West Seattle Rotarians pay their totem pole a visit

Still no charges in the case of the totem pole stolen from West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park almost two months ago – the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is still awaiting referral of the case – but the totem pole itself is in good hands, awaiting further plans for restoration and reinstallation. Today, Rotary Club of West Seattle members got their first in-person look since the pole’s move to a Seattle Parks facility they’d like to keep secret; we were at their meeting with Parks reps two weeks ago (WSB coverage here), when they hatched a plan to see if Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund grant could help pay for sprucing up the pole and the park before a reinstallation ceremony.

Thanks to Josh Sutton for the photos; he says, “It’s in good shape, and we continue to work on plans to get it restored and replaced.” Our coverage of the totem-pole theft case, dating back to first word it was missing, through its discovery in Oregon and court documents hinting at the motive, is archived here, newest to oldest.

WSMom January 26, 2010 (7:44 pm)

Does it always take this long for charges to be filed?

WSB January 26, 2010 (8:03 pm)

Some cases, much longer. Remember this case?
https://westseattleblog.com/2009/08/west-seattle-man-charged-with-child-pornography-possession
Police searched the suspect’s home in October 2008 and prosecutors filed charges against him 10 months later.
Sometimes, there are a lot of witnesses to talk to, a lot of evidence to analyze, and they want to make sure they have the case buttoned down before they send it off to start going through the court system – let alone for the prosecutors to review for filing charges.

Alki Area January 26, 2010 (11:14 pm)

True, but er…isn’t this obvious? The poll was taken. They know who’s place it was found. Unless he had permission to take it…it was theft. Evidence is clear. Not sure what the complication is here. This isn’t a “he said, she said” debate. Just a clear cut of, “hey, what’s the totem poll doing at your house?”

WSB January 26, 2010 (11:16 pm)

It wasn’t found at the suspect’s house. It was found on a boat trailer in Oregon. And there’s also the matter of the totem pole found with it – while police say they received information regarding the West Seattle totem pole’s location after questioning the suspect, the second totem pole seems to have been something of a surprise, so if there is a case being developed on that, there’s no way for those of us outside the investigation to know how simple or complicated that is … etc. …

WSB January 28, 2010 (6:37 am)

Update from police: They say their investigators did send the case to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in late December. So I’m checking to see why the answer to our inquiries has been “hasn’t been referred” ….

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