Tie A Yellow Band-Aid Round The OldSycamore Tree

BROCKTON, Mass. - (12/06/04) -- The banks and credit unions could beteaming to solve another local problem--this one over a locallandmark. A landmark 200-year-old sycamore, known as the 'LibertyTree,' sits on the lot housing Security Federal Bank and branchesinto the adjacent headquarters of HarborOne CU (formerly BrocktonCU), and is falling down. Located on the recently renamed FrederickDouglass Avenue, the tree marks the spot on the UndergroundRailroad where slavery abolitionists gathered to give speeches. Butlast week's storm, which tore a six-foot gash 35-feet up, couldspell the end of the Liberty Tree. Leo McNeil, head of marketing atthe credit union, said the local landmark could be doomed. "Itdoesn't look very promising," McNeil told The Credit Union Journal,looking out of his office over the wounded sycamore. He said thecredit union would be willing to work with its banking neighbor totry and save the Liberty Tree, if they can find a solution to theproblem.

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