 |
|
Register Domains
|
|
|
|
|
Namibian Towns
|
|
|
|
|
Languages
|
|
|
| | |
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- To prosecutors, Robert "Roy" van de Hoek is a vandal with pruning shears. To supporters of native California shrubs and trees, he is a martyr.
Once again, he is in court.
The Los Angeles City Attorney's office says the former park supervisor cut down non-native plants in one of the largest coastal wetlands in Southern California, killing a ficus tree and myoporum shrubs.
He is facing six misdemeanor charges that include injuring vegetation without permission. Each count could bring jail time and thousands of dollars in fines.
"Trimming and landscaping isn't done without authorization from government agencies," said Frank Mateljan of the city attorney's office.
For decades, many Californians saw native flora as dry, brown shrubs and grasses better suited to kindling than a garden. Recently, however, landscape designers both professional and amateur have come to favor native species, which require minimal water or polluting fertilizer.
Nature or kindling?
Environmentalists also warn that non-native species of plants can harm indigenous ones. For example, myoporum shrubs, a hardy species with waxy green leaves, can crowd out less vigorous native plants that are home to various animals.
"I love the wetlands and I care about the endangered species that live there, the plants and animals," van de Hoek said.
Van de Hoek arrived for an arraignment last week looking ill at ease in a borrowed navy blazer that hung limply on his gangly frame. He also brought attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr., famous for defending Michael Jackson against molestation charges brought by what he cast as overzealous prosecutors.
After the case was postponed, Mesereau would only say that his client would plead not guilty.
"This is an attempt to intimidate the environmentalists," said one van de Hoek's friends and supporters, Denny Schneider, wearing a "Free Roy" T-shirt with a picture of van de Hoek strolling around the Ballona Wetlands in Playa del Rey, where the crimes are alleged to have taken place.
Van de Hoek has a documented disdain for non-native species.
Thick case file
In 1997, he was arrested in San Luis Obispo County. For 14 months, someone had been sneaking around the 250,000-acre Carrizo Plain National Monument, cutting and killing an Australian invader, the eucalyptus tree.
Van de Hoek had worked as a wildlife biologist at Carrizo for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and had been a vocal opponent of some policies that allowed tree planting and fence building.
According to Mother Jones magazine, which named van de Hoek its June 1997 "hellraiser," the bureau prepared a 100-plus-page case file that included a crime lab's analysis of his wire cutters and photos of his tire tracks.
Van de Hoek was convicted of vandalism and sentenced to three years' probation, according to John Dearing, a BLM spokesman.
Nearly 10 years later, he is in a similar tangle.
Outside court last Wednesday, after a judge rescheduled his arraignment for October 12, van de Hoek held hands in a circle with his friends and attorney. After reaffirming a commitment to nature, van de Hoek broke into song, borrowing a refrain from his favorite singer, John Denver.
"I am the eagle and I live in the high country and rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky," he sang. "All those who see me and all who believe in me share in my freedom I feel when I fly."
| In California, killing a ficus tree could mean jail time | Log-in or register a new user account | 0 Comments |
|
| Comments are statements made by the person that posted them.
They do not necessarily represent the opinions of the site editor. |
| |
|
|
News Categories
|
|
|
|
|
Main Menu
|
|
|
|
|
Login
|
|
|
|
|
Online
|
|
|
|
|
Ads
|
|
|
| |
