I know this won’t come as shocing news to anyone, but Harvey Updyke has finally admitted to poisoning the trees at Toomer’s Corner at Auburn University.

Here is the story: http://www.southernpigskin.com/SEC/view/updyke-admits-to-poisoning-trees

My question is, what type of punishment do you think Updyke deserves?

He should have to live in Alabama for the rest of his days and never leave the state.

Auburn people had best thank their lucky stars WVU is not in the conference, they would have chopped those trees down, turned them into couches and then burned them.

Put him in a tank filled with the same poison he used and make him stay in there an entire football season. But seriously 5 years at county….

I am, and always have been, a real tree lover.  It pains me to see patches of forest cleared so that people can build a house or an office building.  I take my son out and teach him as many species as we can see, as my parents did before me.

Trees clean the air, provide us with oxygen to breath, hold the soil in place to prevent horrible erosion, provide us with food by their fruit, provide protection from wind and sun, provide nesting places for birds, habitat for insects and other critters.  I love them!

That said, this is a clear case of sickness in this individual.  Also, I know not everyone values a tree as much as I do.  Why is it okay for a lumber company to chop them down by the thousands, but not okay for a man to poison two?  What makes them a “venerable” object?  Who says that a tree in the forest isn’t loved just as much by fewer people, or by more animals?

I’d give him 6 months in the slammer to think about it, and let him be free.  It was a hateful, thoughtless action that I doubt he (or others) will be repeating soon.

-f

Somehow Sem, I think Updike WANTS to live in Alabama forever.  “Roll **** tide.”

Dude is not right.

I am not a fan of locking up people that are not menaces to society.  With jail/prison over crowding, I don’t think a stupid-ass fan that went too far on a juvenile prank needs to be incarcerated at the expense of taking the spot of an armed robber or child molester that has to be let go early to make room for this fellow.

He needs a stiff punishment that doesn’t necessarily require jail time.  Make him poor.  Fine him.  Make him pay restitution.  Make him a pariah… 

He is already an outcast that nobody wants to deal with. College rivalries can get way the hell out of hand and this is a pretty strong one.

What he did at Toomers corners was terrible.  No doubt.  But if you peel away the obvious relevance of the history of this spot…....All he did was damage a few trees.  Around the planet, trees are used for human consumption daily.  All of our houses have contributed to some form of the destruction of a number of trees and when I fire up my smoker this weekend I will be taking out either some apple wood, pecan of mesquite trees in order to make the various meats I will be smoking taste better.  A tree is essentially a crop that can be grown, cut down and another one grown.

I am not trying to marginalize the issue, and I have remained fairly silent on this one…........I am just saying that I am not there on prison.  There are way too many other alternatives that will suffice.

I listen to Finebaum podcasts of interviews I am interested in and they had one recently where a lawyer claimed that Alabama law says tree killing is a misdemeanor while Updike is charged with a felony. He may get off with a light sentence.

Sem’s post was hilarious.