FARMER POISONS FLAME TREES FOR BLOCKING SUNLIGHT|溪州綠隧10棵鳳凰木 遭鑽洞灌農藥變枯黃

Thousands of flame trees are planted along the famous green tunnel at Changhua's Xizhou Township. Ten of which were found to have been injected with pesticide recently, resulting in leaves falling. The township and police investigated and found out that a guava farmer poisoned the trees because he thought they were blocking the sunlight, affecting the growth of his produce. The farmer has been brought to justice and the township is embarking on saving the dying trees. Lines of flame trees on both sides of the road form a green tunnel. However, ten of the flame trees have no green leaves while the whole trees have withered. The reason is that someone drilled a hole to inject pesticide, attempting to poison the trees. ==CHUANG YEN-HUI, Agriculture Section Director, Xizhou Township== We also invite experts from County Government and Forestry Bureau to help us with pest prevention and control. Currently, we use large quantity of clear water to dilute the toxicity of the poison. We will do everything in our power to dilute it to bring the trees back to life. Lusun Road at Xizhou Township is 2.5km in length, with nearly one thousand flame trees mostly aged over 20. Tourists are attracted to take photos during graduation season, while the farmer growing guava thought the flame trees blocked the sunlight and affected the growth of his produce, making poor harvest, which led to the poison incident. ==MA YING-JIE, Public Works Dept. Deputy Director, Changhua County Govt.== If the public destroys the street trees at will, according to related regulations in the 72 article of the Highway Act, utilizing and destroying the public right of way at will or destroying infrastructure of the public right of way will be fined between NT$ 30,000 and NT$150,000. Not only has the farmer been brought to justice, but he had to pay damages to the Township. This is not the first time farmers destroyed street trees at will for the sunlight. The County Government advised farmers to lodge suggestions for trimming the trees instead of poisoning them, which may break the law and is likely to contaminate the environment. TRANSLATED BY：BRYANT CHANG 道路兩側整排的鳳凰木形成綠色隧道，但這個區域一共10棵鳳凰木卻看不到綠葉，整棵樹都已經枯黃，原因就是有人在鳳凰木上鑽孔灌進農藥，企圖毒死樹木。 ==溪州鄉公所農業課長 莊彥輝== 我們也有請縣府 跟林務局的專家 來幫我們做這個病害的防治 那目前我們還是用清水 大量來沖淡它農藥的毒性 我們看能不能把它稀釋 盡我們的力量來把它救活 彰化縣溪州鄉綠筍路全長約2.5公里，種了將近一千棵鳳凰木，樹齡大多超過20年，畢業季節常吸引遊客來拍照，但在旁邊種芭樂的果農，卻認為這幾棵鳳凰木遮住了陽光，影響芭樂生長，害他收成不好，所以才會動手下毒。 ==彰化縣政府工務處副處長 馬英傑== 民眾隨意破壞行道樹的話 要依照公路法第72條的相關規定 擅自使用 破壞公路用地 或損壞公路設施者 處新臺幣三萬元以上 十五萬元以下罰鍰 這位農民除了被移送法辦，還要賠償公所損失；其實這已經不是彰化縣第一次發生農民為了日照，隨意破壞行道樹，縣府呼籲，農民若遇到日照問題，可以向當地公所反映修剪，像這樣用農藥毒死樹木，不但觸法，還可能會汙染環境。 記者 邱植培 賴世杰 彰化報導