Tree topping angers landowner
<p class="p1"><strong>Roy Albertus</strong>, 90, stands Friday near a 16-foot-tree from which the top 6 feet were stolen outside his home east of Kalispell. Albertus said if the thieves had come to talk to him, he would have bought a Christmas tree for them rather than having this happen. Albertus said he was mainly upset because the theft has made Barbara, his wife of 65 years, sad when she looks out at the yard. </p>
One Creston resident isn’t quite feeling the holiday cheer this season.
Roy Albertus, 90, woke up one morning last week to find the top 6 feet missing from a spruce tree on his property. Now he’s offering a $2,000 reward for the arrest of the thief.
“What kind of Christian steals a tree like that?” he asked. “It’s obviously someone who took it for a Christmas tree, but why?”
Eight years ago, Albertus and his wife planted a row of 24 trees to line their property at 1250 Holt Stage east of Kalispell.
Now the top of one of the middle trees has been chopped off.
“We like the place to be nice for people to enjoy it as they drive by,” Albertus said. “We used to get a lot of compliments on the trees.”
After discovering the missing treetop, Albertus notified law officers, who were able to track the trail of the tree thief for a few hundred yards before losing the trail.
“I have to take action about this. I’m not going to lay down in their path,” Albertus said. “If nothing else, [the thief] will know there’s a price on his head, and he’ll think twice about sticking his neck out for something like this again.”
Albertus said the thief had another surprise coming.
The tree species, Colorado blue spruce, makes a poor Christmas tree when not properly treated. While it looks full and beautiful when rooted, if the tree warms up indoors, it will quickly lose its needles.
Albertus and his wife bought the property in 1963 when they moved to the valley. They currently live there with their daughter and son-in-law.
There are legal options to find Christmas trees, ranging from local tree farms to Christmas tree lots. For a $5 permit, people can cut a tree in the National Forest.
Anyone with information about the tree theft is encouraged to call Flathead Crimestoppers at 752-8477.