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Dinosaur in need of another facelift
By JENNIFER FARRELL © St. Petersburg Times, published September 9, 2000 SPRING HILL -- It was the question on everyone's lips Friday morning at Elio's Barbershop. Who could have defaced the dinosaur? Scarcely more than a year after the pink monster, arguably Hernando County's most famous landmark, received a much-needed facelift, vandals have left their mark on it -- in red and green spray paint. Scrawled across the beast's massive body in large letters are what appear to be the initials, "V.M." as well as several symbols and an obscenity. Barbershop owner Elio Vasquez, whose business stands next to the dinosaur on U.S. 19, said his customers noticed the graffiti when they arrived and asked about it immediately. "They must have done it at night," he said, standing inside the shop, where two small, stuffed pink dinosaurs adorn the walls. "It wasn't there yesterday when I left." The dinosaur, whose shape is an anatomically incorrect cross between a brontosaurus and a stegosaurus, is owned by Gerald Foxbower. It has stood at the entrance of the Foxbower Wildlife Museum since 1962, and, at 22 feet tall and 58 feet long, the dinosaur is hard to miss. Last year, when the landmark was showing its age, Carlo Daleo, owner of AA Painting and Pressure Cleaning Inc., in Spring Hill donated about $795 worth of supplies and labor to give it a make over. Contacted Friday, he was shocked to hear of the vandalism. "Oh no," he said. "That beautiful job I did?" Vasquez, like many of his customers, blamed the graffiti on bored teenagers. "A guy tried to do something nice and clean and paint it, and somebody comes along and messes it up," Vasquez said. "We don't understand." Daleo, meanwhile, vowed to clean up the mess next week. "I will buy another 5 gallons of paint, and we'll give these kids a war," he said. "Hey, that's a landmark for us."
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From today's Hernando Times |
