(The following story by Kent Compton appeared at ClarendonToday.com on March 18.)
MANNING, S.C. — It was nothing short of shock when Susan Stroman got the call.
It was the CSX Railroad and they were coming to cut down the beautiful oak tree that has graced the Brogdon Road property for more than 50 years.
Stroman – and her tree – were not going down without a fight.
Stroman was informed that there is a new law for railroad crossings that do not have bars or flashing lights.
” The law says everything on the land has to cleared within 100 square feet of the crossing,” she said. “My tree falls within 88 feet of the crossing and 150 feet from the crosswalk and they said the tree has to come down.”
Stroman said she never received any notification until that morning when she received the call. She said she was informed the tree would be down within three hours. She told the railroad workers that she would be doing everything in her power to stop them.
“I told them they were not cutting my tree and that if need be, I’d park my vehicle under the tree or I’d chain myself to the tree, but they weren’t going to take it down,” Stroman said. “That is when they were finally decided to talk to me about the tree.”
A power pole, also within the perimeter, was not being moved. Stroman stressed the tree was not blocking anyone’s vision at the crossing. The area is well landscaped and well lighted.
” Take a look at all the other shrubs and trees along this rail,” Stroman said. “We’ve kept everything looking perfect and yet they say it’s blocking someone’s view who is crossing the tracks. Show me where it’s blocking the view and show me how many accidents have happened at this crossing. I don’t know of any accidents at this crossing. This tree is part of the history of the house and it’s part of the history of Clarendon County,” Stroman said.
Stroman said she called everyone she could think of to get information to save her tree.
” I called attorneys, magistrates, anyone who could help,” Stroman said. “I then received a call from Chief Magistrate Judge B. G. Alderman and he said he’d make a few calls to see what he could do.”
Alderman said there was nothing he could do legally because it wasn’t in his jurisdiction.
” I couldn’t give the Stromans a temporary restraining order because they’d have to go through the circuit court,” Alderman said. “But I did tell them I’d try to get in touch with someone at CSX to give the Stromans some additional time to try and save the tree. I was able to get in touch with Deon Thomerson, the registered agent for CSX in South Carolina. I told Mr. Thomerson, once a big beautiful oak tree is cut down, it can’t be replaced in this lifetime. He is a very nice man and said he was not aware of the situation. He said he’d see what could be done about possibly resurveying the area.”
Thomerson was asked if the railroad would be able to spare the tree and he said all calls were referred to Gary Sease, spokesperson for CSX, at their home office in Jacksonville, Fla.
Sease said the tree is on the railroad’s right of way. He said after talking to Thomerson and reevaluating the situation, it looks like the tree just needs to be trimmed back.
” CSX now knows the importance of this tree and we are going to do everything possible to preserve it,” Sease said. “The Stromans said they’ll trim the tree back and we’ll go out and resurvey the area. Like I said, this big beautiful oak tree is part of the history of Clarendon County and we want to preserve history.”