Seasons change, lessons learned
It was Nov. 1,
1997 and most of the leaves were beginning to turn orange, red and yellow.
But there was danger in my neighborhood park. A team of lumberjacks was
going to cut down every tree in the park at 9:30 the very next morning.
Libby Archer
Before I heard about
this, I was walking my brand new yellow Lab pup Janny. That was when I
noticed the saws, axes, and men cutting down trees. A man wearing a badge
that read “Mark” was swinging an ax at the now full-grown tree I had planted!
Janny and I raced over while I screamed "Stop!" at the top of our lungs.
Our call was just in time. When Janny and I finally got there, she and
I were out of breath.
"Please sir," I said
panting. “Don’t cut down this tree. You see, when I was four years old
my mom and I went on a walk in this park and I planted this very tree that
you are about to cut down.”
"Workers," the man
said in a low voice. "This girl has something to tell us ... Go ahead,"
said Mark calmly.
"I hope you know
that you are destroying nature," I said. "You are destroying bird’s nests
and squirrel’s homes."
"The girl has a point,"
said a man named Jim.
"Stop right there,
little girl," said the mayor of the town. “We have to cut down these trees,"
he said.
Janny started to
growl. "Why?" I asked.
"Because the trees
are so tall they are about to cause the electrical wires to break down
and cause a fire that would spread over the whole town."
"Then why don’t you
move the wires higher?" I asked.
"I’m sorry little
girl but that would take a long time."
"You won’t
get away with this mister." "Look," said the mayor. “I take my job seriously."
Janny started barking.
"You pushed this
too far," I said. "I’m going to get my lawyer!"
A few minutes later
I came back with my mom and a lawyer.
"Are you the mayor,
sir?" asked the lawyer.
"Yes I am," the mayor
said.
"You’ve been asked
to court sir," said my lawyer.
"Why?" asked the
mayor whose name was Tom.
"You can’t just go
around chopping down trees whenever you think it’s needed. You have to
get permission from a judge," said our lawyer, Jason.
Jason told Mayor
Tom that he had to be at the town courthouse at 12 p.m. sharp the following
day.
So mom, Jason and
I went home. We invited Jason to stay for dinner that night. We were having
spaghetti and meatballs.
The next morning,
mom and I dressed in our best dresses. Mine was dark blue with sunflowers
on it. My mom’s dress was red with butterflies on it. Then after breakfast
we got into the minivan and drove to court.
Mayor Tom and Jason
were already there. The judge was in his stand. Some of my family was in
the audience. After hearing both sides of the argument, the judge called
a vote.
"Say 'I' if you do
not want the team of lumberjacks to cut down every tree in the park," the
judge said.
Mom, the lawyer and
my family, all said "I."
"Now," said the judge.
"Whoever wants the trees cut down say "I".
Mayor Tom was the
only one who said "I".
"The trees stay,"
said the judge.
"But what about the
danger of the trees hitting the wires?" asked the mayor.
"To make things fair
and to keep our town safe," said the judge. "I order that the trees be
trimmed back twice a year by the team of lumberjacks hired by Mayor Tom."
Mom, Jason, and I
took Mayor Tom out to Rainbow Sherbet’s for ice cream after court. I felt
happy that I had saved the town’s park and my tree.
Libby
Archer is a student of the Young Writers’ Camp and is in grade 4.
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