Duluth Christmas tree thief strikes

Thanks to the Duluth News Tribune, we have officially kicked off stolen-Christmas-tree season in Minnesota.

It happened in the city’s Lakeside neighborhood where Martin Running has several pine trees in his yard.

Someone thought, “I’ll just saw off the top of one of his trees and save some money” apparently, because that’s what happened. They cut about 12 feet off, presumably leading police to suspect the thief is someone with a high ceiling.

Mr. Running was classically Minnesotan about the whole thing.

“All I can really say is, I hope they really needed it,” he told the paper.

Running says his insurance company would only pay for a fraction of the cost of replacing the tree so he’s going to leave things the way they are.

“The worst part is, I’ve got some nice trees on my property, where does it begin and end? When do they come back?”