Bike Path Elephant

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I noticed the bike path elephant (next to the community garden, roughly behind Brooks Rite Aid) has been tipped over once more. It appears to have been in this state for several days.

It may just be my imagination (I do use that portion of the path infrequently) but poor Mr.(Mrs.) Elephant* seems to be a victim of hazing more often these days.

I am not sure who originally put the sculpture there, but it has been a fixture for as long as I've lived here, and I'm wondering what, if anything could (or should) be done to prevent vandalism? Should it be protected?

Sure, I get many questions from perplexed visitors:

Them: what is that?
Me: Oh, it's an elephant, of course.

Yet regardless of one's opinion of the artistic merit, I think vandalism speaks poorly for the community as a whole.

* Does he/she have another name?

Comments

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

Well, Smitty's leg is still in a cast, so I don't think it would get moved anytime soon. A bunch of us who have plots at the bike path garden pulled it out of the ravine in the spring which allowed him to make the needed repairs....

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

Well, that settles that. Some mental midget just now set it alight and it has burned to the ground.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Are you serious?!? I just walked past it at a quarter to eleven!!!

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. I watched Somerville FD put it out.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

We walked down the bike path today, and my daughter started crying when she saw the junkefant's ashes. She wanted to know who would do something like that.

Although I wasn't the biggest fan of the junkefant in a state of disrepair, I felt that the artist should decide how and if he wanted to retire it.

Like a phoenix, maybe the junkefant can rise again from its ashes? If it does happen, let us know. My kiddo would like to help resurrect it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I'm just surprised it burned, considering how damp it's been and how moldy the wood must have been. I wonder if the security cameras behind Rite Aid captured anything.

junkefant or junkephant

[obviously4thst.livejournal.com]

either spelling, I love your daughter's descriptive name for what "Michelle" became. In a week or so look for pictures of the beast showing it as it came into existence and where it traveled hanging from the bushes where it last was.
We will leave a nice one for your daughter in an envelope that will say "pearly the bunny".

Re: junkefant or junkephant

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

She spells it "junkefant" because she uses what she calls "sound spelling," which she loves because sound spelling doesn't slow down the furious pace of her writing. I hope it won't be too much of a shock to her this school year when she has to learn spelling rules and take spelling tests.

Thank you for doing this. (I hate it when thugs get the final say.) We will look for the envelope.