Hit men showed up in Old Metairie last week, leaving one dead.?Crime does not get more heinous than this in the sylvan environs of the country club. The victim had seemed sure to live a long life, but was cut down at the age of 17. They took out a live oak.
Dendricide is practically a capital offense in this neck of the woods. Trees are what give Old Metairie its cachet, and the uniformly well-heeled residents guard them jealously. The law requires the conservation of the statelier types of tree even on private property.
The effect can be spectacular as, for instance, where rows of oak trees arch over Northline Street. It was there that a man walking his dog happened upon a crew hacking away at one between the sidewalk and the curb. It had been planted there in 1996 so that in the fullness of time it could fill a hole in Northline's leafy canopy. It had grown to 18-20 feet.
It was therefore about as high as the doorway of the house under construction behind it. You will deduce that this is one over-the-top residence even by the showy standards of suburbia. Jefferson Parish Code Enforcement has cited its owners Shane and Holley Guidry not for vulgar display but for destroying the tree. The Guidrys say they are not guilty, and Parish Attorney Deborah Foshee concedes she doesn't know who is. So there is more deducing to be done.
If this is a whodunit, however, few people regard it as much of a challenge, to judge from an abundance of online comment. There are evidently no plans for a welcome wagon when the Guidrys move in. The finger of suspicion points at nobody else, and that portal --- 17 feet tall and 14 feet wide -- is exhibit A.
It will accommodate a door 12 feet tall and weighing 2,500 pounds, but the tree blocked the path of the crane required to install it. The Guidrys had already sought permission to move the tree, although their construction plans had been approved on condition that it, and another on adjacent public land, be left in place. When it appeared certain that the Old Metairie Commission would refuse to budge, they abandoned their application.
Next thing anybody knew along came the man and his dog to spy a gang that had lopped off branches and sawn almost completely through the trunk. According to the Guidrys' lawyer, Mike Thomas, their construction crew, realizing arboreal outrage had been committed, then ran off the perpetrators without, alas, identifying any of them or their paymaster.
Alas, too, an inspection revealed the wounds were fatal and the victim would have to be felled. It cost the parish $230 to complete what the outlaws had started.
It may be, as Thomas suggests, that "an unknown third party" arranged the hit. The intent must therefore have been to make the Guidrys look bad in the eyes of their new neighbors, since nobody else had any beef with that tree and the vandals would hardly have chosen it at random.
If there was a plan to implicate the Guidrys falsely, it clearly worked, but they may not have been welcomed to the neighborhood with open arms anyway. They are wealthy even by the standards of Old Metairie; he is the third-generation CEO of Harvey Gulf International Marine, which runs offshore supply vessels and tows drilling rigs. Shane Guidry and his family own 24 percent of the company, having sold the rest to a New York equity firm for $500 million. But that won't get them into the Boston Club.
Shane Guidry took over at Harvey Gulf from his father, Robert, who also owned the Treasure Chest riverboat casino in Kenner until he sold it for $112 million. Robert Guidry got his gambling license by bribing former Gov. Edwin Edwards and cronies, as he testified under a plea bargain at their trial.
Shane Guidry also hit the headlines for spending $1.4 million in an unsuccessful run for the Jefferson Parish Council several years ago. Around the same time the Guidrys got into a steakhouse punch-up with Al Copeland, the fried chick magnate who had also applied for the Kenner gambling license but evidently forgot to bribe anyone.
On the subject of chopping down trees, nobody in Old Metairie is comparing Shane Guidry to George Washington.
James Gill can be reached at jamessydneygill@gmail.com.
Source: http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2013/01/mystery_tree_attacker_was_no_g.html
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