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--> --> Freedom as big as a tree You can't un-cut the tree any more than you can un-ring the bell. The much-celebrated ginkgo tree is gone - as well as a few other trees - having fallen under the ax of library expansion. The protesting is over, the deed is done, the construction work and lamenting remains. But the manner in which the act was carried out has its rueful side. The appearance of insensitivity, at least, was created by the City of Ashland in its method of falling this mighty, and former, Tree of the Year. The chainsaw bit into the gingko at 6:30 a.m. Monday, alarming some members of the immediate neighborhood and sending a shudder through others who felt they had something at stake in the tree's fate. Technically, no law was broken, no ordinance violated. Ashland's noise ordinance prohibits construction prior to 7 a.m. The ordinance only applies to residential property, and the library is not. Nevertheless, by City Attorney Paul Nolte's admission, if the noise ordinance is threatened in a neighborhood because of work being done before 7 a.m. on public land, "the city would discourage it." Yet, the city did the work. But the issue is larger than a 30-minute sidestep around a noise ordinance. The spirit of the ordinance was certainly violated in an effort to avoid protesters. "This was the issue tree," Mayor Alan DeBoer said. "There was some worry about public safety." The library doesn't open until 10 a.m., so the early morning chainsaw operation was obviously an attempt to thwart - or keep safe? - dissenters, not library patrons. This nation guarantees its citizens the right to assemble and seek redress of their grievances. That First Amendment is clear, and unconditional. To not give the 24-hour notice of the tree's demise - as had been promised by the city - was a direct effort to circumvent those rights. There was a better way. The notice could have been given, yellow crime tape put up to circumscribe the cutting area, and a police presence to keep order. Then, after the 24 hours, the chainsaws could have done their deed - and started at 7 a.m. Civil disobedience is a hassle. But we are a nation born of such acts. Law enforcement and government officials must never lose sight of the spirit that is imbued in us all - be it the spirit of the nation, or the spirit of its laws. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing