Reward offered for return of fire department's Smokey Bear sign, IN
TREVLAC, Ind. (AP) -- A volunteer fire department is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the return of a stolen six-foot tall Smokey Bear sign.
Surveillance cameras captured two men cutting bolts and breaking the welds that held together the hand-crafted mascot about 3 a.m. Saturday, said Glenn Elmore, chief of the Jackson Township Fire Department in Brown County.
''Smokey was actually a member of our own department,'' Elmore said. ''This is devastating. We don't have the funds to replace it, and even if we did, it's a unique piece of art.''
Former department chief Ed Holmes cut the bear from sheet metal, and spent nine months sanding and painting it, Elmore said.
The sign was outside the fire station in Trevlac, about 10 miles northeast of Bloomington.
''We've gotten a lot of nice comments about Smokey,'' Elmore said. ''It came as a big blow to our department and our members that someone would do this.''
Brown County Sheriff's Department deputies collected evidence from the scene and are analyzing the surveillance video to see whether they can obtain a license plate number of the vehicle seen during the theft.
The sign had not been recovered as of Thursday morning, a sheriff's dispatcher said.
Firefighters in the department contributed their own money for the reward, Elmore said.
