Auburn football fans aren’t ready to forgive Harvey Updyke for poisoning their beloved oak trees, and they took out their frustrations on former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron’s mother, Dee Dee Bonner, and his wife, Katherine Webb.
The two women received death threats over their affiliation with a Sept. 29 charity event that would have included Updyke, according to ESPN.com.
Updyke was scheduled to appear for a pie throw or dunking booth at the event in Mobile, Ala., but was forced to withdraw. Organizers believed having him there might give Auburn fans a chance to get even with him after he poisoned the oak trees at Toomer’s Corner near the Auburn campus during the Tigers’ 2010 national championship season. But clearly that was misguided.
“It seems to be taking away from the primary purpose, which is raising awareness for children’s cancer,” Bonner told ESPN.com. “We don’t want to take away from the focus. We needed to get away from it.”
The event was to honor John Oliver, a boy from the Mobile area who died from cancer in July. The money raised was to benefit Roses From Linda, a nonprofit organization that helps cover transportation costs so family members can visit terminally ill loved ones, as well as children’s cancer research.
A former Texas state trooper, Updyke was arrested in February 2011 after a man calling himself “Al from Dadeville” phoned into a radio show and boasted of pouring herbicide around the 130-year-old oak trees following Auburn’s win over rival Alabama in the 2010 Iron Bowl. He ended the call by saying, “Roll Damn Tide.”
Updyke pleaded guilty in March 2013 to one count of unlawful damage of an animal or crop facility. He was sentenced to six months in jail and served 76 days after being credited for 104 days of time already served.
Updyke was sentenced to five years of probation and banned from attending any college sporting event for the rest of his life. He is prohibited from setting foot on the Auburn campus, and a judge ordered him to pay nearly $800,000 to Auburn University.