A football game. The historic trees @ Toomer's corner were poisoned the day after the National Championship game. A caller to the Paul Finebaum show, a syndicated sports talk show, called in to the show that day and said he was Al from Dadeville and gave details on what he had done. I was listening that day when he called in and when i heard it i knew right then he was telling the truth..... more below the fold.
If you want to hear the voice of evil the call is on file here . What has this got to do with anything you might ask? Well for starters i am an auburn alumnus. I partied, rolled, and loved beneath those trees. I took both my sons there after every game we won and celebrated. These gentle giants have stood watch over the celebrations of victories for ONE HUNDRED & THIRTY YEARS. I can not describe the sadness with which i am trying to deal with right now. It is like a part of me has been ripped out and stomped upon.
It sickens me that the hatred of one individual can bring them to do this and i guess the lesson to take away from this is that hatred, real or imagined, is deadly. This man who did this CALLED in to a national radio show and braggeed that he did this.
The university learned that a caller to The Paul Finebaum Show, a nationally syndicated radio show based in Birmingham, on Jan. 27, claimed he had applied the herbicide. As a precaution, soil samples were taken the next day and sent to the Alabama State Pesticide Residue Laboratory on campus for analysis. Due to a small fire that occurred in the Alabama lab in December, the tests were sent to the lab at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss., to expedite results
Officials said in a news release that the lowest amount of the poison detected was 0.78 parts per million, described by horticulture experts as a “very lethal dose.” The highest amount detected was 51 parts per million, or 65 times the lowest dose. Experts believe a normal application by itself would have been enough to kill the trees, which are estimated to be more than 130 years old.
“We are assessing the extent of the damage and proceeding as if we have a chance to save the trees,” said Gary Keever, an Auburn University professor of horticulture and a member of Auburn’s Tree Preservation Committee. “We are also focused on protecting the other trees and shrubs in Samford Park. At this level the impact could be much greater than just the oaks on the corner, as Spike moves through the soil to a wide area.”
So not only did he poison those trees, but quite possibly due to the poison spreading, it may kill most of the vegetation within 150-200 yards. The poison is 80DF If any of my fellow kossites know anything that can be done please help. We are an agriculture school but i know that no one has all the knowledge that can be learned so please please if you know someone that can help post a link here or message the univeristy.