Driving Range Owner Freed, Must Pay for Trees

John Thoburn, a Fairfax, Va., golf driving range owner who spent more than three months in jail after refusing to comply with a judge’s order to plant trees, was released.

Judge Michael P. McWeeny authorized Fairfax County to come onto Thoburn’s property and do the landscaping work itself. The county had ordered Thoburn to plant more trees and he had refused. The judge also levied a $48,500 fine against Thoburn and ordered that he reimburse the county.

“What’s been before me is simply a question of obeying the law,” McWeeny said. “Before I incarcerated him [Feb. 16], I gave him the option to comply or close the facility. He chose to do neither.”