These 3 pigs bring home a meaty point
By ERNEST HOOPER
Published July 30, 2004
My assignments during 18 years as a journalist are too numerous to list, but I think I can safely say I had never been asked to go find a giant pink pig roaming around downtown Tampa.
Until Thursday.
It was almost too improbable to believe, but more than one person said they saw this monstrosity motoring on the streets near County Center, the courthouse and Lykes Gaslight Square Park. If they had said pink elephants were on parade, I would have known for certain they had made an early morning visit to the Tiny Tap. (Yes, it's open at 9 a.m.)
But they insisted it was one pink, four-wheel rolling pig as large as a van, towing two smaller piglets, no relation to the original Piglet of Pooh fame.
So there I was, patrolling Kennedy Boulevard during lunch hour, waiting to see this porker so I could be certain it wasn't protesting bacon, because I love bacon.
I walked slowly from County Center west on Kennedy and just when I was about to give up, I saw it in all its glory. There were indeed three piggies. I sprinted to the side of the road and stuck out my thumb to hitch a ride but it didn't slow down. I thought about jumping in front of it. Then I imagined the phrase "He was pancaked by a rolling hog" in the obituary.
So after a futile chase down Kennedy, north on Ashley Street and east on Zack Street, I gave up and jotted down the Web address. With some help from our crack editorial assistants, I tracked down Norwood Orrick, the Tampa activist who helped bring the porkers to the bay area.
Orrick is a part of TrueMajority, a movement founded by Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. You may remember TrueMajority as the group behind the 12-foot statue of President Bush with his pants on fire that was paraded around Tampa in February.
The pigs are another blend of street theater and political protest. The big pig is stuffed with phony dollar bills and represents the money spent on the war in Iraq, more than $200-billion according to TrueMajority.
The smaller pigs represent federal spending on education ($34-billion) and spending on poverty and world hunger ($10-billion).
It sort of adds new meaning to "bringing home the bacon."
Orrick is a registered Green Party member, but made it clear this protest, unlike the Bush statue, is bipartisan.
"We feel there's plenty of blame to go around," Orrick said.
Orrick, who has pictures and details on his Web site (www.blogwood.com) teamed with other volunteer drivers who have paraded the pigs all around town since they arrived July 16, the same day President Bush was here to speak at a conference at the Marriott Waterside.
The display has rolled around New Tampa, the University of South Florida and Carrollwood, up and down the Pinellas beaches and through the neighborhoods of East Tampa.
They even stopped to have lunch at Big John's Alabama Barbecue after a daylong tour. The drivers that is.
Orrick said most onlookers have been supportive.
"Ninety-nine percent burst into laughter," Orrick said. "They hear it grunting and think it's really funny. Then when they begin to take in the message, the mood becomes a little more somber."
One volunteer driver said a soldier home from Iraq stopped them to get a picture to send to friends still in the war.
The pig rolls out of town Sunday, but not before making an appearance at BayWalk Saturday night. Orrick snorted, ahem, and said he wanted to lend support to free speech and antiwar protesters at the shopping complex.
Next stop for the porkers? Gainesville, which, I might point out, was originally known as Hog Town.
That's all I'm saying.Ernest Hooper can be reached at 813 226-3406 or Hooper@sptimes.com