Armed woman perches in tree to prevent power company's limb trimming

A Texas woman says she doesn't want the electric company anywhere near her trees. Jeri Huber hasn't climbed a tree in 50 years, but she's planning to be up in her pecan tree on Monday morning, she's planning to protect it with a pellet gun. "That's how serious I take all this," she said while sitting in the tree in her manicured backyard. "I'm up in a tree."

Crews hired by Oncor Electric Delivery plan to trim back her pecan tree branches to keep them at least 10 feet from the power lines. After talking to Oncor and the tree-trimming subcontractor working for the power company, Huber said she'd rather have someone else cut the trees. "He said, 'Oh, all this is going to have to go. This is going to have to come back. It's 10 feet here, 10 feet there,'" Huber said. "They are not willing to work with you at all. They just kind of bully their way through this as if a homeowner has no rights."

Huber said the contractor told her they would trim the trees anyway, and she took that as a threat against her property. She says she doesn't plan on firing. "I just want it to look threatening," she said. "I would not be shooting anyone."

Huber says she has allowed Oncor to trim different trees in her yard in the past and understands the need to trim limbs near power lines, but she believes trimming the tree limbs 10 feet back could kill the trees. "They're going to be devastated," she said. "This one may die, this one over here may die, the others are going to look horrible. We all wants power. Power is very important, and I want it as much as anybody else, but what they do to trees is not necessary."