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December 22, 2005

Updated: State House has fresh tree -- decorated, too / Photo

Journal photo / Andrew Dickerman

Farm Bureau volunteer Justin Stamp places ornaments on the new tree in the rotunda of the State House this afternoon.

PROVIDENCE - A new Christmas tree now stands in the State House rotunda, replacing a tree removed yesterday because it had turned brown and lost its needles.

About 10 members of the Rhode Island Farm Bureau delivered the tree -- and even stayed around long enough to decorate it, according to Mike Maynard, a spokesman for Governor Carcieri.

The original tree, a Colorado blue spruce erected on Nov. 29, apparently turned brown and lost its needles because it was sprayed with a fire retardant.

This tree, a 16-foot Fraser fir, wasn't sprayed with a flame retardant. But it will be on a regular watering schedule to make sure it doesn't become a fire hazard, according to Maynard.

John Leyden, owner of Big John's Christmas Tree Farm in West Greenwich, donated both trees.

Posted by Jack Perry  at 4:14 PM | Permalink