Harvey Updyke (Auburn tree poisoner) now living in his car
Just guessing that this is how Harvey Updyke looks when he wakes up in the morning in his car. (AP photo)
I’m assuming this will not elicit a lot of sympathy, but the yahoo who allegedly poisoned the Auburn oak trees apparently so concerned for his safety that he’s living in his car. Also, he’s now being defended by an attorney who represented the former Birmingham mayor, who’s now in prison for bribery, fraud and money-laundering.
Is this a movie of the week or what?
According to a friend of Harvey Updyke, who phoned a Birmingham sports talk show that he poisoned the iconic oak trees at Toomers Corner in Auburn, public enemy No. 1 has gone into seclusion and is living in a car by a creek somewhere in Alabama.
So I guess it follows that if Updyke phones another sportstalk show, his handle of “Al from Dadeville” becomes “Al from Chevy.”
Wayne Barnes, a friend of Updyke’s, told the Birmingham News: “He left [his home] and went to buy a new cell phone, and while he was at the Wal-Mart somebody cut two of his tires.”
Hah! Roll Tide.
It’s not all bad news for Updkye. After three court-appointed attorneys in succession managed to talk their way off the case, somebody finally has stepped forward and taken the case: Glennon Threatt Jr. Representing hated and morally reprehensible individuals is nothing new for Threatt. He defended former Birmingham mayor Larry Langford, who last year began serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison following his public corruption trial.
Threatt said of Updyke in an interview with the Paul Finebaum radio show: “He has very limited resources He is exactly the kind of person the law requires to get adequate representation. Now he’s facing a hostile crowd that rather than have a jury, he’ll probably have a crowd of pitchforks and torches out there waiting for him.”
No sympathy here.
By Jeff Schultz
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500 comments Add your comment
Fearless Fife
February 23rd, 2011
4:51 pm
NEWS BREAK
Rumors are surfacing that Harvey Updyke is an innocent fall guy. Technicians from Bubba’s Pulpwooding Co. now theorize that the source of the contaminants are chemicals used in the production of toilet paper. Could overzealous Auburn fans be reponsible for this grisly tree slaying?
techengineer
February 23rd, 2011
4:53 pm
Get off the man’s back please.. He did what any respectable fan would do under similar circumstances!
Gay War Eagle
February 23rd, 2011
4:53 pm
Come on people its just a tree.
Fearless Fife
February 23rd, 2011
4:53 pm
Crimson and White
The curriculum at Auburn includes more than cow milking and animal husbandry.
Flatwoods Dawg
February 23rd, 2011
4:55 pm
Gay War Eagle
Does that mean that you like girls more than football?
Terry
February 23rd, 2011
4:56 pm
Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
Crimson and White
February 23rd, 2011
4:57 pm
Fearless Fife
I’m sorry your right they also teach How to lie in a FBI investigation 101
another bible reader
February 23rd, 2011
4:59 pm
Leviticus 1:13 You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to bring all of them and burn them on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
Crimson and White
February 23rd, 2011
4:59 pm
I’m sorry Terry is that what Scam Newton’s father told Auburn when he asked for the check?
AndyG
February 23rd, 2011
5:01 pm
Fife – Keep up the good work with the investigation. I’ll keep an eye on Otis down at the jailhouse and tell Thelma that you are working late and won’t be able to make your date. If you run into any problems remember to nip it in the bud
Flatwoods Dawg
February 23rd, 2011
5:03 pm
I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree………
Flatwoods Dawg
February 23rd, 2011
5:06 pm
I think that I shall never see
a poem as lovely as a tree
now the tree is dead
the eulogies have been all been said
And I have to find another place to pee
AAA Gator
February 23rd, 2011
5:07 pm
During next years’ Iron Bowl all Bama fans should have an Auburn fan on their right and left-side. And at halftime they will hold hands and sing Kumbaya. This would bring a tear to the Old Gators’ eyes.. But most of all it would be good for the State of Alabama, College football and yes the Jerry Springer show. Hell, Jerry could MC haftime where a mobile home could be given to on luck Auburn fan.
Fearless Fife
February 23rd, 2011
5:09 pm
AndyG
Sheriff, the trees in Mayberry are safe as sure as my name is Fearless Fife.
TsunamiTide
February 23rd, 2011
5:17 pm
Those tree were pronounced as dying in 2007. Just more whining from the barn yard crowd still seeking legitimacy. No telling how many trees have been killed to make all the toilet paper thrown so very contradictory logic but what do you expect from that crap school. When is the wood chooping contest!!!!
Tom
February 23rd, 2011
5:18 pm
Last thing I’m going to say on this matter. I saw in paper his children are named Crimson Tyde and Bear Bryant! I’m at a lost for words, someone sane please help me.
dawg777
February 23rd, 2011
5:20 pm
AUBURN FANS MAKING DEATH THREAT TO HARVEY UPDYKE OVER 2 TREES. SICK AUBURN FANS!!!!!
TsunamiTide
February 23rd, 2011
5:26 pm
Dont believe everything you read Tom. I just wished the barn school crowd would care more about the wife beatings than the oak trees
Fearless Fife
February 23rd, 2011
5:27 pm
Tom
I don’t think that is crazy. I am just a normal Dawg Fan. I am married and have three sons. They are named Harry Herschel, Vince Pollock, and Munson. That doesn’t make me crazy. Does IT?
Fearless Fife
February 23rd, 2011
5:29 pm
Tsunami Tide
Roger and 10-4 These Awbarners cry bloody murder about two trees and turn a blind eye to sheep molestation and stump training cows.
Druid City
February 23rd, 2011
5:30 pm
I think I will name my kids Jan Kemp, Quincy Carter, Jasper Sanks, and Damon Evans.
TsunamiTide
February 23rd, 2011
5:31 pm
Fearless – We would only be worried if you named them UGAI, UGAII and UGAIII
Saint Simon
February 23rd, 2011
5:32 pm
Harvey told someone in jail that if a auburn fan wouldnt have put a scam newton jersey on Bear Bryants statue that none of this would have happened!!! It probably didnt help that bama blew the big lead either!!! So the auburn fan is partly to blame!!!!!
Druid City
February 23rd, 2011
5:34 pm
Jim Harrick, Tony Cole, and Michael Adams all have a nice ring to it, too.
Allyanaz
February 23rd, 2011
5:34 pm
I can’t imagine that anyone would take revenge out on a tree for losing a football game. I mean, we’re talking about TREES as if they had something to do with a football game? Effective peer pressure will not increase his I.Q. He’ll probably go on through life “unencumbered by the thought process.”
SmittyATL
February 23rd, 2011
5:35 pm
It’s pathetic, really. Yes, he’s a dumb redneck who comitted a juvenile act of sabotage. And yes, he deserves punishment. But he’s a troubled soul, and though we may joke about him, we should all feel a twinge of pity.
Druid City
February 23rd, 2011
5:37 pm
Allyanaz,
UGA fans took revenge on their own hedges for losing nine in a row to Tennessee.
Fearless Fife
February 23rd, 2011
5:38 pm
Druid City
May I suggest Numb Nuts as an apt name?
Druid City
February 23rd, 2011
5:39 pm
Smitty,
The UGA fans don’t know what the word sabotage means.
You are wasting keystrokes.
SmittyATL
February 23rd, 2011
5:42 pm
Thanks Druid — I’ll try to use small words for any future posts in AJC blogs.
Druid City
February 23rd, 2011
5:43 pm
Fearless Fife, Harry Herschel, Vince Pollock, Munson, and Numb Nuts. See y’all at the tailgate the next time we play in Athens.
Rexall
February 23rd, 2011
5:58 pm
Toomer’s Corner is ruined because of one evil redneck.
Commonsenseagitator
February 23rd, 2011
6:22 pm
IT’S A TREE people, grow up.
Matt from MN
February 23rd, 2011
6:35 pm
Matt Foley references….classic.
TsunamiTide
February 23rd, 2011
6:36 pm
Rexall – dont worry, Toomers corner will be there. It just will not have the same about of shade. The world will be a better place as not near as many trees will now have to be cut down to supply the TP
AUBC
February 23rd, 2011
6:51 pm
When this bastar*d gets to prison, AU and Alabamma fans in same will beat the crud out of him….slimpy is this guy.
Terry
February 23rd, 2011
7:02 pm
another bible reader
February 23rd, 2011
4:59 pm
Leviticus 1:13 You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to bring all of them and burn them on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
============================================
King James Bible – Leviticus 1:13 – But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring [it] all, and burn [it] upon the altar: it [is] a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
Terry
February 23rd, 2011
7:03 pm
Crimson and White, I don’t know if Newton’s father got any money or not but according to Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; If he’s guilty he will have to give account for it, just like I’ll have to give account for the things I do, the probable with people is that they put a gauge on sin, weather it worst, or not, but God only knows sin, he’s not going to send a person to hell for what they did, its what they didn’t do that’s going to get them.
1 John 4:20 – If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
Dirty Dawg
February 23rd, 2011
7:04 pm
Sorry AU fans, but before this guy’s trial is over you people are gonna be the bad guys…after all the man lived the better part of 62 years pulling for Alabama and hating Auburn without ever having done something so heinous…but for some reason he did something this year. Gee, I wonder why? Won’t take a Clarence Darrow to figure out that the actions of Auburn’s notorious ‘pay-for-play’ bunch of ‘bots’, that brought this latest array of talent in – by the way, I hear they’ve established an over/under on the number of classes both Cam and Nick The Bruiser actually attended while there…something like 25 sounds about right – proved to be too much for this Alabama fan and he ’snapped’. I mean how many of us could sit still and watch a crook walk away with his ‘ill-gotten gains’ and realize that they’ll probably get away with it? Some people just can’t and feel they have to take matters in their own hands – well this guy killed some trees…at least it wasn’t the bird. Verdict will be ‘diminished capacity, due to Auburn gettin’ away with it’…or ‘justifiable arborcide’.
ol' balls coach
February 23rd, 2011
7:15 pm
Another fine ‘Bama fan living in a car -Hey Al, does the tide roll in a creek???
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
February 23rd, 2011
7:22 pm
reading this article makes me miss Chris Farley even more…love van by the river skit
Timbo
February 23rd, 2011
7:36 pm
Chris Farley would be proud.
Worm
February 23rd, 2011
7:36 pm
Harvey has just been spotted with Don McClean-Drove his Chevy to the levee.
atljeep
February 23rd, 2011
7:36 pm
So……… let’s all think about this for a minute……a person went into this public grove of trees which is well lit and spent how long ? spreading some kind of solid/liquid poison around all of these trees into the soil and NO ONE saw him ? discuss…………
Crimson and White
February 23rd, 2011
7:37 pm
The problem with people is they say you cannot gauge sin well I doubt my God considers cooking up meth in a house and killing 3 children the same as making a few comments on a blog.
Terry
February 23rd, 2011
8:00 pm
Crimson and White, King David had a man sent to the front line, so he would be killed, because he had laid with the man’s wife, and she was carrying King Davids child, David repented, and was forgiven, God said, David was a man after his on heart. I don’t know how God thinks, but those same people who kill the 3 children, have a chance to repent for their deeds.
Mr. SEC
February 23rd, 2011
8:23 pm
I’ve never been an Auburn fan, BUT, I will say this; catch the bastard, announce to the Auburn fans that he will be released at the site of the crime at a certain time! Let Auburn students and fans be the judge, jury, and then hang him from the any tree limb they can find!
What an idiot!
How Could You Condone This?
February 23rd, 2011
8:23 pm
So let me get this straight Dirty Dawg: You think perhaps players on Auburn’s team may or may have not been paid to play football, so it’s “justifiable” to poison Toomer’s Corner? Because you lost a football game? You are worse than Updike for getting on here and saying this crime might be justified. What kind of sick individual condones an act of pure evil. These were “Not Just TREES” this is the landmark of Auburn where generations of AU fans have their greatest memories. It’s called tradition and every school has it. How would you feel if a crazy fan attacked UGA and poisoned him? There is no excusing what this man did, it was the lowest thing you could have done quite honestly. “Take Matters In Your Own Hands” is about the most disgusting quote I’ve read in some time. Updike destroyed a tradition and tainted a rivalry forever. There’s no denying that……
We Are Supposed To Feel Sorry For Him?
February 23rd, 2011
8:30 pm
This smells like a public relations ploy by the Updike camp. Get a friend to go on radio and talk about how miserable his life is now? He brought this on himself, no one else is to blame. As for the death threats from AU fans, report it to the police and they will track them down. Otherwise it sounds like BS to me, of course his son says that. Ridiculous…..
Al
February 23rd, 2011
8:33 pm
he was foolish, among other things a cultural thief, and horribly wrong. To push him into the middle of a shoving roundhouse is barbaric and reinforces his behavior amid a culture of hate that breeds more hate.