INSIDE

Developer ready to
duke it out with tree lovers

Developer Jerry Bierens is offering a $750 reward hoping to lead police to whomever vandalized his construction equipment as it sat at a site he was clearing on Roosevelt Road.

Bierens said on the night of June 20 someone poured sand into the fuel tank of his Kubota tractor and front end loader, temporarily stopping the job and costing Bierens over $1,000 in repairs. “My whole fuel system was contaminated,” he said. “We had to tear the whole tractor apart.”

Bierens said other contractors who don’t want to be identified have also complained of vandalism to equipment they use for site preparation, and he thinks it’s people who don’t want the trees removed. There have been police investigations of vandalism to logging equipment on the Point at least three times in the last decade. Sheriff’s deputy Rich Emmons said the latest incident was under investigation.

“If people have something against me they can come talk to me or we can take it behind the barn and have it out,” Bierens said. “To take it out on a little tractor is cowardly.” He asks that anyone with information contact local sheriff’s deputies.