Update on search for missing West Seattle Rotary Park totem pole

| Crime | Rotary Club of West Seattle | West Seattle history | West Seattle news

We promised an update before the day was out – here’s what we can tell you so far. If you missed yesterday’s story – see it here – the West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park totem pole is missing; after a WSB’er called it to our attention on Wednesday, we inquired with Seattle Parks, which hadn’t heard about the disappearance; they subsequently checked around extensively and couldn’t find anybody anywhere in the city who had taken it, so they reported it stolen. Seattle Police confirm it’s now an active investigation, and detectives have been to the scene. Some WSB’ers have posted comments after yesterday’s story saying they saw the crane truck that appeared to be removing it back on Monday. Turns out the Rotary Club of West Seattle has been investigating too, since the park and totem pole were their gifts to the city back in 1976 (here’s the history). They believe they’ve traced the crane company that was hired to remove the pole – but the questions of who hired the crane company (reportedly paying cash), why, and where exactly the totem pole is now, haven’t been sorted out yet.

Dan\'a December 4, 2009 (6:19 pm)

Goodness. I wonder what the crane company was told in regards to why the totem was being removed. It seems an odd thing for them not to check into before doing.

VanessaC December 4, 2009 (6:40 pm)

Is the crane company going to fix the terrible mess they made in the lawn? Shame on you people.

Celeste17 December 4, 2009 (6:46 pm)

And to be paid in cash. Who pays in cash anymore?

Bettytheyeti December 4, 2009 (6:49 pm)

Something that large could be tracked on google Earth. Pull up date and time crane sited and track path. They dropped it off somewhere?

JanS December 4, 2009 (7:01 pm)

no kidding…is their business logo “Will aid and abet for cash”?

frog baseball December 4, 2009 (8:08 pm)

umm google earth is not a live feature.

toddinwestwood December 4, 2009 (8:33 pm)

It’s gotta be a prank to get on a reality t.v. show.

Gina December 4, 2009 (8:41 pm)

Watch for large and colorful logs at any of the upcoming bonfires.

Oliver December 4, 2009 (9:16 pm)

I hope the totem pole returns soon, my four year old enjoys regular trips to the look-out and loves talking about the totem pole.

MB December 4, 2009 (10:06 pm)

Didn’t someone say the cops helped direct traffic while they got the truck out of the grass…what’s up with that? Shouldn’t they be able to help here???

WSB December 4, 2009 (10:26 pm)

Lt. Paulsen at SW Precinct told me this morning that detectives are actively working the case so I would expect if that were the case they would be talking to whomever was there. Police will seldom discuss specifics of active investigations so all the info I got from them on my inquiry today was the fact that detectives had been assigned to the case and had gone to the scene. Here’s hoping it won’t take too long to track down. We will be seeing Rotary Club members very early Saturday morning at their annual Shopping Spree event so we’ll find out then if they’ve heard anything new.

Leroniusmonkfish December 4, 2009 (11:39 pm)

Sounds like another Ivars prank to me.

LyndaB December 4, 2009 (11:51 pm)

I do remember seeing a truck parked there but I assumed they were working on the lights or something. I agree with the comments about the cash business. What legitimate group would pay for cash to remove something on public property?

West Seattle Mom December 5, 2009 (12:07 am)

It deeply saddens me. I hope that those who have taken this, return it with grace and ease.

Brenda December 5, 2009 (8:13 am)

Who in the world would steal a TOTEM POLE?????

k December 5, 2009 (11:50 am)

The same jerks who took the totem from the Tillicum shop near Luna Park– that’s who!

austin December 6, 2009 (8:32 am)

Big shenanigans arrow pointing at the crane rental company. “We dunno who hired us, they dint tell us their name”. Right.. Let me use that one next time I get busted for a crime involving heavy machinery on city property with multiple witnesses who can identify me.

WSB December 6, 2009 (12:30 pm)

Austin – we’re working on a followup – it’s not quite that simple apparently but now it’s in the police’s hands – next several hours I’ll have something written about how far the trail has gone, pending me being able then to check in with Parks/police tomorrow – TR

Barb December 6, 2009 (2:36 pm)

Good grief! And I’m still in a tizzy about who stole my lawn Santa and vandalized my decorations in North Admiral FOUR YEARS AGO! This takes the cake—right up there (or down there) with the thieves who broke into the food bank storage locker several weeks ago. There is no limit to the bad stuff out there, but we must soldier on lest the blight continues to grow. Citizens, stay alert!

WTF December 6, 2009 (10:24 pm)

If these AHs hired a crane, from a local company, there has got to be more to this story or they have some serious tea bags. What next? Armored Truck rentals to rob a bank?! I’m sure our detectives have nothing better to do than hunt for losers who do something like this. When caught, and I meant to say WHEN, not only is jail appropriate, but my expectation as a rotarian and a taxpayer is they will, under supervision, be fixing the lawn, mowing it, pulling the weeds, painting the benches, planing spring/summer plants, and cleaning up the trash (themselves included) for several months.

WSB December 6, 2009 (10:28 pm)

If you are a local Rotarian you may already have heard the weekend’s developments. I’m almost done writing our summary – though the dogged Rotarians trying to find out more say their sleuthing is over and from here it’s up to the police …

chinaman December 7, 2009 (5:32 pm)

i cant believe someone would pull off something like this that totem pole means alot to west seattle area an also a sculpture some hand crafted with very good skill something they couldnt do in a million years hoppfully the thieves get caught…its could just be some stupid high school students thinking its cool to do pranks..like grow up and find something to do with your lifes beside ruin a good community park….

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