The unthinkable has happened: Abraham
Lincoln, or rather the life-size fiberglass rendition thereof, has
been kidnapped.
WFMB Sports Radio (AM 1450) broke the news
Monday morning during Sam Madonia’s talk show. Madonia
“met” Abe during the Illinois-Arizona basketball
nail-biter, which he had watched on Saturday night on Pasfield
House’s 90-inch projection TV screen. Abe — thus far
the sole specimen of what was meant to be a community-wide pop-art
project called Abe on Parade — normally stands with his
outstretched hand positioned so that he appears to hold the
electronic scoreboard during basketball games.
As Madonia reminisced about the game,
Pasfield House owner Tony Leone arrived at WFMB’s remote
broadcast location to tell Madonia the statue had disappeared. A
ransom note left at the scene demanded a $5,000 pledge to the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum foundation for the
statue to be returned before the Illini’s Final Four game.
The note was signed “Lirpa Loof.”
Leone took the note seriously, and
immediately delivered a check for $1,000 as the first installment
of his pledge to the ALPL&M Foundation. So far, the statue has
not been returned.
However, the kidnappers provided a picture of the
missing Abe positioned in front of the new presidential complex —
ironically, the very sort of photo the ALPL&M Foundation had hoped
to avoid. As reported two weeks ago in Illinois
Times, Foundation Chief Executive Officer
Susan Mogerman said museum officials did not want pop art to detract
from the museum on opening day.
“We want to allow the architecture to
speak for itself,” she said.
Signs point to this crime being resolved
soon. After all, what does Lirpa Loof spell backwards?
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2005.
