Photo Ryn Gargulinski
Dead Christmas (Holiday) Tree Article
The following article is from The Voice of Tucson, Tucson Citizen.com
Click this link to read entire article:
November’s here and that means one thing – it’s time to hurl ourselves face first into the upcoming holiday season.
Photo Ryn Gargulinski
Arizona is doing that in a big way by slaughtering a mighty blue spruce as instructed by the federal government. Yes, our state has the honor of supplying this year’s United States Capitol Tree. No, it won’t be placed inside the White House, but rather outside in front of the Capitol Building. The 85-foot beauty from the White Mountain area’s Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests will be chopped at the knees on Nov. 7, according to a news release from the National Forest Service. Everyone is welcome to attend this historic event – as it’s the first time ever that a forest in Arizona has been chosen to deplete its resources in the name of tradition.
The tree slaughtering ceremony will feature White Mountain Apache Dancers, an Apache blessing, choral music and Arizona’s official historian Marshall Trimble commemorating the event. That’s quite a funeral. The dead tree will then “tour Arizona” and other parts of the nation on the way to its Nov. 30 delivery to the United States Congress in Washington, D.C. A dead tree is taking a tour? Isn’t that kind of like pulling a casket behind a sled and telling the corpse to enjoy the view?
Last year, because of the Garbage Union Strike, Hayville residents were asked not to fill up the landfills with dead trees but, instead, to stick them in the front yard and paint them green so they'd look alive. In response to last years measure and this article, Hayville residents are asked, once again, to be earth friendly and display only last year's dead Christmas (Holiday) Trees. We will have a Dead Tree Parade the first week of December to officially kick off the event. It has also been noted by our fire department chief that some of the residents are still using the old style bulbs and the following warning is given:
"If your house catches on fire, wait until the roof hits the ground before you call us. That way, your house will be a total loss, your insurance claim will be it's maximum, and you won't have to live in an old, smoke-smelling house we might accidentally save." ---- Burnie Butt, Hayville Fire Chief