Update 3/30/2019 - After several months, Facebook finally got around to allowing me to make regular posts again, informing me that there had been an "unauthorized entry" into my account.
What do you do if you have a pine tree with limbs that extend over your neighbor's yard, make a big mess, and you wanna get rid of the tree but avoid paying full price to do so? If your husband works for International Paper, simply refuse to allow your neighbor to access the tree from your property to have it trimmed, knowing that tree services large enough to have hydraulic lifts - which would enable your neighbor to have the tree trimmed without being on your property - are afraid to offend an upper echelon employee who works for International Paper. Your neighbor will get tired of cleaning up the mess, talk to your husband, and will be willing to share the expense (opening the door for the guy who removed the tree to "forget" to charge your husband his share) of having your tree removed. And never mind that such a scheme is one sleazy way to treat your neighbor.
That appears to be what's going on with my next door neighbor's antics regarding a pine tree in their front yard. I previously blogged about the situation - apparently some sort of unofficial bonus program for International Paper's employees - exposed the facts, posted a link to the post on Facebook on 8/29/2018, and I've been blocked from making regular posts on Facebook ever since.
Wonder how much Facebook is charging International Paper - either directly or via their reputation management company - to block me. And if such tactics are supposed to deter me from exposing a scam, or are designed to continue on until I remove the link to my blog post, I've got news for anyone who thinks so. The "tree scam" appears to be an unofficial bonus program for International Paper's employees - the corporation's silence speak volumes - and I'm determined to spread the word.
Facebook was a waste of time from the get-go, blocking my posts from real-time as I exposed the crookedness of Toyota. Then it was the selective distribution of all my posts, and I should have ditched Facebook long ago. Paul Craig Roberts has been exposing Facebook's censorship recently - Here's a link to one of his articles regarding corporations' and social medias' hatred of free speech. He sums things up majestically in his last sentence: "That corporations believe that they can attack the First Amendment with no adverse consequences to themselves show the extent to which the United States has eroded."
It's unfortunate that I wound up having the Nettles as next door neighbors, but they moved in after I bought my property, so there wasn't much I could do about it. I noticed Mike doesn't list where he works in the copy I have of the neighborhood directory. Most folks do, which makes me wonder if International Paper prefers to keep things quiet regarding where their employees live. If I ever buy another house, I'll try to make sure the people next door aren't employed by International Paper, especially if there's any trees with limbs that extend onto the property I'm considering.
Back in 2003, when I had the remaining pine trees removed from my property, one of them had branches that extended onto the neighbors' property who live on the other side of me. They had the tree trimmed at least once, and I never would have dreamed of refusing to let them do so, thinking I could force them into helping me out with the cost of having the tree removed. It had been damaged by an ice storm just as the Nettles' tree had been damaged by lightning, needed to be removed, and I did so without further ado.
Amerika is indeed dysfunctional, becoming more-so by the day, and people are beginning to notice. Every tree service that refused to trim branches on my side of the Nettles' tree should be charged with false advertising.
The behavior of people who attend church never fails to amaze and amuse me. If the Nettles can't afford to maintain their property, they should team up with Mr. Hawley and persuade their church to pass the plate for a "Nettles' Tree Fund." Also never mind that not long after the Nettles declined my offer to share expenses having the tree in back removed, they departed on a Caribbean cruise.
10/25/2018 update - tweeted a link to this post to International Paper and e-mailed a link to Mr. Hawley.