Posted on 02/17/2011 11:14:35 AM PST by greatdefender
Today's lessons for would-be environmental vandals: If you're going to take it upon yourself to destroy a venerable icon beloved by hundreds of thousands of people, a) Pick a target that's not monitored by camera 24 hours a day, and b) Don't call in to the most popular radio show in the state to brag about your crime. Otherwise, you might end up like 62-year-old Alabama fan Harvey Almorn Updyke, better known now as "Al from Dadeville," who was arrested early this morning for allegedly applying a lethal dose of herbicide to a pair of 130-year-old oaks at Toomer's Corner, the traditional campus meeting point for Auburn fans to celebrate victory by rolling the trees. Updyke is charged with criminal mischief and was being held this morning on $50,000 bond.
His arrest came less than 18 hours after Auburn confirmed the poisoning in a release on Wednesday afternoon. Initially, the university was alerted by a caller to the Paul Finebaum Show on Jan. 27, "Al from Dadeville," who proudly described poisoning the trees with Spike 80DF – the same herbicide later found in soil samples – a few days after Auburn's comeback win over Alabama last November. According to the university, the lowest level of Spike detected in samples was 0.78 parts per million, "a very lethal dose." The highest level detected was 51 parts per million, some 65 times that lethal dose, which is possibly enough to warrant significant environmental penalties. (The university also said there's "no reason to suspect any human danger from the herbicide," and expert said at a press conference this morning that there's very little chance any groundwater would be affected.) Auburn police chief Tommy Dawson said this morning Updyke potentially faces further charges, but declined to elaborate.
(Excerpt) Read more at rivals.yahoo.com ...
I’m sure there’s an oak that wouldn’t mind a rope thrown over it.
I know that the University of Alabama had nothing to do with this and can’t control what their fans do....BUT I think it would be a classy gesture on their part if the University of Alabama would offer to replace the trees.
After the singing of the National Anthem at the next Auburn-Alabama game, he has to come out to midfield and apologize to Auburn and Alabama fans.
What an IDIOT!
They should put this asshole away for 20 years...but they won’t.
“rolling the trees” ???
Things that make one go Hhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm.....
After which he is gang-tackled by the defensive lines of BOTH schools. And then a field goal is attempted...with his head.
“Rolling the trees” means covering them in toilet paper. local tradition.
Obama fans are absolutely the worst.
If you’re so emotionally invested in a team, that you’re willing to commit a crime to show your allegiance....You’ve got some serious problems.
Remember, it’s just entertainment.
130 years old..... Apparently we have their birth certificates.
Take the criminal penalties to the maximum allowed; then sue him in civil court for every penny he has.
Then let the state and feds go after him for pollution!
“Auburn fans to celebrate victory by rolling the trees.”
What is rolling the trees?
And where do you find 400 year old trees?
Are the trees going to be ‘deader’ because they received a “very lethal” dose as opposed to just a lethal dose?
You can’t really replace them. What an evil idiot? Rabid college sports fans are morons. I cannot believe this guy did this for sports rivalry.
And then there are those who would take it as an admission of guilt.
No good deed goes unpunished.
I know.
It seems to me the trees would have been killed the very first time they were ‘rolled’. The last time I checked a tree had to be cut down and have had all its branches removed before it could be rolled anywhere...
;-)
Kinda makes me wish he was visited by the ghost of “Bear” Bryant...just to let him know what a totally asinine act that was.
I don’t suppose they will feature him in that Roll Tide commercial
If he is convicted of a crime, maybe they can get his pension revoked!
The school is 155 years old. The town is 175 years old. The corner in question (Magnolia and College), is roughly as old as the town itself.
There well may be a record of the planting of these trees.
This guy provides the continual proof that you just can’t fix ‘stupid’.
didnt say if the applicator was “high capacity” or just regular. maybe we should regulate high capacity herbicide applicators.
Can we just brand the word “DUMBASS” onto his forehead as a warning to others?
Retired cop. What a pig.
Maybe they can make a sculpture or something memorable out of the wood?
Spike will travel through the soil pretty far and keep killing. It will be lethal for a few years. They would have to remove all the soil in the area down to a certain depth.
He not only killed the trees, he killed the land.
I took donhunt’s comment to be a joke on the inability of obammy to produce his birth certificate even though the age of a tree that is at least 130 years old can be verified. Perhaps I am wrong.
Around here we call that TP’ing.
I can believe it. In El Paso a talk radio station that carried Beck and Dennis Miller changed formats to sports talk (making 3 of the 6 english AM stations sports oriented). I listened for a little bit and was disgusted by how much importance grown men were putting on entertainment. I can understand the hosts as there is money to be made from sports fans (just like there is money to be made from payday loans) but the people calling in who really, really, cared were just sad.
62? You’d think he’d have some wisdom by now.
I remember when another idiot in Austin poisoned the “Treaty Oak”. They save it, but had to take off a lot of the limbs. The cut off wood was turned into artifacts and sold by the city.
Check out the movie Big Fan about an obsessed NY Giants fan. Lead character regularly calls sports radio and eventually commits a crime.
The lead character was also a loser in his mid-30s who still lived with his mom. Unlike this tree-killer, who is apparently a 62 year old loser living in Dadeville.
Makes sense, thanks for the info.
I don't understand all these tree killings. I'm not a tree-hugger, but sometimes we do need the Lorax, or even better, a group of angry Ents.
That was done with a number of oaks killed along the Mississippi coast by the salt from Katrina's storm surge. Chainsaw wood sculptures.
It's worth suggesting to the university.
This guy only did what liberals have been doing to the tree of liberty since the 60’s.
Community service is the answer.
Give him a hand saw and axe to chop up the dead trees. Then he can carry the wood, piece by piece, to the houses of local poor people to use as firewood next winter.
Then give him one of those tiny flower garden shovels and make him remove every cubic inch of contaminated soil and root. Give him a wheelbarrow to use to haul it to the dump.
Then he can pay for replacement trees to be shipped in.
There is an old Pin Oak between the old trail path and the highway that was called The Hanging Tree. Its trunk is about 6 1/2 feet in diameter. I hope on one ever poisons that tree.
“130 years old..... Apparently we have their birth certificates.”
You ever hear of counting rings in trees?
I’m sixty two. When I was FOUR I wouldn’t have done such a thing.
The EPA ought to be able to fine the s**t out of this jerk for soil damage alone. My workplace can be liable for hundreds of thousands in EPA fines if the smallest amount of petroleum products is detected in stormwater or downstream.
He should be publically humiliated on an annual basis. Ideas?
The Democrat side of Congress?
Rolling = TP rolls
I thought the very same thought. Seeing his background also makes me wonder how many folks this guy rail-roaded when he was a Texas state Trooper?
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