boutons_
08-16-2006, 04:22 PM
August 16, 2006
Mysterious tree a little less mysterious
Vince Davis and Amy Dorsett
In the backyard of Lucille Pope's modest East Side home, hope springs eternal. But SAWS officials gave her son Lloyd Pope a more practical explanation Wednesday for the mystery water that spouts from the red oak tree in their back yard.
"They think the roots have gotten into the waterline," Lloyd said. "They don't know where yet, though."
He tells anyone who visits that the water company staff turned off the water to his house at the street Wednesday morning and when they did the flow from the tree ceased.
( God works in mysterious ways, and he also works for SAWS customer service! :lol )
"I tell them all how it is, and they still want it," Lloyd said. "I figure if they are still that strong in their faith, knowing all that, then go on."
There, in the shaded lot next to two parked cars, dozens of people who read about the red oak tree in the Express-News and the mystery water that gurgles from its trunk have come, searching for salvation, hoping for relief.
Visitors from as far way as Laredo, Dallas and Georgetown have visited, signing their names to an impromptu register of a yellow legal pad. For sake of the family's privacy, the Express-News is not publishing their address. However, with the aid of the Internet many people have found them anyway.
"Do Not Enter" is spray-painted in black on a piece of plywood and propped against the chain link fence to the Pope's driveway, but still the strangers stop.
The Popes say the steady stream of visitors usually starts about 7:30 a.m. each morning, when the waterflow is stronger.
( The Popes, now that's a great co-incidence of name! :lol )
Maria Martinez, of San Antonio, made her second visit to the tree, hugging it and filling small perfume vials with it's water.
"I could feel it, that it's about ready to bust," Martinez said.
( unlike Maria's head, which is about to collapse from being emtpy )
Despite the explanation provided today by utility officials, people continue to believe in its mysterious, miraculous powers.
Mysterious tree a little less mysterious
Vince Davis and Amy Dorsett
In the backyard of Lucille Pope's modest East Side home, hope springs eternal. But SAWS officials gave her son Lloyd Pope a more practical explanation Wednesday for the mystery water that spouts from the red oak tree in their back yard.
"They think the roots have gotten into the waterline," Lloyd said. "They don't know where yet, though."
He tells anyone who visits that the water company staff turned off the water to his house at the street Wednesday morning and when they did the flow from the tree ceased.
( God works in mysterious ways, and he also works for SAWS customer service! :lol )
"I tell them all how it is, and they still want it," Lloyd said. "I figure if they are still that strong in their faith, knowing all that, then go on."
There, in the shaded lot next to two parked cars, dozens of people who read about the red oak tree in the Express-News and the mystery water that gurgles from its trunk have come, searching for salvation, hoping for relief.
Visitors from as far way as Laredo, Dallas and Georgetown have visited, signing their names to an impromptu register of a yellow legal pad. For sake of the family's privacy, the Express-News is not publishing their address. However, with the aid of the Internet many people have found them anyway.
"Do Not Enter" is spray-painted in black on a piece of plywood and propped against the chain link fence to the Pope's driveway, but still the strangers stop.
The Popes say the steady stream of visitors usually starts about 7:30 a.m. each morning, when the waterflow is stronger.
( The Popes, now that's a great co-incidence of name! :lol )
Maria Martinez, of San Antonio, made her second visit to the tree, hugging it and filling small perfume vials with it's water.
"I could feel it, that it's about ready to bust," Martinez said.
( unlike Maria's head, which is about to collapse from being emtpy )
Despite the explanation provided today by utility officials, people continue to believe in its mysterious, miraculous powers.