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

Fri Jul 28 02:10:08 CDT 2006

GO GET 'EM BOYS.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Albert Sanchez" <albertsanchez1 at cox.net>
To: "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 1:46 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] [nfb-talk] Trees Could Harm Blind Children,Parents 
Contend (fwd)


> Hi Mike and list
> I have just read the "trees" article. I have just finished forwarding it 
> to
> the Fairfax VA chapter President, John Bailey, NFB of VA President
> Schroeder, and a representative of our NFB of VA Parents division. 
> Hopefully
> we can find these parents and help the kids.
> A.S.
> Albert Sanchez, W A 7 F X B/4
> EchoLink: 75,240
> IRLP Node: 4000
> Al's Piano Tuning & Repair
> 703-933-9303
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
> To: "NFB of Washington Talk" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 1:25 PM
> 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
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> BlindNews mailing list
>>>>>
>>>>> Archived at: http://GeoffAndWen.com/blind/
>>>>>
>>>>> Address message to list by sending mail to:
>>>>> BlindNews at blindprogramming.com
>>>>>
>>>>> Access your subscription info at:
>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>> To unsubscribe via e-mail: send a message to
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>>>> either
>>>> the subject or body of the message
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Join the MMS program of ACB and help improve tomorrow today in ACB.
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>>>> or by phone at 270-782-9325 and get started making
>>>> tomorrow look brighter today!
>>>>
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>>
>>
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