Man restores totem pole, avoids charges

SEATTLE, July 29 (UPI) -- A totem pole that disappeared from a Seattle park was retrieved and reinstalled at the expense of the alleged thief, authorities said.

Charles Edward Jenks, 70, of Seattle last fall had a towing crew unbolt and crane-lift the 500-pound, 18-feet-long totem pole, then drive it away -- while police, not knowing no one had permission to take the 34-year-old pole, stopped traffic. The pole disappeared down the street, The Seattle Times reported Thursday.

The pole was returned Wednesday, the Times reported.

The crime could have been charged as a gross misdemeanor, carrying a penalty of as long as a year in jail and a maximum fine of $5,000, but Jenks, being a first offender, would likely not have gone to jail, said Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County Prosecutor's Office.

Jenks agreed to pay more than $20,000 to reinstall the pole instead of facing charges, the Times said.

Jenks's money was split between the West Seattle Rotary Club, which in 1976 commissioned the pole, and the city Parks and Recreation Department, parks spokeswoman Dewey Potter said.

"I'm really excited to hear that it's back," said Robin Young, the South Dakota-born American Indian who spent a summer carving the pole with carvings of a thunderbird, orca, raven and beaver in the early 1970s.

The pole was brought back from Keizer, Ore. Mark Jamieson, a police spokesman, said it was discovered next to another totem pole, this one missing from the Fred Meyer store in Renton.