Harvey Updyke: Alabama Fan Deserves Harsh Sentence for Poisoning Toomer's Oaks

Harvey Updyke Jr., the angry Alabama fan who poisoned Auburn's signature Toomer's Corner oak trees, has had the hammer dropped on him today. A grand jury in Lee County has indicted him on multiple charges as a result of his actions last November.

According to a report by Ed Enoch on OANOW.com, court documents say that Updyke was indicted on two counts of first-degree criminal mischief, a felony charge; two counts of desecrating a venerated object, a misdemeanor charge; and two counts of unlawful damage, vandalism or theft of property from a farm animal or crop facility, a felony charge.

Those are some pretty heavy charges, and they are more than warranted given what this crazy, obsessed fan did.

Being a fan in sports is very difficult. You commit yourself wholly to a team, and you want so badly to see that team do well. Over time you will learn everything about that team, everything from who its biggest rival is all the way down to the name of the towel boy. You will love your team unconditionally, as Updyke has, and hate everything about everyone else.

Alabama and Auburn are two schools that don't like each other. That's fine for us as college football fans because it makes for an interesting story when they play against each other in late November every year.

But there is a pretty big line between being a fan of a team and being an over-obsessive person who will vandalize property just because your team lost to another team.

Updyke didn't do what he did just because he is an Alabama fan and the Tide blew a big lead in a game against Auburn. He did this because he is a sociopath. He has no regard for anything or anyone except himself.

As much as Auburn and Alabama dislike each other, these two schools never vandalize property to try to make a point. Updyke took his allegiance to Alabama way too far, and he deserves the most severe penalty that he can get.

These trees that he poisoned are going to die. A living thing is going to die because this man cheers for Alabama and Auburn beat them.

His trial is scheduled to take place on June 20. I can't imagine that the hearing will take very long, and if there is any justice in Alabama, he will be put away for a long time.