City to Save Lampy Tree

The City Council vowed last night to do everything in its power to save the large tree in front of the Harvard Lampoon castle on Bow St., despite a recent effort to destroy it.

In a letter to Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci read to the council, Commissioner of Public Works William Sommers said the 25-year-old tree had come under attack recently, adding "it is not a pleasant sight."

"Apparently some one or some group that does not want the tree there has taken clandestine action against the tree in order that it should die and we will then have to remove it," the letter said.

Although it is not known whether the Lampoon was involved in the attack, the semi-secret society has lobbied for the tree's removal for years. But the Parks and Forests Department has refused to take it away because it is full-grown and healthy.

And Vellucci said in an interview that he originally planted the tree so that it would grow and cover the front of the Lampoon building. He said that "they" had tried to destroy it three times earlier, but the tree had always grown back.

"I personally was pretty upset about it," Lampoon Narthex Tyler E. Chapman '90 said in an interview last night.

Tyler said he did not believe the group's members were responsible for the destruction, adding that more people at the society like the tree than do not.

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But, he said, "If someone did something, they wouldn't have told the staff."

Vellucci said he hoped the tree would recover from this latest assault, which he called an attempt at "murder."

In the past, Vellucci--who once suggested Harvard Yard be made into a parking lot--has suggested that the Lampoon castle be used as a public urinal.