Longview pranksters take squirrel statue for repairs without notifying city

A community organization with a reputation for pranks has removed a landmark Longview squirrel statue and launched a crowdfunding campaign seeking to replace it, while also maintaining the city’s famous squirrel bridges.

But city officials say the Sandbaggers, known for their squirrel-focused jokes, didn’t have permission to take the city’s bushy-tailed figure and didn’t notify the city of their plans.

The Sandbaggers also say the wooden sculpture was “damaged by a termite infestation,” according to a GoFundMe page organized by Spencer Boudreau, who serves as chair of special events for the club, has previously served as interim president, and was Longview’s mayor until the end of last year.

A press release with a similar message was issued by the organization Monday evening.

However, the city has a different take.

City spokeswoman Angela Abel says the parks department has seen “no apparent signs of termite damage,” though the statue showed some deterioration and rot.

Abel could not say when city staff first noticed the figure had been removed, but a post shared on the Longview Sandbaggers Facebook page Sunday showed a photo of what appears to be a pile of mulch where the statue had been, near the Longview Public Library.

The mulch remained Monday morning, with police caution tape surrounding the podium where the statue once stood.

Whether the scene is part of a prank remains unclear, as the Sandbaggers have declined to speak to the Daily News.

Boudreau declined to comment about termites beyond the press release. Later, Sandbagger Marc Silva, who is also a Lower Columbia College board member, said he and other Sandbaggers would not comment based on advice from their legal counsel.

However, the group’s campaign to support the Sandbaggers’ Squirrel Bridge Legacy Fund is attracting real donations. The drive had raised $335 of its $2,800 goal as of early Monday evening to cover the statue’s replacement, as well as the maintenance and restoration of the city’s famous squirrel bridges and other educational programs and community activities.

Squirrel statue

Sandy B. McNutt, the city’s official mascot, stands in front of the squirrel statue on the lawn of the Longview Public Library in 2014.

The squirrel statue belongs to the city, not the Sandbaggers, according to Abel. She said that city leaders and the Sandbaggers plan to meet this week to discuss how to replace the statue and to clarify the process for working with the city on similar projects.

She said the Sandbaggers have helped replace the statue several times over the decades since it was installed in the 1980s, but the process of working with the city has changed since then.

Of course, the Sandbaggers and the city have the same objectives, she added.

“While the usual process was not followed, we recognize that the goal is to keep Longview’s squirrel tradition alive,” Abel wrote in an email.

Who are the Sandbaggers?

The Sandbaggers, known for their red-and-white-striped blazers, describe themselves as “a local service club that supports the community and the squirrels of Longview.”

It has a reputation for pranks and tongue-in-cheek humor, such as when the group proposed converting the city’s network of nine squirrel bridges around Lake Sacajawea into “squirrel roundabouts” in January.

The loose affiliation of civic-minded pranksters dates back more than five decades. According to a 2000 The Daily News article, the group takes its name from a golfing slang term for someone who appears to be bad at the sport before clobbering their competition.

The first mention of the original carved wood squirrel statue appeared in the May 20, 1985, edition of The Daily News, according to archives. The brief with a photo does not say whether the city or the Sandbaggers commissioned the statue, but it does say that the Sandbaggers were hosting the dedication ceremony during Go 4th, the city’s annual Fourth of July festival.

The Sandbaggers dedicated the original 10-foot wooden statue on July 3, 1985, to honor the life of local developer Amos Peters, who spearheaded construction of the first Nutty Narrows Bridge in 1963.

Peters died in early 1984 and was a member of the Sandbaggers, according to his obituary.

The squirrel statue’s removal comes almost one month before Squirrel Fest, a festival that was originally started by the Sandbaggers but is now being organized by the Rotary Club of Longview. The upcoming festival is expected to draw at least 3,500 people to the Lower Columbia College campus on Saturday, Aug. 22.