A young honey locust tree on Lincklaen Street — planted by the village tree commission at taxpayer expense — was destroyed Tuesday night by vandals.
The tree, only a few years old, was one of two honey locusts planted next to the Lincklaen House to replace two maples that came down. It cost $150 to plant and will cost about the same to replace, plus time by a village employee to do the removal and replanting, said Trustee Amy Mann, who is also a member of the Tree Commission.
“Someone had to work to break this, honey locust is resilient and stringy,” Mann said. “I don’t understand this impulse at all and am so disappointed.”
Mann said these two trees in particular were two of the tree commission’s most time consuming to plant. The commission had to work with the department of public works to redo the sidewalk to accommodate them and deal with a “considerable amount” of public feedback on the planting, since it was a high visibility spot.
The trees were donated by local resident Roger Demuth.
According to the village tree regulations, any tree on public grounds that has been “removed without permission, or damaged to such an extent that it must be removed,” will be replaced within one year at the expense of the party responsible for the removal or damage.
“If we catch the person we will absolutely hold them to this,” Mann said.
The vandalism has been reported to the village police, who are conducting an investigation. Anyone with information about the vandalism that occurred Tuesday night is asked to contact the village police department at 315-655-3276.
