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Tree shuts down portion of Washington Street Monday morning

Monday, September 29, 2014
By LAUREN BOUCHER, Staff Writer

Local law enforcement officials along with the Greencastle Department of Public Works were busy Monday morning as they worked to cut down a tree that had fallen in the roadway on Washington Street near Greencastle High School.

The tree, located in front of the home of Tim and Kim Shinn at 913 E. Washington St., is said to have rotted out from its base and thus fell into the roadway early this morning.

Washington Street near the high school was shut down for several hours before being reopened at 9:21 a.m. Drivers were asked to use alternate routes and buses were redirected to Percy Julian Drive during the morning school rush.

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  • Is the property owner on which the tree is located responsible for reimbursing the city for the city's cost in removing the tree from the street and sidewalk?

    -- Posted by Lookout on Mon, Sep 29, 2014, at 8:38 AM

  • Wow, Lookout, way to jump on this!!! Why don't you go there and ask the "property owner" if they are going to do the right thing?? Then report back here so everyone can know.

    -- Posted by donantonioelsabio on Mon, Sep 29, 2014, at 9:19 AM

  • I hope no one was injured! As for the property owner, unforeseen things can happen at any time, to anything,to anybody!

    -- Posted by chicken on Mon, Sep 29, 2014, at 10:05 AM

  • A tree that falls on its own or by an "act of god" becomes the problem of wherever it decides to land. There is a ton of case law regarding this. Unless the property owner was negligent (took a chainsaw and let it dangle until it randomly fell) - it's the city's problem to clear their road.

    -- Posted by jorge on Mon, Sep 29, 2014, at 10:21 AM

  • jorge was right, up until a few years ago. As I understand it, and I am not a lawyer, case law now is that the tree owner is responsible, especially if it is obviously rotten. This is based on two trees from our neighbor's property falling onto our house, four months apart.

    -- Posted by mandp523 on Mon, Sep 29, 2014, at 11:54 AM

  • Happy to see the tree did not fall on this restored home!

    As for who's responsible....when the tree is dead/rotten it is in most cases the property owners responsibility.

    -- Posted by chicagogirl on Mon, Sep 29, 2014, at 12:56 PM

  • First and foremost if the owner new it was rotten it would have been taken down. ACT OF GOD!!!!

    This is devestating to the property owner and they are sick to see this tree come down. They are 100% thankful that no one was hurt! This is not what they wanted to have happened at all and are thankful their Historic home after long hours of hard work in restoring this home was not destroyed. If you haven't been by in the last few hours its coming down.

    "Lookout" what are taxes for???? You need to find better things to do with your time and this is none of your business.

    Thank you to the City workers and police for your assistance this morning it was greatly appreciated.

    -- Posted by smartmom on Mon, Sep 29, 2014, at 1:08 PM

  • To smartmom--maybe you should consult an online dictionary in the future to find out how to spell. It is "knew" not "new". Smartmom? I don't think so.

    -- Posted by donantonioelsabio on Mon, Sep 29, 2014, at 6:28 PM

  • To all of these unnessary rude remarks - let us hope that this never happens on your property. But it probably won't happen to you because most of you are not property owners and pay no property taxes.

    -- Posted by Nit on Mon, Sep 29, 2014, at 7:55 PM

  • Forgive me on the grammar error. 'm just amazed how rude people have to be on something they have nothing to do with. You obviously do not know how much these people do and give back to the community and this situation was just an unfortunate accident. Very disappointed in people and the lack of respect....

    -- Posted by smartmom on Mon, Sep 29, 2014, at 9:49 PM

  • It's amazing that all kinds of things appear in the B-G that result in no comments, but there are 11 comments about a tree. (Yes, I included my comment in the count.)

    -- Posted by proofreadertoo on Tue, Sep 30, 2014, at 5:46 PM

  • You all have too much time on your hands.. For Pete Sake, why argue over this story? Read it and move on!

    -- Posted by hoosier22 on Tue, Sep 30, 2014, at 6:36 PM
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