News Release

Mr. Larry J. Folds Sr. Writes:
It was the year of 1986 when Mrs. Annie Brown agreed to sell me 188 acres of Brown's Island; Needless to say it was one of the highlights in my life. Conversely 04/20/07 was an awful day for my family and me. That day, as we have done consistently for the last 8 years, we took the Jon boat over to the Island to mow, cleanup, and work on our equipment. The senseless vandalism we found was to say the least, heartbreaking and almost indescribable. Now age 64, my life long plan has been to build my last home on a special spot on the Island, retire and raise oysters. What kind of rage could have sustained what I believe to be a man 6' + tall and 200+ lbs, for the 1 to 2 hours as he selectively cut 19 trees? Nine of them were mostly magnificent 150+ year old Live Oaks, favorites of the family. The oldest of the trees has been on her knees, trying to live for the last 30 or 40 years after being blown over in what must have been a terrible storm. He tried to cut through her massive 3ft wide trunk and failed, and then he started lopping off her limbs to kill the old girl. The shade, campfire ambience, the sunset view, and the pride all gone, never to return even in my son's lifetime. We walked in silence and disbelief as we surveyed the intentional damage, not only to the trees but the tractor, the fence, storage bins, mowers and everything he had come across. We left that day with a knot in our stomachs without doing our work, but with a commitment to find the human being that could do such a horrendous thing.