Everyone loves a place with a view, and some people will go to some pretty great, illegal lengths to get them.
A homeowner in New Jersey decided that their view of the Manhattan skyline wasn’t good enough and took a chainsaw to 32 of their neighbor’s trees that stood on lower hillside.
Grant Haber, who is a munitions expert, is the person who hired the crew to cut down the trees on property owned by Samih Shinway. Originally, Haber was hit with a fine of $32,000 dollars ($1,000 per fallen tree).
However, an ordinance within the New Jersey town of Kinnelon specifically states that if a tree is illegally removed, the person who did the removal is obligated to replace it with another tree exactly like it, or even a superior species.
So now, the fees are mounting to $1.5 million dollars in replacement fees and fines, according to officials. Shinway was clearly heartbroken by his neighbor’s decision to axe some of his trees, and though they are being replaced, he admitted he is still angered by the whole situation.
Where does that $1.5 million dollars come from you may be asking?
Well, replacing the trees would be quite the difficult task. The site where the oak, maple, and birch trees used to stand would require a road built up to it, along with nurturing and watering the trees for the following two years.
Including those prices with the replacement trees, new soil, and clean up would quickly add up to $1.5 million dollars, as hard as that it to believe. I’d say that Shinway might be milking the whole thing a little bit, but good for him.
The trees were on his property, and like how parents tell their kids sometimes when they are acting up, it was his house, his rules.
And speaking of rules, Grant Haber (in addition to forking over money) faces a trespassing charge, as well as 32 separate illegal tree removal charges. As for Shinway, he just wants the trees replaced as fast as possible, though nothing will be able to replace the originals that ranged from 20 to 150 years old.
The contractors that Haber hired to help cut down the trees will also possibly face fines around $400,000, so the whole thing has turned into quite the legal mess. All for a better view of the cityscape and surrounding mountains…
I’m thinking you might be bored with all of this “fine” this and “replant tree” that, so how about a TikTok that explains the situation and gives some commentary on the story?
Yeah, I thought you’d probably be excited about that:
@sshinway Welcome to My Page ! I will be posting Updates on my Story Here 🌳 #njnews #treetok #neighbordrama #teamshinway #newjersey #nypost #barstool #fyp #njneighbor #njneighbortree #njtree #32trees #drama #neighborfromhell ♬ original sound – SS
Farmer Harvests Between New Apartment Buildings Instead Of Selling His Land
RESPECT.
First off, farmers aren’t appreciated nearly enough for what they do, and how hard they work.
These TikTok kids wouldn’t last 30 seconds dancing in an Iowa cornfield, mid July. For one guy (in Poland), he took standing your ground to an entirely new level…
I get major Beau Bennett (Sam Elliott in The Ranch) vibes here with this level of stubbornness, by the way.
According to the video, this farmer refused to sell his land to developers as they built up new apartment complexes in the area of Lublin. You see this all the time, all over the world, as towns and cities enter a booming phase of growth.
However, you usually don’t see such a confident middle finger to the guys in business suits.
“A farmer who cultivates his land among blocks of flats in the city of Lublin in Poland with a population of 350,000.
He did not want to sell his land to developers, instead, he decided to work on it while being a big attraction for the local residents.”
BOSS MOVE.
I’m going to have a glass of potato vodka in his honor.
Black Bear Cub Pops Out Of Stump As Man Cuts Down A Tree
This could have ended poorly in so many ways…
Black bear are some of the most versatile animals out there.
They’re right at home in all types of terrain (including dumpsters), can swim, run, and climb trees faster than you think possible.
They also don’t mind being in close proximity to humans, which can cause all sorts of issues, like we see in this video.
Unfortunately, there’s not many details around where this took place or what the situation was, but a worker was tasked with cutting down two trees that had grown very close to one another when something entirely unexpected happened.
As he made the final cut and the trunks crashed to the ground, a black bear cub seemingly pops up right out of the stump and looks around before scampering off to safety.
I mean, what?
Was he living in the hollowed out base and was to scared to move when the workers arrived? It sure looks like the trees has seen better days and there was some room at the base. Or was he hiding in the brush next to it and hoped on top just for fun?
Either way, this could have gone all sorts of wrong. The tree could have fallen on the poor animal or it could have been cut by the chainsaw.
Or, the bear’s mama could be lurking just around the corner and the workers could be in some serious trouble.
Seemingly, all ended well and both man and bear got away unscathed, but my goodness that was close.
You just never know what you’ll find while out in the woods.
