Patrick Reusse: Tree case plays to SEC transplants' biases

Benjamin was the first-born of Chad and Michelle Lawrence. By the time he was a toddler, the competition was underway to convince Ben to become a fan of either Alabama (Chad's team) or Auburn (Michelle's).

As Ben progressed, Chad noted a closeness to his mother that the dad feared was turning his son toward Auburn.

"I sort of cheated," Chad said. "I told Ben that Aubie was a girl."

Aubie the Tiger is Auburn's official mascot, leaving Ben confused. Girls don't play football in the SEC, so why would Auburn have a girl for its mascot? It was the preschooler's epiphany -- the moment he became an Alabama fan for life.

Soon thereafter, Ben and pal Nicholas Lauderdale were in booster seats in the back of a Lawrence vehicle. The 5-year-olds were arguing Alabama and Auburn football, leading Ben to inform his buddy that Aubie was a girl.

"Nicholas comes from an Auburn family," Chad said. "He said, 'No, Aubie's not a girl.' And when Ben insisted, poor Nicholas started to cry."

Chad Lawrence and Michelle Trammell were raised in Monroeville, Ala., the home of author Harper Lee. They started dating when both wound up at Troy University.

Benjamin is now 10, and his sister Emma is 7. In the summer of 2009, Chad was hired by Target and the family moved to Woodbury. Michelle teaches in Cottage Grove. Chad commutes by bus to Target headquarters.

He has an app on his iPhone for Paul Finebaum's sports talk show out of Birmingham, and listens every day on the bus ride home.

Finebaum's show offers Alabama and Auburn fans a chance to fire away -- in one-sided fashion, according to Michelle.

"Nobody from Auburn can stand Finebaum," she said. "He's like an Alabama mind-control guy. So, when Chad came home last month and said someone had poisoned the Toomer trees, I told him, 'You got to stop believing what you hear from that crazy Finebaum.' "

As it turned out, the crazy was Harvey Updyke, 62, a former Texas state trooper living in Dadeville, Ala. He called the Finebaum show on Jan. 27 and, identifying himself as "Al from Dadeville," said he had applied a deadly herbicide to the 130-year-old oak trees at Toomer's Corner -- the symbols and the site of Auburn victory celebrations.

On Thursday, Updyke was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, with bond set at $50,000.

A staple of Auburn celebrations is rolling the oaks in reams of toilet paper. Updyke claimed as his motive the allegation that, on the occasion of Alabama legend Bear Bryant's death in 1983, Auburn students happily "rolled" the Toomer trees.

There is no evidence that this occurred. The headlines of the time indicate Auburn and its fans joined in mourning the Bear.

"That guy from Dadeville is just a crazy old 'Bama fan, and I'd say listening to Finebaum put him over the edge," Michelle said.

As a further taste of this rivalry, the public defender assigned to Updyke asked off the case because he's an Auburn fan and, presumably, wouldn't have his heart in a defense.

The Lawrences were home in Monroeville for Thanksgiving weekend. They were watching the game at Michelle's family home -- a nest of Auburn enthusiasm.

"My father [Bruce] listens on ear phones to the Auburn radio broadcast," Michelle said. "He was hearing what happened five seconds before it came on TV and telling everyone.

"We asked him to stop, so he started making signals to me -- and he put both arms in the air before we saw Auburn's winning touchdown. My daddy ... he loves to rub it in."

The Lawrences have adjusted to life in the Twin Cities -- almost.

"It's a great area, nice people; the weather doesn't even bother us," Michelle said. "What we can't get used to is how little most people care about college football."