Nation & World

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain 4/10/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Thursday, April 10, 2008 Trial set for cutting national forest trees Sacramento Bee Environmental cops at Lake Tahoe say Patricia Vincent deserves a prison sentence and a huge fine. Her alleged crime: chopping down three trees on federal land that improved her backyard view of the lake. She's believed to be the first target of criminal charges of illegally cutting Tahoe trees. Vincent says it was an honest mistake, This case is the clearest signal yet of how serious coniferous crime has become as regulators fight to preserve the Sierra Nevada jewel once deemed by Mark Twain to be "the finest view the world affords." Since 2002, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has imposed civil fines of a combined $1 million on violators. "People up here have an emotional, gut reaction to the cutting of trees. It offends people," planning agency spokesman Dennis Oliver said. "The thing is, the lake looks beautiful through the trees, anyway." Critics of government management of Tahoe's prized forestlands have long said regulators go too far in telling property owners what they can do in their own back yards. The issue for Vincent, however, is what she cut in the back yard of her neighbor, the U.S. Forest Service. Vincent has pleaded not guilty to charges of theft and damaging government property. She's scheduled for trial April 29 in U.S. District Court in Reno, Nev. Conviction carries up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Her attorney, Scott Freeman, said the government is out to make an example of the 58-year-old retired technology worker. He said Vincent is an otherwise law-abiding citizen who made a mistake and is "completely and utterly freaked out by this."

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