For 87-year-old Bernard Gardner, the horrors of World War II live on. According to Gardner, while he was off fighting, his hometown of Los Banos, California, seized part of his property to widen the road. Sixty years later, the city came back and uprooted Gardner's cactus. It was the last straw. "I was perfectly willing to let them have the street until they took out the cactus," the old fighting man said.

Gardner argued that the cactus was on his property, but city workers ignored him. So, with the help of a neighbour, Gardner bored three holes in the middle of the road, intending to fill them with support posts for a fence that would encircle what he considers his original property line.

Los Banos Public Works Director Ray DeSa says the cactus was not legally on Gardner's property, and that Gardner is misinformed. City officials are wondering whether or not Gardner should be held responsible for the damage done to the road.

» Scott Saxon