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Council Scout bronze statue stolen


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05/32/2022 Coastal Carolina Council BSA Service Center (SC):

A $1,000 reward is being offered for the arrest and conviction of the people responsible for stealing a bronze and life-sized Boy Scout statue from a center in North Charleston.

According to officials with the Boy Scouts of America, when staff returned to work at the Coastal Carolina Council BSA Service Center on Medical Plaza Drive they discovered that the sculpture was stolen over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

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A report states that the statue, designed by R. Tait McKenzie, was cast in 1937 and has been a corner stone to the scout office for decades.

Dr. Bobby Baker, a board member and long time scouter, has volunteered a $1000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the thief. Anyone with any knowledge of the person who may have stolen the statue or it’s whereabouts is asked to call the scout office at (843) 763-0305.

More at source:

https://www.live5news.com/2022/06/01/thieves-make-off-with-bronze-life-sized-boy-scout-statue-n-charleston-center/

You may recall last month,  two men stole the statue Grace from outside of the Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada headquarters. It has been recovered.

https://www.fox5vegas.com/2022/05/12/girl-scouts-statue-recovered-after-it-was-stolen-las-vegas-headquarters/

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BSA is also requesting any video footage of the theft caught by cameras of nearby businesses, as the organization is concerned the statue will be taken to a scrap yard for shredding or melting.

A police report mentions that the statue was fastened to its base by four bolts, and two of the bolts appeared to have been “ripped” from the statue’s base while the other two were possibly cut.

https://www.counton2.com/news/latest-news/north-charleston-police-investigating-theft-of-life-sized-boy-scout-statue/

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2 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

Update: Statue FOUND!

Parts of the statue were discovered at B & D Scrap Metal when fire crews responded to a fire at that facility.

https://www.counton2.com/news/local-news/missing-boy-scout-statue-found-at-scrap-metal-facility/

I wonder if the owners of the scrap yard can be held liable, as however the statue got there it should have been pretty evident that it did not arrive legitimately.

 

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Acccording to B&D’s (scrap yard) marketing director Kimberly Strobel , a man showed up at the yard trying to sell metal. A cashier went out to inspect the load on the scales, confirmed it appeared to be a cut-up art piece, and said no sale. Cameras captured his arrival, Strobel said.

With the scrap yard sale negated, the man left. B&D called police.

A short while later,  the fire broke out. 

Apparently the 1000lb statue was broken into 50 pieces...

SE Jason Smith later confirmed to The Post and Courier the pieces were back in the scouts’ possession but he did not disclose how they came back.

I checked scrapmonster.com. Bronze scrap ranges from $1 to 2.70/lb

https://www.postandcourier.com/news/stolen-north-charleston-boy-scout-statue-found-in-pieces-at-burning-scrap-yard/article_5912d4a0-e1b8-11ec-b967-57f68d81aed3.html

Edited by RememberSchiff
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So perhaps the weight and scrap value were over-estimated.

“It’s just another example of bad things happening in the world right now that we’d like to turn the corner and go the other direction,” B&D president Chris Staubes said.

“Doing the mental math on this, it’s a 500-pound bronze statue if it was melted down, if some of these places are paying .40 cents on the dollar, you’re not talking about a whole lot of money,” he said. “I mean several hundred dollars that someone may have gotten causing this type of harm.”

Source has photo of pieces.

https://www.live5news.com/2022/06/01/missing-scouts-statue-returned-pieces-scrap-metal-dumped-into-buckets/

 

Edited by RememberSchiff
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13 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

Acccording to B&D’s (scrap yard) marketing director Kimberly Strobel , a man showed up at the yard trying to sell metal. A cashier went out to inspect the load on the scales, confirmed it appeared to be a cut-up art piece, and said no sale. Cameras captured his arrival, Strobel said.

It is good to see that they did the right thing and turned the thief away.  Since it says his arrival was caught on camera there is hope he will be identified and apprehended.

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 The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad spent the better part of the last 8 years (!) rebuilding the largest Mallet articulated steam loco east of the Missississippi. 1309 was a museum exhibit at the B&O Museum. It was transported to the shops in Ridgely WVa and disassembled and checked over by the dedicated volunteers and professionals. And then somebody decided all that old steel and bronze and brass would tally up to some bucks as scrap metal.... 

""In February 2018, the restoration project suffered another setback when the railroad learned that an employee had stolen parts, including bronze bearings and wear plates, and sold them for scrap at a salvage yard.[14] The thefts were discovered by the Allegany County Sheriff's Office after they were alerted by the scrap yard.[14] Stolen parts included 12 original crown brasses and 12 hub liners. The parts would have to be remade as they were damaged during removal.[15] The scrapyard had paid the employee a total of $14,662 for the parts,[16] some of which weighed 300 pounds (140 kg).[15] Formal charges were filed against the employee.[15]"" 

from the wikipedia article:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Maryland_Scenic_Railroad_1309

 

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