On 26/11/2012 12:52 PM, Steve Pope wrote:
> Dave Smith > wrote:
>
>> Now the woman is whinging that in a a free, civilized society we should
>> be able to voice our opinions and make our requests to elected officials
>> without fear of reprisal, ridicule, or regret. While I agree with the
>> general idea of that, it does not protect you in cases were your
>> requests are ridiculous and unwarranted. We reserve the right not to
>> take people seriously when they are being ridiculous. There was
>> absolutely no reason for her to even be concerned about oak trees and
>> acorns, but that didn't stop her little brain from looking for some
>> cheap celebrity.
>
> We have a few allergic-tree-moving requests in process here in Berkeley.
> There's merit to it in that many allergies are caused by stuff that
> blows off plants... in Berkeley you can only plant approved species
> of trees from a master list kept by the city. The problem being
> litigated is whether certain trees on that list are still a problem.

That was the problem here. There is no problem with oak trees. Sure,
there are lots of people with various allergy issues that cause sneezing
and nasal congestion, maybe even asthma, but those people tend to be
allergic to lots of pollens and molds.

This woman had already campaigned to make her son's school nut free.
Having been given some public recognition for that battle she went
looking for another related issue and decided that the oak trees had to
be removed, not just because of her misunderstanding about the risk of
anaphelactic reactions, but because some nut allergic child would be
intimidated by presence of oak trees and it would cause them stress.

So... she got her 15 minutes of fame, but she resents the ridicule to
which she was rejected and is whining about cyber bullying..... negative
comments posted on news media sites. I guess she doesn't realize that
when you launch a public campaign based on something idiotic you risk
making yourself look ridiculous.