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Show Taylor, bro sentenced in tree removal District Ranger David Keddy announced this week that after an intensive inten-sive investigation by Forest Service law enforcement en-forcement officials, Claude W. Taylor and his brother, Marvin S. Taylor plead guilty to unlawfully removing Christmas trees from the Pole Mountain Moun-tain area north of Roosevelt on the Ashley National Forest. U.S. Magistrate Daniel Alsop sentenced Claud Taylor to a one year prison sentence and a $500 fine. Marvin received receiv-ed a one year sentence. The prison sentences were suspended and both were placed on a three year probation and re quired to pay the Forest Service $1600 for the trees removed and other damages. The Taylor brothers cut the trees last winter after purchasing a number of personal use Christmas tree tags for a list of people peo-ple in Salt Lake City. Some of the names were later determined to be fictitious. fic-titious. The" Taylors "cut the trees from an . unauthorized area that had previously been thinned. thin-ned. Ranger Keddy emphasized em-phasized that the purpose of the Christmas tree program pro-gram on the Ashley National Na-tional Forest is to offer the public an opportunity to spend the day in the mountains selecting and cutting the family Christmas tree. To many families, this is one of the highlights of the Christmas season as long as trees are available and can be removed without damage, this activity can continue. However, when individuals in-dividuals abuse this privilege, tighter restric- tinns flnH mnrp rptfiila- tions are necessary to prevent further violations. viola-tions. "Hopefully, with everyone's cooperation and understanding, we can avoid further regulation regula-tion and maintain this traditional family experience," ex-perience," concluded Keddy. The Forest Service will offer Christmas tree tags for sale this year, but must emphasize that these are for personal use only and not for resale. Right now, over 100 million vehicles have seat belts, However, based on current estimates, safety belt usage is 11 which means that seat belts are saving over 1,200 lives a year, but, could be saving over 10,000 lives every year if everyone used them. |