Larry Elkins says he wants Athens to be a “tree city” as much as anyone in the citizens group formed to save the city’s old trees.

But as the manager of the Street and Sanitation Department, he also has the task of cutting down trees that may be harmful to residents.

Faced with having to cut two of the city’s old trees — one on Jefferson Street directly across from First United Methodist Church and another at W. Bryan and N. Jefferson streets — Elkins called for backup.

Doug Chapman with the Limestone County office of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System inspected the trees and determined the oak across from the church is dead and should be removed. The second tree is in “perilous condition,” Chapman stated in a letter to Elkins and City Council member Milly Caudle, adding it is decaying and cannot be saved. It, too, should be cut.

“I could almost cry to see these die,” Elkins said. “I hate it. I hate to see a beautiful tree decline and die.”

Chapman agreed, saying it is a “great loss,” but that “public safety and maintenance of utility services is of primary concern.”

Elkins said the drought has affected local trees.

“The last three years of drought and last year’s late freeze put so much stress on these trees, they can’t take it,” he said.

Elkins said the trees will be cut within the next two weeks.