Sad news on campus

[oxfordrebel]

Last Monday night was the Annual Lafayette-Oxford-University Christmas Parade followed by the annual lighting of the campus Christmas tree in front of the Lyceum. I got up to campus about 5 am on this past Thursday morning to do some walking around the circle and get some nighttime photos of the Christmas tree. When I was approaching the circle I noticed that there were several police cars and a fire truck in front of the Lyceum. I went to do walking on the west side of the campus but didn't hear what had happened that morning when I got to work. That afternoon I was in that area of campus and walked by to see and, sadly, the Christmas tree had caught fire and burned up. Physical plant was removing it. It's gone now.

Every year I've gone either early in the morning or late at night to admire the beautiful tree and the ornaments. I bought a camera back in August and I was excited about getting several shots of the tree this year. Unfortunately I was a day too late.

Oh well, thought I would share with everyone.

[OMNOB]

That is sad news. Will they not replace it?

[oxfordrebel]

Don't know. The DM didn't run last week because of exams and won't run again until mid-January. I don't take the Oxford Eagle, so I haven't heard anything about it. All I know is what I saw with my own eyes. I would hope that they would.

If I remember correctly, that tree was a very expensive tree from another country that was given as a gift to the University a few years ago.

[cajunrebel]

Hmmmm. . .I wonder if any pigs had some hard feelings?

[rrlynch]

That's really sad when you think about it. That tree has exactly one light for every single Ole Miss student and it upsets me that something with such a neat tradition and symbolism is gone.

[RushB]

How large was it now? Perhaps we can take up a collection to get another tree shipped in and planted.

http://www.treemover.com/

Later,
RushB