Family's spruce tree chopped down, stolen
John Alin looked out his window Monday and got a shock. It wasn’t what he saw, but what he didn’t see. The Colorado blue spruce he had watered and nurtured for two years in his south Moorhead yard was gone.By: Dave Olson, The Forum, Worthington Daily Globe
- Stumped
John Alin looked out his window Monday and got a shock.
It wasn’t what he saw, but what he didn’t see.
The Colorado blue spruce he had watered and nurtured for two years in his south Moorhead yard was gone.
Only a stump and an extension cord that had powered a string of lights remained.
“It had white lights to represent The Lord coming into the world,” said Alin. “I was hoping it would be a blessing to people to see the nice, pretty tree there. I guess the person who has the tree needs it worse than we do.”
He figures the thief or thieves struck between midnight Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday, during the height of the weekend storm.
“The blizzard was starting to come in pretty good then. It was pretty good cover for him, or her,” said Alin, adding that the seven-foot tree he and his wife, Tracy, paid $600 for two years ago doesn’t look much different than the trees sold at Christmas tree lots.
“One part of me is pretty upset. Another part says, ‘So be it. Maybe those white lights will be a blessing to them, somehow,’ ” said Alin, who reported the theft to police.
Evergreen heists at Christmas are not unheard of.
Four years ago, a Colorado blue spruce was stolen from a rural north Moorhead residence.
In Grand Forks, N.D., the parks district gets hit about once every two or three years, according to Mike Fugazzi, city forester.
He said the latest tree snatcher struck just before Thanksgiving, when Ulland Park lost a 20-foot spruce.
Fugazzi said the tree likely will be replaced because its absence leaves a conspicuous opening in a row of trees.
The cost could run more than $1,000, according to Fugazzi, who said he has heard about a foul-smelling product that can be sprayed on trees as a theft deterrent.
If he can find it, Fugazzi said he’ll buy some.
Alin said he probably will replace his stolen tree, but not with another conifer.
“I think we’ll plant a deciduous tree next year,” he said.
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