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Mr. Buckeye
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He should be forced to drink the stuff...one less idiot in the world.
Auburn: Toomer's Corner trees poisoned
Vandalism Of Trees Despicable Act
Arrest made in Toomer's Corner case
City of Auburn police on Thursday morning arrested Harvey Almorn Updyke, 62, of Dadeville, Ala., and charged him with criminal mischief. Updyke is a suspect in the poisoning of trees at Toomer's Corner. His bond was set at $50,000.
During a press conference, Auburn Police Chief Tommy Dawson commented on the investigation, “This morning at approximately 1:26 A.M. we took Harvey Updyke Jr. into custody for the poisoning and charged him with Criminal Mischief in the First Degree,” Dawson said. “We placed him under $50,000 bond at the Lee County Detention Facility where he is currently still incarcerated.”
“We began an extensive investigation last month,” Dawson said. “There are several things that I’m not going to mention today that lead us to believe he is the person responsible. That’s why he was arrested at 1:26 this morning.”
Dawson said sometime last January authorities received information that the two oak trees at Toomer’s Corner, the one on Magnolia and the one on College Street, had possibly been poisoned with a herbicide.
“The lab results showed us that they had indeed been poisoned and also gave us some other information that I’m not really going to get into right now. We then began the investigation to track down the person or persons responsible for this.”
University officials confirmed Wednesday that a lethal dose of the herbicide tebuthiuron, or Spike 80DF, was applied to the soil around the trees at the famous Toomer's Corner, apparently by an Alabama fan angry about Auburn’s recent national football championship.
Though arborists, horticulture experts and consultants from Dow Chemical, which manufactures the herbicide, are working to save plant life in the area, the prognosis is grim. The current plan is to put charcoal in trenches around the area.
"We're approaching this as if there is a chance of saving them," Auburn spokesman Mike Clardy said. "Our landscapers are out this morning doing everything they can to try to save them, but the amount that was applied was far beyond the lethal amount needed to kill the trees."
The 130-year-old trees sit at the corner of College and Magnolia streets next to Toomer's Drugs, a business that's as old as the oaks.
It is an unofficial demarcation line between the town of Auburn and the university but also has served as the site of postgame celebrations for generations. "Rolling the corner" is the phrase used to describe the tradition, dating to the 1950s, of tossing toilet paper into the trees after anything good happens at the university.
Now the trees are on life support.
Who would do such a thing? Not a criminal mastermind, according to the investigation.
On Jan. 27, a caller to Paul Finebaum’s syndicated radio show claimed that he, as a proud Alabama fan, poisoned the trees because he was upset by Auburn's BCS championship amid what he deemed a "cheating scandal." The caller even named the herbicide he claimed to have used.
Auburn officials took samples the next day and confirmed the results this week.
"We got the final analysis back and it was pretty high," Clardy said. "I don't think our tests could tell when, exactly, it happened. But presumably when this investigation results in an arrest, we'll know more about when it happened and why it happened."
According to horticulture experts on staff at Auburn, the herbicide does not pose any threat to humans. But the person who put it in the ground could be in some danger — not from the poison, but from Auburn fans.
"It is understandable to feel outrage in reaction to a malicious act of vandalism," university president Jay Gogue said. "However, we should live up to the example we set in becoming national champions and the beliefs expressed in our Auburn creed. Individuals act alone, not on behalf of anyone or any place, and all universities are vulnerable to and condemn such reprehensible acts."
Toomer's Corner is monitored by two cameras, one owned by the university and one by the city police. However, it is unknown if either of them record and store data.
"Those trees mean so much to the university," Clardy said. "We have to do everything we can."
http://www.foxsportssouth.com/msn/0...sec.html?blockID=412017&feedID=3648>1=39002
Auburn: Toomer's Corner trees poisoned
Vandalism Of Trees Despicable Act
Arrest made in Toomer's Corner case
City of Auburn police on Thursday morning arrested Harvey Almorn Updyke, 62, of Dadeville, Ala., and charged him with criminal mischief. Updyke is a suspect in the poisoning of trees at Toomer's Corner. His bond was set at $50,000.
During a press conference, Auburn Police Chief Tommy Dawson commented on the investigation, “This morning at approximately 1:26 A.M. we took Harvey Updyke Jr. into custody for the poisoning and charged him with Criminal Mischief in the First Degree,” Dawson said. “We placed him under $50,000 bond at the Lee County Detention Facility where he is currently still incarcerated.”
“We began an extensive investigation last month,” Dawson said. “There are several things that I’m not going to mention today that lead us to believe he is the person responsible. That’s why he was arrested at 1:26 this morning.”
Dawson said sometime last January authorities received information that the two oak trees at Toomer’s Corner, the one on Magnolia and the one on College Street, had possibly been poisoned with a herbicide.
“The lab results showed us that they had indeed been poisoned and also gave us some other information that I’m not really going to get into right now. We then began the investigation to track down the person or persons responsible for this.”
University officials confirmed Wednesday that a lethal dose of the herbicide tebuthiuron, or Spike 80DF, was applied to the soil around the trees at the famous Toomer's Corner, apparently by an Alabama fan angry about Auburn’s recent national football championship.
Though arborists, horticulture experts and consultants from Dow Chemical, which manufactures the herbicide, are working to save plant life in the area, the prognosis is grim. The current plan is to put charcoal in trenches around the area.
"We're approaching this as if there is a chance of saving them," Auburn spokesman Mike Clardy said. "Our landscapers are out this morning doing everything they can to try to save them, but the amount that was applied was far beyond the lethal amount needed to kill the trees."
The 130-year-old trees sit at the corner of College and Magnolia streets next to Toomer's Drugs, a business that's as old as the oaks.
It is an unofficial demarcation line between the town of Auburn and the university but also has served as the site of postgame celebrations for generations. "Rolling the corner" is the phrase used to describe the tradition, dating to the 1950s, of tossing toilet paper into the trees after anything good happens at the university.
Now the trees are on life support.
Who would do such a thing? Not a criminal mastermind, according to the investigation.
On Jan. 27, a caller to Paul Finebaum’s syndicated radio show claimed that he, as a proud Alabama fan, poisoned the trees because he was upset by Auburn's BCS championship amid what he deemed a "cheating scandal." The caller even named the herbicide he claimed to have used.
Auburn officials took samples the next day and confirmed the results this week.
"We got the final analysis back and it was pretty high," Clardy said. "I don't think our tests could tell when, exactly, it happened. But presumably when this investigation results in an arrest, we'll know more about when it happened and why it happened."
According to horticulture experts on staff at Auburn, the herbicide does not pose any threat to humans. But the person who put it in the ground could be in some danger — not from the poison, but from Auburn fans.
"It is understandable to feel outrage in reaction to a malicious act of vandalism," university president Jay Gogue said. "However, we should live up to the example we set in becoming national champions and the beliefs expressed in our Auburn creed. Individuals act alone, not on behalf of anyone or any place, and all universities are vulnerable to and condemn such reprehensible acts."
Toomer's Corner is monitored by two cameras, one owned by the university and one by the city police. However, it is unknown if either of them record and store data.
"Those trees mean so much to the university," Clardy said. "We have to do everything we can."
http://www.foxsportssouth.com/msn/0...sec.html?blockID=412017&feedID=3648>1=39002
