While the prison term mentioned is clearly excessive, the consequences of this destruction of other’s property—their trees—does deserve to be serious.
Nevada man is guilty of killing trees
Douglas Hoffman, 60, of Henderson faces up to 35 years in prison for destroying hundreds of trees that blocked his view of the Strip.
By Ashley Powers
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007
HENDERSON, NEV. — Cloaked by darkness, a saw tucked under his jacket, Douglas Hoffman skulked through suburbia, methodically killing trees.
He severed some. Others he sliced just enough so they would slowly die. In a year's time, authorities said, he wiped out more than 500 trees near an upscale retirement community just south of Las Vegas.
Greenery, he had complained to a homeowners committee, was blocking his view of the Strip.
In November, a jury convicted Hoffman, 60, on 10 charges in the destruction of nearly $250,000 worth of mesquite and other trees. He will likely face sentencing next month and could get as much as 35 years in prison.
The "arborcide," as one lawyer dubbed it, has resonated in booming Clark County, where hillsides in recent years have been overrun with sand-colored homes and transplanted trees. In many neighborhoods, glimpses of the Spring and Muddy Mountain ranges -- and the Strip's neon skyline -- have vanished.
The retirement haven of Sun City Anthem is typical of the neighborhoods that have ballooned Henderson's population from almost 65,000 in 1990 to more than 240,000 last year. The development's 7,000 or so homes are governed by a lengthy list of rules that took a real estate agent more than an hour to explain, said Charles Davis, a resident who runs a Sun City website.
