We’ve got a lot of checking to do when our Parks and Police contacts are back in the office tomorrow, but in the meantime, for late-night news checkers, a short update on this weekend’s developments in the case of the missing totem pole.
Background: After a WSB’er e-mailed us Wednesday morning to ask where the West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park totem pole (photo at left used with Rotary’s permission) had gone, we quickly put in an inquiry with the Parks Department, then went over to check the scene (35th/Alaska, overlooking the West Seattle Golf Course), taking the photos you see in this story we published Thursday morning, after Parks spokesperson Dewey Potter confirmed to WSB that they hadn’t authorized anyone to remove it and would report it as stolen. After reading our story, WSB commenters reported seeing trucks at the scene Monday evening – a tow truck assisting a stuck crane truck. A few longtime Rotary Club of West Seattle members also have been investigating, as we mentioned in our Friday followup – the club donated the park and pole in 1976 and isn’t taking this lightly. On Saturday, we followed along as they tried to track the trail. Read on:
First, note that we are not using names or other specifics because at this point, this remains a crime investigation:
The Rotarians had made contact with the Kent-based crane company that acknowledged removing the pole. They told us its owner couldn’t recall an exact address but said if they came out to meet him, he would take them to the (extremely) rural southeastern King County neighborhood where he had delivered the pole.
And so he did. But no one appeared to be home, and there was no sign of a totem pole. The Rotarians talked to a few neighbors, who said they hadn’t seen one either. They did volunteer that the home belonged to a man who also has a residence in West Seattle.
The crane operator gave the Rotarians the name he said he was given – and explained why the authorization sounded legitimate, saying the man who hired him claimed to be working on a city-authorized project to refurbish art works like this. The operator added that the man knew exactly how to remove the pole, including having the right tools to separate it from its base (shown here in our photo from Wednesday):
The name mentioned by neighbors (first name only) was the same as the first name of the person the crane operator mentioned.
With nothing turning up at the rural King County house, and other assignments looming for us, we parted ways with the Rotarians and headed back to West Seattle. They were going to try to find the West Seattle address of the person named by the tow-truck driver, and they promised to call us with an update.
When they did, they told us they did speak with him, but he claimed to have no knowledge of the situation. So now, they say, they’re going to have to leave it in the police’s hands. We’ll be checking tomorrow with Police and Parks and will let you know if they have made any progress. And of course they would still be interested in hearing from anyone with information on what happened.
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