BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- Alliea Phipps is no Paul Bunyan, but she does have a touch of George Washington in her.
She wanted some tall trees outside her condominium trimmed for a better view of the Sept. 6 Riverfest fireworks.
She cannot tell a lie about that.
But Ms. Phipps says there's no connection between her and the vandals who sawed down three elm trees Friday along Riverside Drive. Ms. Phipps called The Cincinnati Enquirer on Wednesday to say she's the person who called the city to ask the public works department to top the trees.
Police said they're still investigating. Public works officials said they'll tell police Ms. Phipps isn't the culprit.
"I think it was fairly obvious that, even though I called about topping the trees, I live a few miles down the river from the ones that were cut," Ms. Phipps said.
Ms. Phipps called the city at the request of her Riverview Condominium Association. The city said it wasn't in the business of cutting trees and, besides, it didn't even own the ones on Ky. 8 that Ms. Phipps was asking about.
City officials told Ms. Phipps to call the trees' owners. She did. They said topping the trees could kill them. The owners also explained that the trees offer flood protection.
Satisfied, Ms. Phipps reported back to the condo association. "We all agreed we'd rather have the flood protection," Ms. Phipps said. "We are all happy with our view and understand the need for the trees."
Then Ms. Phipps read about the three 30-foot elm trees on Riverside Drive.
"It took faxes and jokes from three or four people before I realized I was the suspect," Ms. Phipps said.
"All of my neighbors are laughing about this, but I haven't been able to find any humor in it. In a couple of weeks, I'm probably going to think it's really funny."
