Document text
Since You Asked: Holiday tree will be replaced Aug 07, 2022 12:15 AM A A A (drunk?) driver toppled a large pine tree in the parkway across from the Ashland Fire Department No. 1 on East Main Street. The tree was decorated with lights during the Christmas holiday season and contributed greatly to the spirit of the season. I have not heard of any plan to replace the tree. Can you tell me if there are plans to replace this fallen beauty? — Cori F., via email That corner of Ashland will not be without Christmas decorations this year, Cori, tree or no tree. Public Works Director Scott Fleury said they plan to use a pole to keep the street festive because they can’t replace the tree just yet. “Now is not the time to be planting trees,” Fleury said. The same drought conditions that turn the greens to golden brown at Oak Knoll Golf Course make it unwise to replace the tree under the summer sun. Fleury said a new tree will be planted there in the fall or the spring. The demise of the tree is known at the Ashland Police Department as APD Case #22-0682. At midnight, the night of April 9, 2022, a driver was moving at a “high rate of speed” and “did not negotiate the bend in the roadway at that location, instead continuing forward, over the curb and into the tree, snapping the 8- to 10-inch tree trunk,” said Ashland police Lt. Dan Moulin. The operator of the vehicle was arrested for drunk driving and reckless driving. A tree will grace the street again when the time is right. For Christmas 2023, the people of Ashland will have to be patient and accept a pole in its place, holding up Christmas decorations as best it can. Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; or by email to [email protected].