One of five palm trees planted almost 25 years ago as part of a living memorial to the victims of the student murders in Gainesville in 1990 appears to have died.
The dead tree, located in the median on Southwest 34th Street (State Road 121) near the longtime memorial panel to the victims on the 34th Street Wall, is missing fronds, and those remaining are lifeless and brown in color.
City Commissioner Bryan Eastman said he was told by a public works employee that the Florida Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the road and the median, has tested the tree for lethal bronzing. Eastman said if the test comes back positive, FDOT will replace the tree…