Theodore Sprague and his oars have been ripped from his bronze canoe and stolen in yet another attack on public art. The $14,000 memorial has been in Corning’s Centennial Park since 2004 and depicted the well known businessman rowing a canoe on the Chemung River. It was his son who was the first to notice the statue was missing. The thieves if they try to sell it for scrap are expected to get 25 bucks for their trouble.

UPDATE :  Two youths have been arrested and charged with criminal mischief in the third degree over the theft of the bronze sculpture on Ted Sprague’s monument. The sculpture, which is believed to have been thrown into the Chemung River by the two youths, was later retrieved by firefighters.

What is the world coming to when thieves start stealing policeman statues. It seems the 600lb bronze statue of a policeman issuing a ticket outside Macy’s in Stamford, Connecticut, has been stolen. The statue worth $120,000 was called “Time’s Up” (ironic, isn’t it?).A city spokesman said “they hope whoever took the statue will return it”(I am thinking, not likely!).

A wooden statue of the goddess Kannon was stolen from a local temple last month only to find itself being passed around like a hot sweet potato. The “Senju Kannon” (Thousand-armed Kannon) statue, which was made during the Muromachi Period (1336-1573), was quite happily sitting in the Hozoji Temple’s Kannon hall in Shimada, Japan, when a shifty thief nicked it and swapped it for an inferior one. Somehow the Kannon statue ended up in a flea market in the nearby city of Fujieda where a shrewd art dealer spotted it and grabbed the bargain. Buying it for 7000 yen the dealer then sold it at auction for 500,000 (see, told you he was shrewd).From there it was again on-sold to a dealer in the Kansai district. Eventually a collector bought it, only to discover it was on a stolen list. He did the right thing and contacted the Shizuoka Prefectural Police. Investigators believe the original seller is the culprit. There have been three similar thefts in recent months.

The bust of famed surfer George Freeth is gone. Dude, took everything except the big cement base. So who was George Freeth? Freeth braved the waves of California in the early 1900’s to become a surfing legend. Prior to him, people were pretty much too scared to go beyond the breakers. Now look at them ! The bust was created by sculptor Terry O’Donnell some 31 years ago and placed on the Redondo Beach pier.The bust was pretty much ignored until recently, when news stories began emerging about the dude that was credited with bringing surfing to California . Imagine the fate of the Beach Boys without him ! Freeth died in 1919,at the age of 36, during the influenza pandemic. Police suspect that the increased interest in Freeth has led to a souvenir hunter taking his bust.

UPDATE : Body Glove owner has offered a $5,000 reward for the return of the Freeth bust.