There is no truth to the statement that people in Alabama never "murder" their Crape Myrtles. Even the city does it here with the trees in the medians. We have 'Crape Myrtles' my wife let some friends come over and help one day and they trimmed one of ours, I cut the tree down. The power company cut down all the ones in the back yard except for one miniature near the house and one full size right next to the rear deck. The rest in the front remain untrimmed and look the way I think they are suppose to look and have the beautiful bark and trunks and the tops that look natural.
