1-29-2012- tin man tries to go on a trip

     well in continuation with part 2 of the tin man saga, i will relate to you how the tin man escaped an uncertain future to the hands of thieves. i will not reveal the identity of the kids involved , but only to say that i in some ways still feel they have not learned their lesson yet and time will only tell. behind the tin man and up the lane is our place which is no way close to where the tin man is and chances of me catching someone actually trying to steal him would be one in a million and was purely by chance. 

     i was coerced into going for doughnuts that rainy morning and i had just drove by the tin man on the way out drive and didn't notice anything  wrong. several people had warned me i risked losing him by placing him at the end the lane . i wanted to place him there in an effort to give back to the area i had grew up in , an example of what i took pride in. i didn't really think the statue was very easy to sell ,and it did have a particular interest to me and i really just didn't want to sell it . i already have several statues on the farm and decided to just give this on to the public in general, to view when driving down the local road. so i placed it at the end of our half mile long drive way away from our view and anyone elses view as he is on an isolated stretch of roadway.

           the doughnuts are great in mineral city at steinecks bakery at the second light in town heading south. a belly full of sugar was necessary for the ordeal i was getting into. i came up our side street towards the end of our lane and noticed a truck backed into the ditch beside our mailbox, and 4 youths were trying to load the tin man into the back of a pickup , my friend looked at me and asked what was happening and i told her to hang on as i sped up and slammed on the brakes in front of their truck and stopped, blocking their exit out of the ditch. the rain was pouring down and these kids just looked at me in amazement as they struggled to get the statue onto the back of the truck. i started calling the sheriff and was explaining to them what was going on as kids decided that maybe this wasn't a good idea. i told my friend to grab her camera and get ready to start taking pics as i finally exited pickup when one of the kids come over and asked me to move my pickup so they could leave. i said hell no. 

    he then asked me to use my phone i said no way. i said you are stealing my statue , and you will probably steal my phone also.  then 3 of the kids just booked on foot , leaving the driver. at this time the driver gets excited and jumps back in truck and tries to pull truck out of ditch but i didn't leave him room and also he had the statue on the back of his pickup tailgate and it weighed about 600 pounds keeping him where he was. he rocked it in the ditch gunning the engine but wasn't going any where. i had left about 2 foot between him and the side of my pickup. i told him to cool his heels as the sheriff was coming and he could explain why he was stealing my statue. my friend walked all the way around the truck taking pictures. as well a couple of neighbors came by and were stopped by the confusion as i had the road blocked , preventing him from coming out . well the kid manages to get the truck into four wheel drive and after that runs to back of truck and tries to pull the statue off turning him and using the ax handle to help pull him off when he busts the ax handle. at this point i tell him now you did it you asshole , now you bought it. as it pissed me off that he broke the statue. well at this point he went into overdrive getting crazier as he was trying to escape more than ever but my truck still prevented him from exiting and he kept wallowing it around until he smacked the side of my pickup and dented it. and then he was able to back into ditch and managed to get around the corner of my pickup and was able to get out  of ditch. at this point i let him go . he was totally unstable and i wasn't quite sure what he was capable of. i had to worry about my friend , and we just moved my pickup to side of the road and i called the sheriff again as it was over 30 minutes and they still had not shown up. also they had his license number, so i figured they could catch up with them later. i had done more than enough. so we pulled over into drive and waited for the sheriff. and i called the sheriff to tell them it wasn't an emergency that it wasn't necessary to hurry and that we would wait and file a report. 

      well as quickly as the little snot disappears him and his dad reappears in another vehicle and his dad , my neighbor, jumps out and starts yelling at me cause i called his son a thief. i told him i call them like i see them and start dialing the sheriff again as he starts yelling at me saying his son is not a thief. i said lets wait for the sheriff to decide that. we have pictures. at one point he threatens me with physical violence and i tell him to go ahead as i am standing on my own property , and i will own his place before it is over. the sheriff steps up their effort as they hear my neighbor threatening me over the phone and sheriff finally shows up 45 minutes later and starts their investigation. asking me questions as to why i threatened these boys and making me feel uncomfortable for protecting what is mine and i worked for and wasn't letting a bunch of young punks have  for nothing.i told the sheriff there was witnesses and we had pics other than these showing the truck in the ditch and backed up to the carving. the neighbor explained that his son was a bad driver and that he was turning around and accidentally backed into the ditch and the carving fell into his bed with the tailgate down and that he was trying to get it out when i showed up. what a laugh. i wont go into what all i was feeling or wanting to say about all this and will try to stay to the fact. the second photo is where he was backed into the ditch and this is where he missed my drive. good lord it was a good thing i tried to block him in if he was that bad a driver as he missed a forty foot wide drive backing up and ended up ten foot off drive. this kid was a bad driver and a worse liar. so now he is a thief and a liar. but the sheriff was able to check out witnesses' testimony and the pics we took and were able to realize i was telling the truth . and that indeed they were trying to steal the statue. eventually the father came and apologized for the son and rumors were that they were stealing it to try and make a bong for smoking pot out of as his hat was shaped in a cone. 

     at first i wanted compensated for damages to my truck and also to the statue. but in the end decided to leave it up to the prosecutor to dispense the justice in the form of public work. i had put the statue in that place for the public to view , not to steal and still feel that the majority of people are good . it is just your neighbors you have to worry about . it is necessary they pay their dues to the respect of the public. and i did see them out doing work on a local road gang and felt good that justice was done. i don't feel all the kids were treated equally . some claiming they didn't participate but that is up to sheriff to decide as they were juveniles and records are sealed even to those they do harm to. this is the second sculpture i had stolen from this location and was driving down the road going to look at another carving job and noticed a bear on the porch of a house that was local and i knew i carved the bear , but for the life of me couldn't figure out why it was there. i took a picture and was considering calling the sheriff as it looked a lot like the one that was stolen from the end of the lane  before. 

       you can see the bear buried behind the stuff on the porch. well it is actually the bear i traded for the log to carve the tin man out of and i realized it before i called the sheriff. but at first i was instantly inflamed that someone would so boldly display a stolen carving. i also had a carving stolen from along side a road that weighed about 600 lbs also. and will show you a picture. stealing statues is a insincere compliment of your work . and really risky way to end up in jail . they are unique and i do take pictures and can recognize my own work from a distance. although i appreciate the fact they would chance a felony for a hunk of firewood, i hope they don't think i wouldn't for at second stop at prosecuting. they would have a second thought coming, as i will. a picture of that carving is above and was heavy enough to have to use tractor to move around. this was the second carving i had done in my life.