I'm more or less reconciled to my anonymity. Just not a famous dude. Not an "influencer." Haven't been covered by newspapers or reporters in a generation or two. But now notoriety has struck.
Careful and diligent readers of this blague know that the old West Bradford graveyard -- a couple of acres of bumpy terrain -- abuts our Vermont property. And now they will discover that "our" cemetery has been featured in the Bradford Journal-Opinion (formerly the United Opinion). Here's the story:
The picture is of such poor quality that it's impossible to decipher. The story isn't that easy to read either so here's a transcription:
Cemetery struck by fallen tree
by Alex Nuti-deBiasi
BRADFORD--The Bradford Selectboard voted last week to spend $3500 to carefully clean up the West Bradford cemetery after a tree fell last week shattering limbs and possibly damaging headstones and gravesites.
"It looks like a bomb went off," Donnalyn Burgess Lyon told selectboard members at the meeting on August 24. I'm beside myself."
Lyon has several generations of family members buried at the bucolic cemetery located on Hackett Hill Road near South Road. She visited the cemetery to trim the grass and care for the gravesites.
A reporter who visited the cemetery ahead of last week's meeting did not see any damaged headstones, but at least one heavy limb rested on a stone.
Lyon told a reporter she visited the cemetery on a weekly basis to care for plots and trim the grass around stones until she broke her leg. Now she makes it every couple of weeks.
Board members said it appears that the tree was located on an abutter's property but that the town should spend the money to clean up the municipal property before pursuing reimbursement from the abutter. They solicited a quote from Thomson Logging for the clean up.
"We want it taken care of and not cause more damage," board chair Meroa Benjamin said.
Hey, we're newsworthy -- and a diligent reporter is right there on the case. We're a little taken aback that Donnalyn's sensationalist remark that "it looks like a bomb went off" was reported without comment. A bomb didn't go off; a tree fell.
Moreover, we object to the story's headline: the cemetery wasn't struck by a fallen tree; it was struck by a "falling" tree. Once it's fallen it doesn't do any striking.
For the record, the tree was a big tooth aspen, which folks around here call "popple." It was huge, and it was thoroughly rotten at the base of the trunk. The wonder is, "it hath endured so long."
And also: the "abutter" has reimbursed the town for the cost of the cleanup.
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