The Cherry-Tree Thief

August 28, 2001 - The myth is that George Washington once cut down a cherry tree with an axe, and then when questioned about it said "Father, I cannot tell a lie." An early biographer named Parson Weems invented this story to illustrate George Washington’s honesty. While lying wasn’t in George’s nature, unfortunately it is in many of our neighbors’. But the XCam2 cannot lie either, and it makes an honest watchdog.

Merrill Tamblin is a retired computer worker who has had a cherry tree growing in his back yard for several years. Every year, he has tended to his cherry tree, and every year he has reaped the bounty of its fruit. But this last spring, for the first time, Merrill says, "the cherries from the big cherry tree, which is close to my garden wall, have been stolen several times." This always happened when Merrill and his wife were away from the house, usually for the whole day. "It was really disheartening," Merrill said, "because these cherries were particularly delicious."

Naturally Merrill had his suspicion as to who was stealing the cherries, but as with any suspicion, that’s all they were unless he could actually prove something. So he tried to find a way to prove who it was. "In the back of my mind," Merrill said, "I suspected the 'punk’ teenager who lived on the other side of the street. I noticed that he wore army boots with notched soles." To make a test, Merrill watered the ground around the tree one morning before he and his wife left for the day, so that he could get a set of footprints. "Sure enough," Merrill said, "my plan succeeded. The teenager left his footprints all around the tree."

Merrill was ready to visit the boy’s parents, but then his wife pointed out that footprints were not really reliable evidence. He would need something stronger. Then a friend told him about the X10 camera system, and how that may work to solve the problem. So Merrill decided to try that out. "I bought the XCam2" Merrill said, "then I fixed it on the wall of the house near the tree, and hooked it up to the VCR." He checked out the connections, and they worked like a charm. So the next time they planned to be gone for the day, Merrill says he "set the VCR to long play record," and he and his wife set out to enjoy their day.

Later that evening, Merrill noticed the footprints again, and this time, he went into the house and viewed the tape. Sure enough, he had several minutes of the teen and his friends enjoying a meal around his tree. So armed with the tape, Merrill went to the boy’s father and told him that the boy was stealing cherries. And to prove it, he showed the boy’s father the tape. That was all the proof that he needed to reprimand his son and make sure that he never made an appearance in Merrill’s garden again. And the teen knew that no matter where he was, Merrill would be watching him.

Father, the XCam2 cannot tell a lie.

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