Whip Iftwlhff
Slat
Outside it's frightful
Inside it's so delightful
Tomorrow:
, Let it snow. Let it snow
Classifieds
pages 5-8
Holiday Message
Contest Winners
41H nn
Volume 98, Issue 119
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Wednesday, December 12, 1990
Just give me one of
One reason people
Serving the students and the University community since J 893
eveiything,
get divorced is
Chapel Hill,
America's tree
to MgHit mp Capitol
From Associated Press reports
When the switch is thrown Wednes
day on the Capitol Christmas tree, it
won't be just another lighting to the
folks of Walden, Colo. For four years,
Walden has planned so that one of its
trees would be the centerpiece of the
holiday season, America's Christmas
Tree.
Through 28 presidents and half the
country's history, it survived. Sprout
ing from a single seed, it grew as the
nation did, from a few scented needles
to a 74-foot sentry of the forest. When
they cut it down just before Thanks
giving, the evergreen revealed a mag
nificent trunk girdled by 136 rings.
And now, because a handful of people
in a depressed logging town believed
they could do it, this noble Englemann
spruce has emerged from deep woods
near Walden, Colo., to make its way, by
truck and train, to the front lawn of the
U.S. Capitol.
America's Christmas tree is ready to
light up the season Wednesday. This
year's Capitol tree found its way from
the Colorado-Wyoming border to the
country's front yard because Pat B unge,
proprietress of Pat's Hair Hut, and re
tired school teacher Mary Rupp, and
U.S. Forest Service specialist Carolyn
Krupp, and Chris Christofferson, owner
of the North Park Cleaners and Laun
dry, and other ci v ic boosters had an idea
four years ago.
They wanted to do something special
to celebrate Walden's centennial in
1990.
Many in the town of 800 people
looked around, and what they saw were
trees millions of them. Trees car
peted hillsides, made the air smell good,
built their houses, fed their fireplaces
antt wood stoves through long, frigid
winters, and most importantly, kept their
that they run out
North Carolina
faltering economy alive.
Like most other Americans, the folks
of Walden had watched Christmas tree
lighting ceremonies on television. They
were confused between the White House
Christmas tree and the Capitol tree. So
they investigated, and learned that the
White House version is a living tree that
is redecorated every year.
The Capitol tree, however, is always
a freshly cut evergreen from a national
forest and no public funds ever are used
to transport or decorate it, truly making
it a "people's tree."
So in the late winter of 1987, a few
folks in Walden decided they wanted
the 1 . 1 million-acre Routt National For
est that encircles the town to donate the
Capitol tree in 1990.
Christofferson, then a town council
man, recalled that nobody had thought
about celebrating the centennial before
a local forest service official noted the
100th anniversary was fast approach
ing. "But we got right on it, and sent a
letter back to Washington to the head of
the forest service, petitioning for the
honor," said Christofferson. "We were
competing with four other communi
ties, and with the help of our congres
sional delegation, we got picked ... Then
we went to work."
Walden's Capitol Christmas Tree
Committee met monthly. It commis
sioned a logo, mailed fliers to every
school district in the state soliciting
waterproof, fireproof decorations for
the tree.
The committee brainstormed ways
to raise more money in a town that long
had been used to making do instead of
making new. Its members were a cross
section of the community teachers,
businessmen, state officials, foresters, a
retired postman, even the school super
of gift ideas
NewsSporlsArts SS2-P " ; i
BmineuAdvartlslng S62 1 1
rea
intendent. It was grassroots, and ' w
effective.
Volunteers eventually raised n m' .
$10,000.
Corporate sponsors were solicit? 1
Union Pacific Railroad agreed to turns
port the tree to Washington; Louisian
Pacific donated trucks and cranes tog-1
the tree from the forest to the train, an I
then move it from a rail sidin;.; ii'
Washington to the Capitol.
Anheuser-Busch even pledged i i s.
famous Clydesdales to lead the town's
Christmas parade and give the tsec
grand send-off.
Boosters designed and sold souven;r
mugs, hats and T-shirts to pay for cut
ting and wrapping the tree. More thou
100 people, including at least 35 kids,
signed up to go to Washington for th
ceremony. Bake sales and car washes
helped finance their expenses.
Before you could say 'Tannenba i 1 1 n ,"
the whole community was united i
Christmas tree mania.
But despite all the hubbub,
Waldenites hung on to the origina I goa ! :
find their best tree and give it to the
country. Parents took their youngsters
for weekend walks, scouring the back
country for pretty trees. The comm itte?
offered a $50 prize. Snowmobilers ven
tured far back in the wilderness in win
ter, hoping heavy snow would help ihcin
find that one perfect evergreen.
Foresters kept a confidential list of
candidates and, by last July, nine trees
were deemed suitable to show Fan!
Pinkus, landscape architect of the Capi
tol, when he arrived in Walden.
But that was old news to W;! -.lev.
citizens, who've been going thiougl
tough times so long even old-timer:,
can't remember the boom years. T1r-
weren't about to let the obvious ruin
their party.
Robert Byrne