It's Wednesday, Nov. 18, and I am watching some village workers cutting down a 60-70-year-old maple tree on Emory Rd. Covered with leaves, no dead branches and a solid, rot-free trunk. Am I missing something here? Has the beetle larvae problem come to Mineola? Was the root mass rotted away? Did this tree pose a danger?

When I asked the village to remove a dying, rotting tree from the front of my mother-in-law's home, I was told it posed no danger and therefore would not be removed. Now I watch as a perfectly healthy mature maple is hacked away.

Is it possible we have found a way to turn trees into a new type of lubricant that will quiet squeaky wheels?

Artie Barnett