From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
AUBURN –Later this week, Auburn University will replace both oak trees on Toomer’s Corner, according to the Opelika-Auburn News.
The original trees were poisoned by Harvey Updyke in 2010. Those trees were replaced a year ago this month. In July, one of those trees had to be replaced again.
Following the 2016 LSU game, one of the trees was set on fire. Auburn resident Jochen Wiest was charged in that case. University officials said 60-70 percent of the tree canopy was dead following the fire.
The two new trees will be installed on Saturday by Southern Scape of Huntsville. A spokesman from the company said that the tree unaffected by the fire was not progressing well.
“They knew that once they replaced the one that got burnt, the other one kind of wasn’t up to par anyway – like it wasn’t really thriving like it should be,” Denny Langston told the OA News. “So, they said lets go ahead and replace both of them at the same time. That way it would match, and they’d have some good healthy trees that they picked out quite a while ago.”
The university is preparing a statement that officials plan to release later this week.
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Valerie Caston
Ansley Cross
Valerie Caston
Elise Christenberry