OTTUMWA, IOWA -- It’s been nearly 10 days since the thunderstorms in Ottumwa caused the Chief Wapello statue atop the Wapello County Court House to lose its footing.
The fire department was on hand to get the Chief down safely, and many who gathered to get pictures and video of the statue were concerned for what would happen next.
Restoring the statue is not a simple process as it is more than 100-years-old and is constructed out of pounded copper.
“Well some of the things we have to consider are you can see that there's a break here where the two halves, the left foot is not connected, the right foot is still up on top of the building, the left hand here came loose - and it's still on the spear - and there's some cracks in it that we don't know if it happened because of the fall or if they've been weathered just over the last 100 hundred years,” said Jerry Parker, Wapello County Supervisor.
The Wapello County Supervisors are working hard to find someone who can properly restore Chief Wapello. The Chief is being safely stored in an undisclosed location at the moment.
“Which probably won't be anyone local. We've got a lead on a couple so we'll be following on that,” said Steve Siegel, Wapello County Supervisor.
KTVO will keep you updated on the restoration of Chief Wapello, but for now his whereabouts are top secret.
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