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In a town of a thousand people, crime doesn't go unnoticed.
It didn't take long Friday morning for Genola Councilman Chris Greenwood to see that someone had cut down 11 of his trees during the night. And it didn't take long for supportive town residents to plant some flags in their stead. The Greenwoods -- who reported the incident to the Santaquin Police Department -- say the vandalism is likely politically motivated. As a councilman, he often speaks up about issues he feels aren't being handled correctly and doesn't hesitate to challenge those around him. Most recently, he and Councilman Kendall Ewell voted against but failed to prevent lifting a moratorium on the nine-lot Genola Meadows subdivision, which has come under fire for containing lots smaller than the town's requirement of 2.5 acres. Controversy surrounding the subdivision also involves Councilman Bryan Draper, who admitted to being the beneficiary of trust deeds there after voting to lift the moratorium. The town also hired Draper's son, Dale, as the project manager for the subdivision, On Friday, Carolyn Greenwood wouldn't point fingers at anyone specifically, saying only that "if it's meant to intimidate us or keep us from going forward, that's foolish, because it only makes us stronger." The flags placed in their yard, some anonymously, drew plenty of attention. Cars slowed as they passed all day, some driving back and forth multiple times. "I think people in town are tired of criminal-type things happening," Greenwood said. No one from the Santaquin Police Department was available for comment on Friday afternoon. The 7-year-old trees, what's left of them anyway, are now a semi-circle of trunks neatly cut off at about 3 feet high. Oddly, any branches below the cutoff are also missing. "It looks like they pruned them first. Then cut off the main part," Greenwood said, who added that they plan to plant new trees. The family watered the original trees with buckets the year they were planted because their irrigation system hadn't been put in, an effort not lost on daughter Faith Greenwood, who was clearly unhappy with the situation but defiant. "If that's the best they can do," she said, "that's just dumb." |
