It's the biggest story in Alabama since, well, the end of college football season.
News that a rabid Crimson Tide fan poisoned 130-year-old live oaks at Auburn University's historic Toomer's Corner has whipped the state into a frenzy usually reserved for the Iron Bowl. The bizarre incident has exposed an old-fashioned hate that's not always clean.
"I think [Harvey Almorn Updyke, charged with the poisoning] is representative of a fringe element of fans right now who are angry about a lot of things," sports talk show host Paul Finebaum told the Birmingham News. "They are angry about Auburn winning the national championship, but they are equally angry about what happened at the game in Tuscaloosa, and about the fact that they don't believe Cam Newton should have been eligible, and they don't believe Auburn won a legitimate national championship.
"You get all of these different things working together, and I think the anger level for this is much higher than it's been," said Finebaum, who, on Jan. 27, received a call from an Alabama fan claiming to have poisoned the treasured oaks. According to an affidavit released by the Lee County District Court, Updyke admitted to making that call and one other, to a Auburn professor of turfgrass management and weed science, regarding the incident.
The trees are given almost no chance of surviving the Spike 80DF, or tebuthiuron, that Updyke is accused of applying in lethal amounts. "It'll take divine intervention" to save them, former Auburn Athletic Director David Housel told the AJC.
While the 62-year-old former Texas state trooper bragged about the incident, he told police he didn't actually spread the herbicide, according to the affidavit.
A $50,000 bond was set for Updyke, who spent Thursday night in the Lee County Jail. The Dadeville, Ala., resident was arrested early Thursday morning and charged with first-degree criminal mischief.
A childhood friend of Updyke's told the Opelika-Auburn News the Texas native -- who, according to a school spokeswoman, did not attend the University of Alabama -- had no criminal past.
"He was always fun-loving and enjoyed laughter," said Dadeville resident Howard Wayne Barnes.
While growing up in Milton, Fla., Updyke fell in love with the Crimson Tide, Barnes told the paper. He named his two children Crimson and Bear, presumably in honor of Paul "Bear" Bryant, the legendary Alabama football coach who died in 1983.
Somewhere down the line, police allege, Updyke's affinity for ‘Bama was transcended by a hatred of Auburn. Finebaum told ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" he predicts Tiger fans will retaliate.
Auburn President Jay Gogue urged them to instead "live up to the example we set in becoming national champions and the beliefs expressed in our Auburn Creed."
Condemnation was widespread, including from Alabama officials eager to distance themselves from the action of a crazed fan.
"It's an awful act, a terrible thing to do," University of Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore said in a statement. "A lot of what makes our two programs so special is our many unique traditions. So, hearing this about Toomer's Corner is upsetting to me in several ways. I certainly hope that whomever is responsible is held accountable."
A Facebook page started by Alabama graduates, called Tide for Toomer's, solicited donations for the damaged trees. By late Friday afternoon more than 21,000 people had joined.
"We want you to know, in no uncertain terms, that we do not accept what ‘Al' has done -- there is simply no excuse for this type of abhorrent behavior," the page's founders wrote. "We condemn his actions in the strongest possible manner. While he may claim the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, he does not represent us in any capacity."
Updyke faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the felony, which the caller to Finebaum's show said occurred during the first week of December.
"The weekend after the Iron Bowl, I went to Auburn, Ala., because I live 30 miles away, and I poisoned the Toomer's trees," "Al from Dadeville" told Finebaum.
The veteran sports talk host told the Birmingham News that Auburn police called him shortly after the Jan. 27 show. Federal investigators called soon after.
Alerted to the claim, Auburn scientists began testing soil samples from around the Toomer's trees.
The lowest amount detected was .78 parts per million, which horticulture authorities classify as a "very lethal dose," according to the university. The highest amount was 65 times that.
Updyke, who could also face federal charges, will be barred from Auburn's campus if released on bond.
-- Staff writer Kristi E. Swartz contributed to this article.
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