“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m digging a seven-foot hole for the Henry Moses Totem Pole,” the man replied. He stood in the center of a raised flower bed at the Renton Fred Meyer. He wore jeans, T-shirt, white baseball cap and turquoise studs in his ears.
“I’m White Bear,” he said leaning against his shovel. “A couple of years ago I was parking my car here and I looked up at a faded totem pole. So I went researching at the Renton Historical Society.”
White Bear discovered the totem pole was the Henry Moses Honoring Pole. Moses was the last hereditary chief of the Duwamish tribe and the first Native American to graduate from Renton high school, in 1916.
“I wanted to restore the pole — then it was stolen.”
My ears perked up. “Stolen? Who steals totem poles?”
White Bear sat beside my shopping cart. He positioned himself comfortably —boy did he have a story to tell.
One rainy afternoon in early December 2009 a crane operator maneuvered a boom truck over a curb of a popular West Seattle park. In broad daylight another man, the one who had hired the crane operator and brought special tools, unbolted the 500-pound, 18-foot-long totem pole. The totem was lifted onto the truck but was so heavy the truck sank into the mud.
A towing company was called and the Seattle Police who unwittingly assisted in the theft of the totem by re-directing traffic.
The guy with the special tools claimed to be on the Seattle Arts Commission. And in lieu of prosecution paid more $20,000 in a plea agreement to restore the West Seattle pole after he confessed to the location of the totem pole. The police found the Moses pole alongside the West Seattle totem pole on a trailer parked at a senior center in Keizer, Ore.
After hearing White Bear’s story, I asked him where I could see the Moses totem pole. It was currently being restored by the original artist commissioned to make the totem pole in the 1970s.
Feeling a little like Scrappy Doo in the Mystery Machine, I pulled our minivan up to Jim Ploegman’s Renton workshop.
“Fred Meyer is restoring the totem pole. It’s going to be a big thing with the commemoration of the 100 year anniversary of Renton High School,” Jim said.
“Can we touch it?” I asked, referring to the totem laying belly up on stilts.
Jim nodded.
Amelia, Baby Ty and I felt the smooth fin of a whale painstakingly carved into the thick cedar tree more than 30 years ago. Jim began describing the colors he would use to breathe life back to the pole again.
“Who steals a totem pole?” I asked, still trying to process such a galling theft. “Can you tell me his name?” I asked, looking at Jim. He wore a mauve-colored beret (think Leonardo da Vinci) with an eagle feather poking out the side.
A look of disappointment descended across his face, the way older people do when younger people just don’t get what’s important in life.
“You don’t want to write about this guy.” Jim said as if speaking of the thief was tantamount to conjuring the likes of Voldemort.
Jim waved us over and commenced a tour of his studio. Amelia was snapping shots with the digital camera as Jim described and pointed to a lifetime of treasures: Art, books, wood carving tools, a collection of antique ice skates dangled from the ceiling.
All the while I’m ashamed to admit … I was like a hunting dog follows the whiff of prey or in this case a good story. I felt myself becoming possessed by Bob Woodward, from the movie, “All the President’s Men,” investigating the corruption of the century.
When I got home, I contacted the Seattle prosecutor. Why didn’t the police prosecute the totem thief? I cruised the internet and made a timeline on the wall.
After a week of research I was exhausted. Besides, being an investigative reporter in Renton isn’t nearly as much fun as being a writer mom. Exposing villainy is stressful.
Jim was right.
I didn’t want to write about another rich guy with a Herculean sense of entitlement. The world was already full of too many of those stories.
A snapshot on my “conspiracy theory” board brought me back to reality. It was of Jim wearing Native American armor he’d fashioned out of soft leather and wooden plaits. Amelia posed alongside him brandishing the jawbone of an ox.
That day with Jim was one Amelia and I will never forget.
Totem pole rededication
The Henry Moses Honoring Pole will be rededicated Saturday in its new location in front of the Renton Center Fred Meyer store.
Duwamish Tribal Chairwoman Cecile Hansen and Mayor Denis Law will lead the rededication.
The rededication is 9 a.m. Saturday, May 7, at the Fred Meyer Garden Entrance, 365 Renton Center Way S.W.
I love suggestions! If you know of people or places in Renton that surprise, delight and inspire the community, drop me a line at carolyn@pippimamma.com. Also follow Carolyn on her blog, www.pippimamma.com.
