[nfbwatlk] [nfb-talk] Trees Could Harm Blind Children, Parents Contend (fwd)

Thu Jul 27 21:53:50 CDT 2006

Pardom me while I retch. What do these idiots think a white cane is made 
for. When I went to the state school allot of us boys climbed the damn 
trees, and had allot of fun doing so.

Paul Whipple n7pzr
Vice President Inland Empire Chapter
of the National Federation of the Blind
of Wa.
phone 509/362/3148
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "NFB of Washington Talk" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 10:25 AM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] [nfb-talk] Trees Could Harm Blind Children,Parents 
Contend (fwd)

> Oh lord! And people wonder why the NFB?
>
> Mike
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 12:53:52 -0400
> From: Sherrill O'Brien <srobrien at tampabay.rr.com>
> Reply-To: NFB of Florida Listserv <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
> To: NFBFL <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [Nfbf-l] [nfb-talk] Trees Could Harm Blind Children, Parents 
> Contend
>
> Hi all,
> Oh my goodness, how these parents need to be taken under the wing of our 
> NFB
> parents division!!  My heart aches for these kids who are in the care of
> such misguided parents.
> Sherrill
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
> Behalf Of Ryan O.
> Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 11:19 PM
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: [nfb-talk] Trees Could Harm Blind Children Parents Contend
>
>>
>
>>>
>>>> Washington Post
>>>> Friday, July 14, 2006
>>>>
>>>> Trees Could Harm Blind Children, Parents Contend
>>>>
>>>> By Lisa Rein, Staff Writer
>>>>
>>>> Family's New Fairfax Home Stuck in a Regulatory Forest
>>>>
>>>> Friday, July 14, 2006; B05
>>>>
>>>> Their seven-bedroom, $2.2 million dream home is in spotless, move-in
>>> condition. It's an elegant hideaway on 1.6 acres in Oakton, set back 
>>> from
>>> a
>>> winding, tree-lined road -- a perfect place for their four youngest
>>> children
>>> to grow up.
>>>>
>>>> But for 36 days, Karen and Joe Bartling and their children have been
>>> homeless. Along with their college-age son and the family's Labrador
>>> retriever, they have been holed up in a tiny efficiency apartment in
>>> Chantilly with a pullout couch, all of their belongings in a storage
>>> locker.
>>>>
>>>> The Bartlings can't move in until their builder plants 20 to 80 trees 
>>>> on
>>> their property that Fairfax County says are required in part because the
>>> builder cut down too many mature trees during construction.
>>>>
>>>> But to the Bartlings, the trees are nothing but booby traps wrapped in
>>> wire and wooden stakes: Four of their five children -- who were adopted
>>> from
>>> Korea, China and India -- are blind. For them, trees are bumps and
>>> scrapes
>>> waiting to happen.
>>>>
>>>> "I don't want my kids having black eyes running into trees all day,"
>>>> said
>>> Karen Bartling, 48. "These kids have enough obstacles in their lives. 
>>> The
>>> last thing we want is trees in our yard."
>>>>
>>>> In a suburb whose last patches of green space are disappearing, the
>>> prospect of a canopy of hickories, oaks and maples would be welcome to
>>> many
>>> homeowners. Not the Bartlings. "For our family, trees don't work," said
>>> Joe
>>> Bartling, 48, who works in the District as a forensic investigator.
>>> "Maybe
>>> for other families, trees work."
>>>>
>>>> The Bartlings said they planned to build a swimming pool and put a 
>>>> swing
>>> set, trampoline and barbecue in the back yard, leaving precious little
>>> room
>>> for a forest. The trees would be scattered around the property, making 
>>> it
>>> impossible to fence them off.
>>>>
>>>> The odyssey started June 9, the day the Bartlings were supposed to 
>>>> close
>>> on their house on Coulter Lane. The piano mover arrived at 11 a.m. at
>>> their
>>> old, much smaller house on a forested lot in Oakton. The rest of the
>>> trucks
>>> were loaded by noon. Then the builder, NV Homes of McLean, called at 1
>>> p.m.
>>> to cancel the closing, the Bartlings said. The county had denied the
>>> builder
>>> a permit for occupancy of the house.
>>>>
>>>> The day before, an NV Homes representative had shown the Bartlings a 
>>>> new
>>> plan for their lot with more than 80 trees in the front and back yards,
>>> in
>>> addition to the row of old trees the builder had left at the edge of the
>>> property. The trees were not on the original lot plan. The couple did 
>>> not
>>> agree to the new proposal, believing they could work it out after the
>>> closing.
>>>>
>>>> What the Bartlings didn't know was that the county was requiring the
>>> builder to come up with a new tree conservation plan for the site after 
>>> a
>>> neighbor notified the county that a contractor for NV Homes had 
>>> illegally
>>> cleared a dozen 25-year-old, 100-foot trees during construction. This
>>> violated Fairfax's limits on clearing and grading.
>>>>
>>>> Things got testy. NV Homes asked the Bartlings to sign a document
>>>> agreeing
>>> to accept and maintain the 80 new trees and restrict any changes to the
>>> land, so they or any future owner would never cut down the trees. "Can
>>> you
>>> imagine paying that much money for a house and having someone telling 
>>> you
>>> what you should do on your property?" Karen Bartling asked.
>>>>
>>>> They called the county and got a lawyer and have been negotiating ever
>>> since. Yesterday, the county, the developer and the Bartlings reached a
>>> precarious agreement that could allow as few as 20 trees to be planted.
>>> But
>>> nothing is final.
>>>>
>>>> Fairfax requires builders in residential developments like the
>>> Bartlings' -- four homes on 10 acres called the Estates at Oakton
>>> Hollow --
>>> to preserve trees on 20 percent of the property. The trees can be old or
>>> new, to replace those that were knocked down for construction. NV Homes
>>> planned to put a "significant portion" of the trees on the Bartlings'
>>> lot,
>>> county spokeswoman Merni Fitzgerald said. This was partly because some 
>>> of
>>> the other lots lie in a septic drain field that needs to be cleared, 
>>> said
>>> Hugh Whitehead, a county urban forester.
>>>>
>>>> The builder also recently cleared some trees on another lot it may
>>>> develop
>>> in the subdivision, county officials said, prompting a new round of
>>> planning
>>> to replace them. In both cases, dozens of new trees are needed to make 
>>> up
>>> for the old ones, Whitehead said.
>>>>
>>>> Normally, the county allows trees on a private lot to be removed once
>>>> the
>>> developer is released from bond. But in this case, NV Homes had violated
>>> the
>>> rules, and stricter requirements applied, officials said.
>>>>
>>>> "It gets pretty sticky sometimes with homeowners wanting to do what 
>>>> they
>>> choose with their property," Whitehead said. "I'd certainly hope that
>>> most
>>> people want trees. I've been surprised by people who buy a lot and
>>> proceed
>>> to cut down every tree on it for one reason or another. They don't see
>>> the
>>> benefits."
>>>>
>>>> Whitehead said he sympathizes with the Bartlings, who have tried to
>>>> reach
>>> a resolution with the county and NV Homes as they pay $219 a night for
>>> lodging. The number of trees required plunged to 68 and then 50, and the
>>> builder and county dropped the requirement prohibiting the trees from
>>> being
>>> cut down, said the Bartlings' attorney, Gorham Clark. Last week, the
>>> Bartlings agreed to accept some trees but demanded $250,000 in
>>> compensation
>>> from NV Homes. In response, NV Homes threatened to terminate the
>>> Bartlings'
>>> contract and resell the house. Whitehead, asked about the Bartling case,
>>> said he is willing to accept fewer trees. "This is not a situation where
>>> I
>>> typically find myself," he said.
>>>>
>>>> James Sack, NV Homes' general counsel, declined to comment.
>>>>
>>>> The Bartlings are born-again Christians who said their faith led them 
>>>> to
>>> children with special needs. After their son Joel was born, fertility
>>> problems led them to adoption. They brought Hannah, 11, a bright
>>> fifth-grader who sings in the church choir, home from Korea nine years
>>> ago.
>>> David, a precocious 6-year-old from China, literally appeared on the
>>> couple's doorstep less than two years ago after another couple decided
>>> they
>>> could not handle a blind child. The year before, Karen Bartling had read
>>> in
>>> a publication for parents and teachers of blind children that Jesse, 
>>> from
>>> Korea, and Abi, who had been abandoned malnourished on the streets of
>>> Calcutta, needed homes.
>>>>
>>>> Life at the Towne Place Suites has been a mix of improvisation and
>>> anticipation. Everyone needed new clothes, and the children new toys.
>>> Five-year-olds Abi and Jesse, not good sleepers to begin with, are
>>> uncomfortable sharing beds with their older siblings, their mother said.
>>>>
>>>> Meanwhile, with the lock on the interest rate on their mortgage about 
>>>> to
>>> expire, the Bartlings have taken to calling their predicament their
>>> Extreme
>>> Screwover.
>>>>
>>>> "We're just sitting on the sidelines waiting for NV Homes to deliver us
>>>> a
>>> home we contracted for," Joe Bartling said. "Since when are trees more
>>> important than people?"
>>>>
>>>> (ENDS)
>>>>
>>>> (Thanks to Barry J Campbell for bringing our attention to this 
>>>> article).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/13/AR2006071301
> 485_pf.html
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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