 60' and my part was done. Once back on the ground a woman with two dogs shows up right in the middle of the work area and started busting my chops about me not having the right to cut trees & that I'm trespassing on public property & she's calling the police, tree are people too mentality etc etc. I wasn't sure if she was a tree hugger or just ticked that her mutts no longer have a shady place to poop! I thought for a moment and came up with this reply. ... I told her that this IS private property and that the owner is having the tree removed because to many people are trespassing on it and that he's afraid a branch could fall on someone and doesn't want the responsibility if they get hurt. She then left wondering if SHE may have had something to do with the owner having the tree removed. If nothing else, it shut her up and she left! I know it wasn't nice but I was tired and she had came on way to strong. Truth is is that the tree was leaning twards the owner home quite a bit & he wanted the tree taken out before the tree takes out his house.

 

[a_lopa]

working in a greenified area we had a guy come out and grab a saw off the ground.a workmate tussled with him for it and was left standing with the chain brake in hand,the guy got charged,we got happy

 

[a_lopa]

not the cops but i had a guy that freaked out with how i was going about a large cypress hedge removal,i asked his wife whats the matter she said ''davids on the phone to his shrink'' i thought that was brilliant

 

[MasterBlaster]

Ha! A lotta good stories, I see! Too many nutty people out there!

 

[alanarbor]

I was out on a sales call, and since I had forgotten to confirm it the day before, the customer assumed I wasen't coming out and went for a walk. So when I got there, and noone answered the door, I poked around the yard and made some notes, so if she didn't show in the next 10 mins or so, I could still give her a quote if she called back. I guess one of the neighbos thought I looked suspicious and called the cops, but no harm done, I had all my papers there in order, so not a big deal. she ended up coming back from her walk just as he was leaving...

 

[TREETX]

Ya'll ever had the cops called on ya? I have, several times. [/IMG]

Me too bro but those experiences didn't have anything to do with trees

 

[MasterBlaster]

Aw, not once???

 

[Crispin Hoar]

I was supervising a large municipal job with several crews. We awoke one morning to find one of our bucket trucks missing. I called the police to report the truck stolen and they asked if so-and-so worked with us. Yes it was the owners nephew. He was picked up driving around town at 3:30 am looking for the bootlegger after the bars closed. Six months later the nephew got hired (again) and was put on my crew. The police stopped at our job site and took him away on another warrant.

 

[Lumberjack]

I did a job removing 7 pines in the front yard for 1500 dollars, mostly because the neighbor wanted them gone (it was a rental house). Well we knocked out the trees including grinding the stumps in under 24 hours. Well between the first day and the second (started after lunch the first day)the neighor called the cops and the mayor and the city council man. She complained saying that the road was impassible because of stuff we left in the street. The next day the neighbor came out and started a verbal fight with me (old lady) saying this and that. She said alot of stuff that didnt make sense such as she would sue me, but when i asked what for, she said it wasnt my dang buisness. I explained that it was my constitutional right to know what I was bein sued for. Then she told me to shut the fudge up, to which i explained that it was my first amendment right. She got all pissed (go figure, she already was) and said she would burry me. This was heard by my workers, and more importantly by the city councilmans representative. She cussed me loudly, i cussed her back softly. So she stomped off and called the mayor again and the police.


It seems I know a bit about the law, such as cussin in public in my city, is a mistomener (i know law, not spellin) and is punished with a 250 dollar fine. All that has to happen is for me to file the complaint with 2 witnesses and thats open and closed basically. Also, publically threating someone is a good way to bring trouble into your life, specially when city officals hear you threatin them. When the officer arrived, I kept working and he talked to her. Then he came over to me and we chatted. He understood that she is and was off her rocker, and that there was no problem with me and my job, as everyone could see the road was clear (wide quite street, enough for 3.5 lanes). I told him that if she persisted that I would HAVE to file complaints against her formally for cussin in pulic at me, and for threatining me, all which the city council dude heard (turns out he knew my mother), because she was impeeding my work. Never heard from her again... the officer went back over to her house, said a few words, she got all pissed lookin again and stomped inside. We still laugh at that.

 

[rahtreelimbs]

Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh Bbbbbbbbbbooooooooooyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Stumper]

Hey Mike, There is crazy/harmless and crazy/mean. Hard to be sympathetic with mean people. Hmmmm.... there is an application here about arboristsite members and their popularity.....awwww nevermind. :angel:

 

[Koa Man]

Once a cop came to me when we were chipping and he said they got a loud noise complaint about the machine. I tell him this machine has not be modified in any way and it is certified to run on city streets. This is at 10:30 AM. I told him we got about another 15 minutes of chipping and I was not going to handload the brush just because someone did not like the noise. He said go ahead and finish the chipping. The complaint came from the apartment building 2 blocks away.

Another incident.
No cops, but I got to the job site about 15 min. early and was waiting for my crew to arrive. I am sitting in my chip truck, which was at the time, a 89 Hino cabover, 14 ft. flatbed with a chipper attached. A woman across the street walks by a few times looking at me reading my paper and drinking my coffee. Finally she comes up to me and asks, "Can I help you?" I look at her and say, "No" and go back to reading my paper. After a few seconds she asks, "Are you waiting for someone?" I say "Yes" and go back to reading my paper. She then asks, "Are you going to be working around here?" I say, "Yes" and go back to reading my paper. By now she is getting all flustered because of my 1 word answers and I am laughing to myself inside. She finally tells me, "We have had several burglaries in the neighborhood and that's why she wants to know the reason why strangers are in the neighborhood." At that point I tell her I am going to be trimming the trees for Mrs. H and I am waiting for the crew to arrive. I also tell her that if I was going to commit any sort of crime I would not be driving a slow moving truck towing a chipper."