If a tree falls in Virgil, does it make a sound?

Apparently it’s thunderous.

“What was our council thinking?????” asks Nancy Nicols. “It was a premature decision to fell these beautiful and magnificent trees in this uncertain time. Please drive by again … soon … to see the devastation.”

To remind you: the issue is the chainsaw massacre of 700 pines in Virgil to make way for 152 as-yet unsold housing units because (as everyone says) we have a housing crisis and must build our buns off.

Everything’s approved these days. Tract houses. Honking big hotels in Old Town. Condos. Towers. Heritage house mutilations. 

Meanwhile, the housing market’s gone icy. Sales are rare. Prices under pressure.

Now we have a federal election and untested PM. The orange guy across the river wants to tax and annex us. Layoffs have started. People are uncertain, anxious and in no mood to spend seven figures on a new-build, even in bucolic NOTL.

By the way, Nancy loves trees. “My late husband and I built our home in 2010. We back onto hundreds of trees. We had one special blue spruce tree we called ‘Fat Albert.’ We adorned him with flood lights every Christmas, celebrating his beauty. Although Fat Albert still stands, we wonder for how much longer.”

But wait. There’s more to the story of arboreal mayhem, sap-spilling and slaughter.

Phooey, says Arthur Wosinski. “This was not a forest at any time, just an overgrown tree farm that was planted to harvest, but never was. Can we clear that up once and for all?”

“I happen to live in the development right next to it. We moved here 20 years ago when all around us was orchards and knew it would be developed at some point as it was within the Virgil urban boundary. Additionally, the ‘forest’ everyone is complaining about was obviously a Christmas tree farm when we first moved here and was just left to grow wild over the years.”

Well, she’s gone now. The pressure to build, build, build is not.

And that brings us to Stu’s Rangers. Or, as it’s formally called, the NOTL Residents Association (NOTLRA). Inspired by former councillor Stuart McCormack, these folks are out to mobilize, politicize and give local politicians a few slaps on the noggin for the crazy stuff they do. Like murdering trees.

Membership has surged, I hear, and after a few organization gigs, the group is about to go big with an open house at the community centre on the night of Wednesday, May 14.

“We want people to know the purpose of a town-wide association is to be a way to build cross-community support for neighbourhood and town issues,” says Frances Stocker, “and to amplify residents’ views through a combined, united voice. Also, such an association could provide a focus for encouraging residents to run for council.”

Well, the Rangers have now incorporated. They’ve got a Facebook group. A website is coming fast. And they have a way for new recruits to be in touch and sign up: notlra2025@gmail.com.

“We’re looking forward to building a strong, town-wide voice that will be heard loud and clear in decisions affecting our town,” says Stocker.

So the battle lines sharpen a little more. Wosinski (who’s also a realtor) says he does not yet have a handle on NOTLRA, but, “the NIMBY crowd has always been against all development.”

Odds are the Rangers will flourish in the months leading up to the next local election. McCormack has not ruled out the prospect of a reform “slate” being offered to voters at that time.

It seems to be a pivotal moment in this gelato-and-horses paradise, as local businesses harvest those $1.40 American bucks and we hope Tariff Man has one too many cheese dogs.