Official poster unveiled for Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game between Auburn, Washington

JaWarrenJaHooker said:

I thought their tree died

Toomer's Trees poisoned
On January 27, 2011, a man calling himself "Al" and claiming to be from Dadeville, a town thirty minutes from Auburn, called into Paul Finebaum's sports talk radio show. "Al" admitted to poisoning the trees with an herbicide called Spike 80DF (Tebuthiuron) the weekend following the 2010 Iron Bowl, an away game the Tigers played on Friday, November 26, 2010, in Tuscaloosa; Auburn came back from a 24–0 second-quarter deficit to win 28–27. He said he did this in retaliation for photos that he claimed to have seen in the Birmingham News that depicted Auburn fans rolling Toomer's Corner after announcement of former University of Alabama head-coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's death in 1983 as well as of an Auburn #2 (number of 2010 Auburn quarterback Cam Newton) Under Armour T-shirt taped to Bryant's statue earlier in the 2010 season. He ended his call by saying, "Roll damn Tide!" An exhaustive search of newspapers found no evidence of Toomer's being rolled upon Bryant's death.[19][20]

The caller's claims prompted Auburn to take soil samples. On February 16, 2011, Auburn officials announced that the live oak trees at Toomer's Corner had been poisoned with a large quantity of Spike 80DF, a herbicide governed by Alabama state agricultural laws and the Environmental Protection Agency; Spike 80DF was not used by Auburn University. Tests of soil samples showed the lowest levels of Spike 80DF to be 0.78ppm, which experts stated was enough to be a "very lethal dose." The highest levels of concentration were measured to be 51ppm. Gary Keever, an Auburn University professor of horticulture and a member of Auburn's Tree Preservation Committee has said "[Spike 80DF] is extremely active and persistent [and] it's likely to be in the soil for 3 to 5 years." Concerns about the poisoned groundwater were dropped following further soil analysis, but later the soil from Toomer's Corner was completely excavated and replaced with untainted soil.


Toomer's Corner, at the intersection of College and Magnolia avenues in Auburn, Alabama, after the poisoned trees had been removed and the area placed under 24-hour surveillance
Auburn University and city police both launched investigations into the matter. Finebaum later reported that Federal authorities were also involved due to concerns of the herbicide having entered the groundwater. Both Auburn University President Jay Gogue and University of Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore condemned this act.[21][22][23][24][25][26][27]

Police traced the call to the home of Harvey Updyke Jr. of Dadeville. Updyke, a retired Texas state trooper, was taken into custody at 1:26 am CST on February 17, 2011 and charged with one count of criminal mischief, a class C felony in Alabama. On March 22, 2013, he received a 3-year split sentence, which includes 6 months incarceration and jail credit for time already served. Upon release, Updyke was sentenced to 5 years supervised probation with a 7 pm curfew. He is also prohibited from attending any collegiate sports event and banned from Auburn University property. The efforts made by the university to save the trees proved to be unsuccessful. "It came to a point where we realized it wasn't going to work, and the amount of poison in the ground was such that the trees were not going to survive," said Mike Clardy, Director of Communications For Auburn University. The oak trees at Toomer's Corner were removed on April 23, 2013.[28][29][30][31] On November 8, 2013, Circuit Judge Jacob A. Walker III ruled that Updyke (who had moved to Louisiana) owes Auburn University $796,731.98 in restitution, to be paid in installments of $500 per month.[32] Auburn University sought more than $1 million in damages, the greater part of which was based on a soil-analysis estimate of $521,396.74 by the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries. Updyke was released to 5 years' supervised probation after having served 104 days of incarceration.[33]

On February 14, 2015, two new 35-foot tall live oaks were planted to replace the original oaks. The university requested that fans not roll the trees with toilet paper until the Fall 2016 season, to allow the trees to acclimate to their new environment.[34] Despite this precaution, one of the two replacement trees died within a few months and is scheduled to be replaced yet again.[35] Wood from the original oaks was fashioned into memorabilia, with the profits going toward a scholarship fund.[36] The replacement tree fronting Magnolia Avenue was set on fire on September 25, 2016 during celebrations for Auburn's victory against LSU the previous night. As of October 2016, an assessment of the tree's health revealed that 60-70% of the canopy was dead, and prospects for the tree's survival were not favorable.[37] The other tree fronting College Street, while not damaged by the fire, had failed to become properly established. In February 2017, two 30-foot tall live oaks were planted to replace the two previous failing trees.[38]

Their coach looks fat.

They used GERBERDING Hall! Doomed or nice nod to the dreaded Upper Campus?

Haha. Auburn Washington. South King County Rulz!

AuburnFan said:

JaWarrenJaHooker said:

I thought their tree died

Bitch! We put two more up

Didn't one of those also die?