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2119 Portage Avenue South Bend, IN 46616 April 20, 2001 Ms. Rhonda Saunders, Director Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend and St. Joseph County Dear Ms. Saunders: If you have any suggestions as to how I might proceed in making a case against further trimming of the walnut at 2119 Portage Avenue, I would be happy to hear them. Off the record, thoughts that have occurred to me or that have been suggested to me by a neighbor include the following: L Any text or book on pruning makes the same general recommendations for the health and appearance of the tree (see attached). The trimmers hired in the past by Mr. Philippis, including those who have done work for him this year do not follow these practices. I will take photos of pruning that has been done for Mr. Philippis in the past in addition to those you have already taken to make this point. Even a brief reading of the introductory paragraph of my Sunset National Garden Book makes clear that the pruning and trimming done by Mr. Philippis in the past has not followed these recommended procedures. On April 17, the day before I last came to your office, I had spoken to Mr. Philippis about the walnut tree in question and said to him at that time that I would hire someone to do the trimming. This was a knee-jerk response to the fact that I had seen him discussing the tree in an animated fashion with one of his trimmers, he said he was going to have it trimmed, and, of course, I knew what he had done in the past. I admit that I panicked. My reasoning at the time was that I would at least hire someone I regarded as a competent professional. I had changed my mind completely by the following morning and had decided to see if anything could be done to prevent further mutilation of the tree by Mr. Philippis. This is when I came to see you. Watson Tree Service has agreed to trim our trees for us and will do only that trimming which will improve the health of any trees on the property. I did not suggest to Tom Watson who gave us the estimate that the old walnut tree be cut back further as I could not bring myself to do it. I would hope that a competent professional, such as Mr. Watson, would not do that type of trimming even if I requested it.