The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Brian Ojanpa

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October 9, 2009

Linus has his heart back

Sleepy Eye’s delightfully loopy and tourist-luring Linus statue has its stolen heart back.

All together now: Awwww.

A couple of young guys were walking along a Sleepy Eye trail the other day when they chanced upon the thing, which is red, reads “I Love Sleepy Eye,” and is about the size of a large pizza.

Sleepy Eye Mayor Jim Broich is not alone in his joy over the discovery because scuttlebutt had it that the culprits who ripped it from the “Peanuts” character’s hand had put a good whuppin’ on it.

“We were led to believe the heart was all broken up, so we started work to get a new one, and the first quote we got was about $1,000,” Broich said.

But all’s well that ends well. Now, Broich’s biggest concern is how to best reattach the Styrofoam-like heart to Linus’ mitt.

“We’re exploring different glues,” he said.

While that Lewis and Clark effort to come up with an apt adhesive forges ahead, let’s back up to the start.

In late April, thieves still unknown purloined pieces from the statue. Taken were Snoopy’s nose — easily enough replaceable— and the heart, which called for more professional intervention.

Broich offered a $100 reward for information leading to the apprehension of the dastards but wasn’t holding his breath.

When this sort of thing happens, it usually involves a heady mix of male youth, booze, false bravery and sober realization afterward:

Duh. We ripped off a foam heart? Let’s just chuck it in the woods and leave it there.

Which appears to be what happened, until the two young walkers came along. They turned in the heart to police and asked for their reward, only to be told they couldn’t collect because the bad guys hadn’t been fingered.

Broich gave each $10 as sort of a consolation prize.

All of which begs a question: Why is there a 7-foot “Peanuts” monument in front of the town library, and why is it so important?

The back story goes like this:

The Linus character in Charles Schulz’s long-running “Peanuts” comic strip is named for Sleepy Eye native Linus Maurer, who taught cartooning with Schulz at a Minneapolis art school.

The city of Sleepy Eye brought the statue to town after the city of St. Paul unveiled more than 100 Linus statues during a public art initiative in 2003.

Broich doesn’t recall how much the city paid for the piece, but figures it was money well spent to trumpet a small town’s link to an American icon cartoon character.

New York has its Statue of Liberty, St. Louis has its Gateway Arch, Sleepy Eye boasts a blanket-carrying kid and his dog.

Travelers routinely pull off Highway 14 to snap photos of that statue. Oh, yes they do.



Brian Ojanpa is a Free Press staff writer. Call him at 344-6316 or e-mail bojanpa@mankatofreepress.com .

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Brian Ojanpa