Thieves Take Tree, Leave Ransom Note Behind

Several Berkeley residents are trying to get a tree back after resident Karl Reeh's six-foot bald cypress was stolen from a traffic circle last month and replaced with a ransom note.

"Your tree is safe. It's with other trees," said the note, which Reeh found at the traffic circle on the corner of Ellsworth and Ward streets, where the tree had been. "It won't be returned unless you promise not to plant another tree in this circle."

Reeh, who is the co-owner of Rakes Progress Landscaping, received the support of the city earlier in the year to plant trees in traffic circles in his neighborhood.

But the author of the note, he said, thought the tree posed a safety hazard to residents because it blocked the views of drivers and pedestrians.

In an attempt to recover the tree, Reeh said that he would comply with the note's demands and not replant the tree in the traffic circle.

But on May 13 Reeh said he received a second note, which added reasons for not returning the tree, including that the cypress would not thrive in a traffic circle and needed too much water.

The five-paragraph note is typed and addressed to the "Gang of Five," which Reeh said is the name he gave the five residents who helped plant the trees.

"The note was delivered to my porch late at night," Reeh said. "They know where I live."

Reeh said he has had the tree since it was a seedling 15 years ago. He described the tree as a deciduous conifer about six feet tall which lets light through during the winter.

Reeh said he hoped the publicity about the incident-which so far has included newspaper reports as far as Maryland and a piece on National Public Radio-would put pressure on those who had information about the burglar to come forward.

"They could drop it somewhere," he said.

Neighborhood residents said they assumed the burglar lived close by but had no idea who it could be.

"I'm not surprised," said neighborhood resident Robin Grossinger, who helped Reeh plant the trees. "Some people around here are pretty weird."

Grossinger said he suspected that the opposition to the tree was probably tied to opposition to traffic circles in general, which have been installed throughout the neighborhood.

But he suggested a more traditional way of voicing opposition.

"They could, say, bring it up at a community meeting," he said.

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