Who gets to pay the fine?

If a tree falls in the forest, and the forest is located in the jurisdiction of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, who gets to pay the fine?

The property owner, that's who.

According to a story appearing in Friday's Tahoe Daily Tribune, a Tahoe couple is facing a $50,000 fine because 10 trees died on their former property.

Tahoe planners found rock salt around the base of a 20-inch tree on their property in August 2004 when they were seeking a permit to remove some trees.

The couple's attorney denies they killed the trees, but the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency says it doesn't matter.

According to the agency, they are not required to prove someone actually killed the trees, only that the trees died on their property while they owned it.

Better take care of those trees at that rate.

We realize that for the most part living under TRPA's rules are pretty onerous. There have been many tales of people fined for moving boulders or constructing outbuildings without permission.

The rule is if the improvement is worth more than the fine, than many times people have just gone ahead and done what they needed to do.

Maybe it's because we know how difficult it can be to grow a tree, but a fine and having to replant doesn't seem to be enough of a punishment for this sort of behavior.

So we have a modest proposal to make.

Instead of fining violators, perhaps TRPA should require them to erect a large flashing neon sign in place of the trees. The sign could say "eats" or "vacancy," but it seems to us that what it ought to say is "tree killer."

We bet there would be fewer folks willing to kill a tree to improve their view, if that were the punishment.