Letter to the editor

Wednesday, October 28, employees of an outdoor advertising company trespassed on my family’s land and cut down an oak tree and a sweet gum tree they felt were blocking the view of their billboard located on the adjoining property located on Hwy. 6 West in Batesville.

These employees were caught after they had cut the trees and were attempting to leave our land and were just going to leave the cut trees for me to dispose of. These employees stated that (a) they were told by the company to clear the view of the billboard; (b) they did not know who owned the land they were on, and (c) this sort of thing had never happened before.

When contacted by phone, another employee of the outdoor advertising company also stated the above responses and said “What do you want us to do? It is just a tree. We can glue the trees back together or plant trees to replace the trees that were cut.”

The outdoor advertising company did pay a small damage settlement and reluctantly disposed of the cut trees.

Owners of land adjoining billboards should keep watch over their lands as this sort of trespass and damage can occur again. Your trees can be cut and left for you to dispose of. I know that we will keep a close watch on our land in the future.

/s/Lee Robison