Psst! Wanna Hot Christmas Tree?

'Tis the season to be--among other things--greedy. From private and federal land as well as commercial lots, untold numbers of Christmas trees are stolen every year for resale. One of the most ambitious schemes to date was uncovered last month in Colorado. Armed with forged permits and maps, six men conned a group of Denver tree distributors into bankrolling them by showing them seven sample trees. The group then went off to remote slopes and, with a crew of ten, buzz-sawed 2,000 more trees, that would probably have brought a total of $14,000. A neighbor heard the power saws at work and phoned police, who arrested the thieves. Such arrests are the exception, though, since guarding parks or forests is nearly impossible. "Some owners sleep by their lots," said a policeman in Bismarck, N.D. "But last night it was 18DEG below zero."

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