To the editor:

In response to the article in the July 29 paper, I would like to comment on the tree trimming being undertaken by Westar’s contracted tree service, the Wright Tree Service.

These tree butchers were in my neighborhood recently and destroyed a beautiful live oak tree. In order to maintain proper distance from their power line, they took all of the branches from the front side of the tree, leaving it looking as if it had been sliced in half, from top to bottom. I complained to Westar; they were not sympathetic. I phoned the city manager; I received only photographs of trees that had recovered. A letter to the president of the tree butchering service went unanswered.

So to those unfortunates who have trees in the sights of these butchers, I can only say, “Good luck!” Their crews consist of macho young men armed with chain saws who are only concerned about their paychecks. They told me that themselves. They will leave your neighborhood devastated and your beautiful trees mutilated.

These men leave nothing but ugliness behind them. There must be a way that these trees can be trimmed without mutilating them and still maintain the integrity of the power lines. The Wright Tree Service seems unwilling to even consider other, less drastic, options.

Kent Atkins,

Lawrence