Here’s where stolen ‘beautiful tribal art’ was found in rural Whatcom County
A totem pole created by a Lummi Nation carver has been found intact and undamaged, three weeks after a pair of thieves were caught on video rolling it away from the business where it was awaiting installation.
“It was wrapped in a tarp and placed next to a berry field” northwest of Ferndale, Ray Poorman of San Juan Cable told The Bellingham Herald.
“I drove there and picked it up,” he said Monday, May 17.
Called “Communication,” the 11-foot, 300-pound totem pole shows a tribal member holding a salmon in outstretched hands, as an eagle dives with extended talons to accept the offering. Glass discs on each wing represent a red sun and a blue moon.
It was carved by Felix Solomon of Lummi Nation, Poorman said.
Now, it’s stored safely until it can be installed outside the cable company offices near Girard and C streets, he said.
“It’s beautiful tribal art. We supply internet to the tribe. Whenever our customers would come in they would see their history, ” he told The Herald at the time of the theft.
“I’ve been sick about it for a couple weeks,” Poorman said Monday. “It’s to honor the tribe and our business with the tribe. It boggles the mind why anyone would take it. What were they going to do with it?”
Poorman thinks publicity about the theft frightened the men who took it.
“They must’ve realized the gravity of the situation, that it was a felony. It looks like they just unloaded it,” he said.
Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Deb Slater said a passer-by called 911 to report finding the totem pole about 4 p.m. Sunday, May 16, near Pole and Northwest roads.
It had been there nearly a week, because the person who called authorities said they had seen it before — but didn’t realize what it was because of the tarp, Poorman said.
That person will be getting a $500 reward, Poorman said.
Bellingham Police Lit. Claudia Murphy told The Herald that one of the men on the video was arrested in connection with the theft on April 30, but that the other man hasn’t been identified.
Joseph W. Barr, 31, of Bellingham, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree theft and second-degree burglary, Murphy said.
