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By Ian Hand for the Mail Tribune October 18. 2014 2:00AM Iron Mike loses his rifle ... again The 100-year-old statue in Ashland's Plaza know as Iron Mike was vandalized and left without a hand and the rifle he was holding. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell The Iron Mike statue that appears to be scanning for game across the Ashland Plaza was relieved of his firearm Thursday morning. Iron Mike, also known as Pioneer Mike, stands atop the Carter Memorial Fountain in the Plaza. The statue was erected in 1910 to honor the generation of early pioneers who were passing away during that time. It was given to the city by Henry and Harriet Carter, who founded the Bank of Ashland in the 1880s. In addition to the missing rifle, the fountain's name plate was damaged. The vandalism is estimated to have occurred sometime in the 48 hours before it was reported Thursday morning. Diana Shiplet, executive assistant for the city's Administration Department, said Friday that the rifle had been recovered late Friday morning from one of the planter boxes in front of Martolli's Pizza.  The Ashland Police Department has the piece as part of its investigation. Once the investigation is complete, the Public Works Department will determine its options for repairing the statue. This is the second time Iron Mike's gun has been broken off in the past 15 years, says Sharlene Stephens, the city's risk management specialist. One person in costume climbed up onto the statue on Halloween night in 2001, breaking the gun. The piece was reattached at Ashland Forge in April 2002 for $6,500, and the statue was returned to the Plaza in June of that year. A review of reports in the Daily Tidings shows two other incidents in the past 10 years involving the statue. Citations were issued to seven people in 2006 for climbing Iron Mike and, in 2008, a man climbed the statue and burned an American flag to protest the Iraq War. Iron Mike was discolored by the burning flag, and the man was arrested. Dennis DeBey, owner of Ashland Forge, who repaired the statue after the 2001 incident, said that while he'd be happy to do it again if the city called, it's a risky repair to take on. "Mike isn't made out of iron, but actually pot metal, which is an alloy of lead and zinc," DeBey says. "It's pretty difficult to repair. I had a guy working here at the forge back then that taught me last time, but it's a pretty big project." Pot metal is a slang term for cheap metal alloys that commonly use some combination of lead, zinc, copper or tin. Such alloys are fairly soft and have a low melting point. These properties make it vulnerable to pores and can lead to deformities over time. Pot metal has an advantage of rapid, easy casting for statues. The statue's defacing was one of several incidents of vandalism and theft reported Thursday. The 500 through 800 blocks of Clay Street off Siskiyou Boulevard and the 2700 and 2800 blocks of Diane Street had reports of spray-painted graffiti on multiple vehicles. There also were reports of thefts from cars on those same blocks of Clay Street and the 300 block of Harrison Street.  While it's not a big leap to connect the thefts to the spray-painted cars, Deputy Chief Tighe O'Meara says, those incidents are most likely not connected to the Iron Mike vandalism. "We're probably looking at two separate incidents," he says. "With the vandalized vehicles, it's probably a person painting one car, then another and continuing down the street. So while you've got multiple victims, it's probably the same culprit." Anyone with information about the vandalism should contact APD at 541-488-2211 or 541-482-5211. Email Ashland Daily Tidings reporter Ian Hand at [email protected] or call him at 253-722-4071. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/IanHand_DT . http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20141018/NEWS/141019658 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->