A fitting punishment would be to tie her to the stump and re-start the fire.....vis a vis a Salem witch.

unknown; I'm with ya...when the option is, you have to uncheck something, it just stinks of deception. I've lost so many posts because I didn't see that Facebook box...eerrrr! I seldom even check back on my posts here - Facebook would never get me to play their game(s) on a daily basis.

Does blaming the drugs still work? I thought that just added to the charges these days. Maybe meth users should ask for the lawyer first...just a thought.

I hope the state of Flordia prosecutes this jerk to the fullest extent of the law. Now, if the report is correct as presented, then I'll bet this tree had been dead for quite some time. As "Zuksam" posted above, live trees don't burn as this one was described.

Drug stupid. No good ever came from doing drugs, only bad. 3,500 yrs up in smoke bec of a drug addiction. Pathetic!!!

I've been to this tree and it was alive and well. Don't speculate just because you don't know. This tree was impressive to see in person and should have been enjoyed by many generations to come. Now, because some druggy couldn't control her high, that won't happen. This is a loss for both the planet and history.

The Senator was a magnificent living monument. A stupid addict has taken its priceless life from our children for no reason. She must pay a high price for this theft. As a native of Florida I demand a strict punishment for this heinous crime. She has stolen part of the future from our children. It's a shameful crime.

hang her from what is left of the tree and reset the blaze

If the tree is really old, it will burn even if it is alive. remember biology, a tree is really only alive on the current and newest ring and bark. If you start a hot enough fire to burn though the first couple of inches you then enter the dead section of the tree. With a tree this old and large, the interior sections are more than likely very dry, especially this time of the year here in Florida as the winter is usually quite dry and the tree would be storing its water in the roots.

Don't tie pot into this. This was a METH head...hence, CHEMICALLY induced stupor...NOT a natural high from weed. If she had been consuming weed, the weed wouldn't have let her start a fire under that ancient tree relative..........

DTNIC still, pot was not involved, and guessing solves nothing.

DTNIC01- Don't forget to mention all the dope doctors dispense every year, and alcohol too. Or are you enjoying your painkillers and beer too much to remember them? I guess that makes you all grown up.

Drugs are just a scapegoat. They don't 'make' anyone do anything.

Must be them muslim extremists at work again... they will do anything to hurt America.

Oops, my bad. then she must be one of those Black welfare Queens you hear about so much. No? then who was she and why diid she destroy one of our national treasures? No real American would do something like that - even if they were high on weed - she wasn't on weed.

Seriously - just your average, run of the mill; Tweeker, in Dasiy Dukes, tube top - with nothing elase to do! ... that's it? No national alert or nothing.

I'm totally confused by this. You trying to tell me that none of the stereotypical bad guys were involved?

Aw DTNIC- did I hit a nerve. Uh maybe an education would help but people don't get strung out on pot,that would be heroin. If you pulled your head out of that vat of beer you would know something. Sorry bud I tested negative for both. I choose a clear mind in my profession. Gateway drug...Pfft what are you a 100?

DTNIC01 why do u assume the gateway drug is pot? Why not alcohol, nicotine, are even sugar? Would be willing to bet most people that smoke pot started with cigarettes, before cigarettes would be willing to bet it was caffeine, before caffeine probably sugar. We should just ban it all. That way people wouldnt become chemically dependent starting with sugar, then caffeine, nicotine and so on. Oh and before you can say anything I dont smoke pot never have. I do use a lot of sugar and drink a lot of soda. Already headed down the long road to addiction.

I agree with Andrew Schoenhals.Stupid woman. I hope she gets some time in jail to sober up and then she should be made to plant at least an acre of trees.

The world is full of freaking LUNATICS! This is unbelievable.

.

I would think cigarrettes are the gateway drug mainly because it conditions the lungs to smoke. Once the lungs get used to smoke, especially the harsh type of smoke coming from cigarrettes, then it's easy to smoke weed.

I say, ban cigarrettes!

I say, how did all of you people get so far off track? The story is about a 3,500 year old tree and an idiot that destroyed it!

DTNIC01

Right, because no one that is hook on other drugs ever started with pot. It is time for pot users to stop thinking it is an innocent drug. It is a drug period. I would guess that 99% of all hard core drug users started with pot, and that they all thought nothing bad would happen. It is just pot after all.

Grow up.

I'll drink to that!

this girl is stupid and that's why she set the fire and that's why she smokes meth you can't blame the tree and you can't blame the drugs she's stupid and if she jumped off a bridge it wouldn't be the bridges fault stupid is as stupid does

@justoneguy: This has nothing to do with legalized pot. The article mentions methamphetamine. Big difference. Pot smokers are more likely to be "tree huggers." Pot makes a person very peaceful and mellow (and hungry). Meth makes a person unpredictable and violent.

I still don't get the connection to the tree burning and drugs, except the person was likely in a meth-induced psychosis. Or perhaps simply a pyromaniac.

yes, pot is a gateway drug, that's pretty much a known fact. cigarettes will kill us, alcohol may be the worst for those who can't control it. so I agree let's not be hypocritical and just face the truth that they are all bad things for us and not try to justify one because the other is legal.

Beware the revenge of the Druids! They will be very upset at the burning of the Senator tree!

Haters are comtemptibly single minded. Here's a story about an absolute tragedy of the natural world, a loss for all time to our children's children's children. This tree had stood, alive, for 3500 years and some pathetic loser had to burn it down. And what do people have to say about it? "I hate Facebook... I hate people who want to legalize pot... Oh well, the tree was "obviously" dead anyway (no it wasn't)... ROFLMAO at whatever..." You folks are almost as pathetic as the lousy meth head who started the fire. You don't care about the tree. You're just haters. And people like Will-1091847 waste five minutes of their lives trying to make a joke? Stupid.

old lefthander. I think the fact that she was a meth user brings drug use into the conversation. it's natural for people who are upset over the tree being destroyed to ask the question "why?" Nothing to do with hate, and everything with looking for understanding.

It was an awesome tree, who has seen so much for so long, great grandfather of millions of other cypress trees. Let us remember this magnificent Tree, not the human maggot that destroyed it...

Drugs don't burn trees. People burn trees.

But it was an awesome tree.

"Barnes reportedly told investigators she set the fire while trying to use illegal drugs."...What does using any kind of drug (legal or otherwise) have to do with setting fires?

4real123

i refer to my earlier comment:

"yes, pot is a gateway drug, that's pretty much a known fact. cigarettes will kill us, alcohol may be the worst for those who can't control it. so I agree let's not be hypocritical and just face the truth that they are all bad things for us and not try to justify one because the other is legal."

and learn to think for yourself.

That's what Fox News is for.

4real123, I was not going to say anything, but your post pushed me to it. I don't give a rats @ss if pot is legalized or not. I really do not care. I have never smoked it (or anything else) in my life and that wouldn't change if pot were legal. Legalizing pot would not radically change the world in the long run -- except reduce the number of future defendents in the legal system. But it is illegal now, so those who break that law should face the consequences of their actions (it is not a harmful law -- no one is hurt by not being allowed to smoke pot, so arguments about defying an unjust law do not hold water in this case). But by all means, if folks want to fight to get it legalized, that's all fine and dandy. At that time, smoke up and enjoy your buzz. My issue with you, however, is the same issue I have with everyone who makes the argument you have -- Pointing out other potentially bad things that are legal does not in an way make your point that pot should be legal! So alcohol is legal, so what? It is nonesense to argue that because one unrelated thing is legal and that other thing can cause problems, then something else entirely should be legal. All your points about alcohol does is suggest maybe that should be banned, too. How does that help your cause? If you want pot legalized, argue to do so on its own merits.

To: I Hate Everyone: Go back up and read the post from MGO1426388. This person is very knowledgeable as to why the tree did burn and that it was very much alive. You are only showing your extreme ignorance in both your 'I Hate Everyone' with shooting a bird and the fact that you don't care about anything if it is 'just a tree'. Please tell me you are not adding to the gene pool. We certainly don't need those of your ilk.

4real123. I am not doubting the negative influence of alcohol. It would be easy for me to say that alcohol should be illegal, and I would if it wouldn't make me a hypocrite - because I do drink in moderation. unfortunately there are those that can't handle either - a little alcohol, a little MJ.

I just think MJ is often downplayed and I disagree because of my real life experience. In my experience I have seen that anyone who partook in the harder drugs had almost always started with MJ. I personally haven't seen anyone jump to the harder stuff without first doing some MJ. That is in my experience, and I think most people, if they were honest with themselves, would realize that is their experience as well.

and let's face it, at the simplest level mj is mostly smoked, unfiltered, and smoking is not good for us.

cigs, mj, alcohol - all bad for society - because there are those that will abuse it and take things to a different level.

and I am not saying ban MJ, those that would use it responsibly are not the problem, just like those that drink responsibly aren't either. but unfortunately we aren't all responsible - so what's the answer? idk. legalization hardly seems the solution to me though.

Burn the witch.

ErinsFire42 wrote ""Barnes reportedly told investigators she set the fire while trying to use illegal drugs."...What does using any kind of drug (legal or otherwise) have to do with setting fires?"

Generally drugs are not flammable and are hard to ignite. Crack is basically cocaine in a hard rock form that needs a constant flame. The precursor was to smoke cocaine (freebase) using ether as a source to ignite it, which is how comedian Richard Prior ignited his head. Meth is totally based on chemicals, most of which would kill you if taken individually and while the components are extremely flamable once they're synthesized into meth they are difficult to ignite. The genius meth head most likely didn't want to keep striking the lighter so she made a fire.

@ DTNIC01 Only ppl who have no real life experience (outside the small box that they were born and raised in) still think that pot is a gateway drug. I know plenty of professionals who have high paying jobs, raise a family, pay their bills, have social lives, and enjoy smoking pot every once in a while and have done so for years. There are also many ppl with the same kind of lives that do much harder drugs and still function in society. Theyre not on the street hooking to get money to pay for crack. Theyre not in an alley shooting up. Why? because ppl who are real addicts are this way because they have addictive personalities. Why do you think that ppl go to rehab? If its as simple as waiting until the drug is out of our system then ppl would just lock addicts in a room for a few days and wait it out. There are always underlying psychological issues that need therapy to get to.

My husband does tech support for methadone clinics (google how many there are in your city, you'd be surprised) and they give out thousands of doses a week. More than half of their clients are there because of prescription drugs and the methadone that is administered is more addictive (and a worse withdrawal) than the drugs that the patient was on in the first place...yet its legal (not saying that it shouldn't be...better that than dirty bathtub drugs).

Do your research and don't just rely on Refer Madness. Alcohol is far more dangerous than pot. Not only does it affect your motor skills but it alters your judgement and perception of your surroundings. Ppl say that a glass of red wine is good for your heart but there are other things that are good for your heart...like eating healthy. Have you ever wondered why drinking alcohol makes you want to pee more often? Its because your body is trying to flush it out as fast as possible. Its a defense mechanism. Pot, makes you a little tired, a little hungry, and a little mellower (not to sound like a hippie). Making pot legal won't turn our society into alley drug addicts. Anyone who wants to smoke pot probably is already.

Did you know that 85% of the ppl in prison for drugs right now are there because of marijuana possession? so apparently not many ppl make it through that so called gateway...

justonegay-

trolling successful...

hard drug addicts are morons.

MGO - has it correct. The tree was alive, but since much of it is old wood inside (and I should add that cypress can have folds of the trunk at the base, allowing a large surface area - which is probably where she started the fire) it can easily burn while alive. The cypress sap burns as well.

This is such a great loss.

But would it have been less of a loss if she was sober?

My take has always been that it doesn't matter who you are, what you are on or not on - but simply if you are at fault or not that matters. Everything else is just people trying to impose their morality or prejudices.

She did this deliberately.

That is all I need to know. I don't care what color she is, what religion if any, if she is young or old. She did it and should get a steep punishment for this.

I wouldn't even know what kind of dollar figure you would put on this tree.

It's not like you can just buy another one.

I swear, people get worse every day. This is what devolution looks like.

Did the Keebler boys get out ok?

Ok, ok. Let me just put out there that I can't STAND drunks.

Just wanted to say that. Legal or not, they SUCK! Bring back prohibition! It was as effective as the war on weed. ;)

Same thing with tweakers. Sad about the tree. What a waste.

I have done far stupider things than this in life. Never touched drugs.

But I love to watch the gang-up mentality here on the boards.

Stupid action.. punish her.. be done with it. Tie her up and burn her... you got to be kidding I hope. This just ties into the 'fantasy land' many people in the USA live in... Pets with more rights than humans... illegals with more rights than legals...

Meanwhile the sheeple cheer as their rights are taken away.

zuksam

..."live trees don't burn like this I've seen forest fires go through and the trees survive this thing was dead or close to it but setting fires is still a crime"...

Wrong. Trees like this one are full of oils and resins that burn quite handily. Besides, there were leaves and twigs piled up around the base to facilitate the burn.

mark what did you do that was stupider than burning a state treasure , a tree 3500 years old? Jail sounds good to me.

This woman is a certified moron, but for everyone here so upset about 1 old tree, think about how many trees are cut down every day thanks to the prohibition of cannabis.

W R Hearst owned millions of acres of timber back in the 30's. He also owned a very large newspaper company. Well Hearst got really mad when a bunch of pot smoking Mexicans under Poncho Villa crossed the border and occupied his timber land. Around the same time, techonology(known as the decorticator) was invented to process hemp into paper, which if sucessful would lose Hearst a lot of money in timber. Hemp had the potential to produce more than wood in a cleaner and cheaper process, so angry Hearst began running reefer madness headlines. Everyone got all worked up about Marihuana, having no clue it was the same plant as hemp, and prohibition began.

Go ahead and say the sky is falling because a meth user burnt down one tree, but make sure you understand that marijuana prohibition has senselessly killed millions of acres of forest over the past three quarters of a century. Don't forget what the paper mills did to our waterways. Don't forget about the mass erosion caused by felling entire forests. Do not under any circumstance try and blame the loss of this single well-lived tree on cannabis. You would sound a little short-sighted to ignore history.

mgo1426388

Thank you!!!!! I was getting sick of reading how "this tree wouldn't have burned if alive, only dead trees burn......."

I had forgotten about how only the outside rings are alive.

Thanks for adding a voice of reason, with the correct information.

@The Old Lefthander

And people like Will-1091847 waste five minutes of their lives trying to make a joke?

Hey, I actually enjoyed that five minutes. It looks like you spent 10 minutes having an aneurysm over people who do not love this tree as much as you do. So, will the body of the tree be burried? Or will they cut it up, let it season for a year or two, and then cremate it?

Darn it, I had been told that we won the war on drugs long ago. What happened?

OH, thats right, The law industry won the war on drugs, and the us public surrendered.

Darn it, Wrong again, The LAW CIRCUS won the war on drugs, and we the people Pay for it every day.

"Barnes also took photos of the fire with her cellphone."

I don't think you would be taking photos if it was an accident. It was to brag to her degenerate, low-life friends about what she did.

Too bad she cannot serve 3,500 years in prison, though I suppose we can give her eternity in the ground.

Remember, she took pictures of the fire and the burning with her cell phone. She deliberately set the fire and wanted to brag about setting the tree on fire. I hope she burns in jail for a long time. And yes, cypress are noted for being highly combustible and explosive. I knew this as a teenager. for pity sakes and I don't like in Florida. I have vacationed there. My heart breaks and goes out to the residents of Florida, and the great loss of the 'Senator', to our nation, the world, and generations to come. How horribly sad!!

From what I read on Wikipedia, it says 'Some people believe that the tree is still alive. They have spotted saplings at the base of the big tree. Officials also said that the tree was cloned at one point, and they are searching to bring the clones back'. That doesn't help with the erasing of over 3,000 years of history, but at least there's hope for a new beginning!!

they ought to give her beat'n with a switch off that tree...til she's stump broke...

Wait, wait...maybe we should really try to rehabilitate her so she can "branch out". Hold on, we should teach her to "leaf" things alone. One more, one more...we should really try to identify the "root" cause of her problem. BAAAAHHHHH!!!!

I can't believe you 'barked' out such silly drivel!!

What a "birch"

Death penalty. She is a waste on air and will be forgotten, the tree was well known for a long time.

Freedom, this is precisely why I don't take law and order types seriously. The death penalty for arson where nobody was killed or even injured? You can't possibly be serious.

Send her to prison for whatever the appropriate charges are and leave it at that. There are plenty of places you can go that don't respect human life.

Right blame it on Drugs. In case you didn't know you use Drugs Daily. Ever heard of Food and Drug? Well I tell you Food is a Drug! Can Corn makes me High if I eat a Cold Can. Makes me have a Drunk fellings. Enough og schooling you. The Tree was Dead it needed remove anyway, now I can see the living Trees behind it.

David, you talk of schooling, You had better learn to spell before you spew your B.S.... The druggies of this country have no respect for anything but the almighty HIGH. No one in their right mind would burn a 3000 year old tree unless maybe a Meth addict who thinks the invisible bugs they feel are comeing from that Evil Tree.... Give me a break english major

I am harmed. As a resident of the state of Florida, I've been harmed. My heritage has been damaged as has my history. 3500 years has been wiped out in one fell swoop.

Sorry folks a misdemeanor at the most. It makes me sad she killed such a tree. There is no law to give the death penalty to anyone for burning a tree down. If this was so valued, was there not an enclosure around it? How exactly does one punish a drug addict? There life is such happiness to begin with. It would be nice if she was forced into an institution (mental) for a year to ensure she dries out and possible gets some treatment that might help her stay off the stuff.

Death Penalty?

Dude seriously....

And a meth-head.

Stupid f---ing bi---.

Not unless Whitney had white relatives. Did you see her picture?

tie her to the tree and pour gas on her and light it

Dev- You would first need a brain to care,which shows the reason for your second comment as well.

Am I to infer from your name that you would have abused your second amendment rights? Or is that just a sloppy malformed post?

No, it is a truthful, well-formed post. Carrying a weapon does not require using it to command justice. More often than not, the mere knowledge of a holstered weapon is a great deterrent to illegal activity.

ditto and if i had been there i would have dragged them out of the forest kicking and screaming even if that is a lot nicer than the other ideas that i had, like tying them up to a tree with honey on their feet so they could meet Smokey up close in person. something that old really does command respect and is more valuable than any mere person and now its gone thanks to some ignorant fool with no respect for our forests and that fire could have spread and taken out a nearby home or small city. i don't know about you but i like breathing in clean air, not charred remains of what once was a forest.

As if weapons or the threat thereof work on people out of their minds on drugs.

Scarletbirds, your idea is close to torture porn. As a citizen of the beautiful state of Florida, I don't know which post disturbs me more, yours or 'carry permit holder.' Neither would deter a drug addict. As usual, a man with a gun thinks he's all powerful. Meth addicts don't stop until they're physically restrained, they're like people on PCP.

This was an act of sheer human @!$%#ery. Punishment and torture won't bring back the Senator, no matter how one might wish that it would. sigh

This makes me physically ill. I'm disgusted.

As a citizen and taxpayer of the state wherein this occurred, I disagree. Who are you, Torquemada? That would be cruel and unusual punishment. Nevertheless, she has destroyed a cultural treasure. She must be punished.

For those who thought the tree was dead, you're incorrect. Cypress trees can burn easily in the dry season, which is now. They regenerate in the wet season. This is their natural growth cycle. If you don't understand the issue, why not look it up?

peridot===She must be punished ===wrong. She should be punished. yeah next is cruel and unusal punishment=== If they started giving stiffer punishments for these types of crimes they would not be curel and unusal. More like normal. 10 years would give time to think about it.

David- I agree with the first part of your post,as for the second part I don't think the Parks would be a good place for her community service. Maybe in the desert.

At least 5 years, and how about 3,500 hours ( 1 for every year of the tree's life. ) of community service.

That tree was a national treasure, and one of the oldest living things on earth.

Could be she's related to the guy in Alabama who poisoned the cheering tree, or whatever they called it as a protest against the other college football team. Great bloodlines.

what a moron why the f--- would you want to burn a 3500 year old tree...

She used to be a Police officer,naturally escalate her response when she found the tree to be non-responsive to commands. She repeatedly asked the tree to move, it didn't so she felt her life as in danger.

the fire was used to gain compliance - much like pepper spray can get students to move, she figured trees had an aversion to fire. It was an unfortunate accident, no one had to get hurt - all the tree needed to do was respond to voice commands and none of this would have happened.

We have unsubstantiated reports that Police have interviewed other trees in the swap, they indicate the tree was distraught - possibly suicidal.

It may have engineered the confrontation in an effort to commit suicide - The suggested, but unconfirmed former officer is on limited medications to get over the shock.

Beoweolf you have twice made me grin today and that most defintely is NOT the normally reaction to reading anything on this board. ; )

Beoweolf, thanks for a great start to my day along with my coffee. You'd better be careful, now you're going to be on a blacklist for making inflammatory statements about certain folks in this country. And isn't if true that a lot of the shows we see, or hear about, say, "taken right from the headlines"? Carry on.

Post #17- Why all Americans should not own guns!

10 years in jail

Honest loggers? The loggers who do the actual work may be honest, but you know the mill owners are scum bags. Renewable resource, yes, but the way things go without regulation is to cut it all down and plant later. Certain animals need older trees for habitat, not saplings. Moderation is key.

One side no one is thinking of , after 3500 years of living, we were able to see it's final day. A pity, no doubt, but something to think about.

Protests and direct action are designed to effect governmental and societal change. Protesting at one person's house (or trailer in this case) would be useless and would not effect any change.

The Senator was the oldest pond cypress tree in the world, located in Big Tree Park, Longwood, Florida.

Honest loggers? They clear cut thousand year old redwoods that won't regrow in your lifetime, JD. Nor will they regrow in mine. Redwoods and 3000 year old cypress trees are not renewable resources. Renewable resources are pine trees that regrow that we can reuse in our own lifetimes.

You've no idea what you're talking about, JD. Go back to school and learn about renewable resources. Cypress trees and redwoods are not renewable resources. They're gone forever from the planet.

Think about it. How long will it take to reestablish a redwood forest or a cypress forest. Thousands of years, JD. Thousands of years...

Also, using your example, whales are not a renewable resource. Renewable resource implies that the resource can reproduce itself in a timely matter to meet our ever increasing demand. Hate to tell you this but like us, whales are slow to mature. Unlike us, whales have a low success rate at reproducing. Unlike us, if a calf does make it to term and is live born it has a very unlikely chance of making it to a reproductive age.

Actually with our demands on the ocean and the way we dump crap in the ocean it's pretty safe to bet that anything from the ocean could become very unsafe for human consumption. (Where do you think most mercury poisoning is coming from?)

Do we not punish a criminal who burns down a house a week before a hurricane comes and destroys the entire neighborhood then? Since it was going to go down anyway?

It doesn't matter if it was alive, dead, a cartoon drawing.. it wasn't hers and she destroyed it. Arson is arson.

...And sit around roasting marshmallows while the b***h burns for her crimes!

Lets start with these first. Alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, corn syrup, trans fats, nitrates, pesticides, opiate based pharmaceuticals, mercury, oil, natural gas, and plastic bottles. I guarantee we've all been fed these legal poison once by some corporate dealer. I say off were their heads!