Two Mercer students confess to uprooting Macon bear statues

On what may be chalked up to a night of drunken foolishness, a pair of fiberglass bear statues -- hand-painted works of public art -- were dislodged from two Macon parks and unceremoniously deposited near the home of Mercer University’s president.

Campus cops found the colorful, 6-foot-tall figures, one with its head bashed in, keeled over in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

On Wednesday, campus Police Chief Gary Collins said two Mercer students had come forward on Tuesday and fessed up to their roles in the caper.

“They said they were intoxicated,” Collins said, adding that the two “seem to understand” the seriousness of their transgression.

“They were man enough to turn themselves in,” he said, though the culprits’ names were not made public.

The chief said the university was working with the Macon Arts Alliance, which oversees the fiberglass bears that are among six such statues around town.

“There will be a disciplinary action taken against the two students,” he said.

Collins did not rule out the possibility of the pair facing criminal charges, though none came from a similar act of vandalism three and a half years ago.

In that case, in late 2011, two Mercer students destroyed another of the fiberglass bears that was in Tattnall Square Park across from the university. Those students paid restitution, and the statue has since been replaced.

The bears were all purchased with part of a $15,000 Knight Neighborhood Challenge grant.

One of the statues uprooted late Monday was mounted across College Street from Alexander II Magnet School. The other was in downtown’s Daisy Park.

It could cost as much as $5,000 to replace or repair the bears, which were ditched near the intersection of Coleman Avenue and Adams Street, at the southwest corner of Tattnall Square.

It was not clear how the life-size bears were hauled to the edge of Mercer’s campus.

Jonathan Harwell-Dye, director of communications for the arts alliance, said “we do have a commitment from Mercer” to fix them, which may take months.

Harwell-Dye said the alliance will maintain the other bears as long as they hold up. They were not designed to last forever, he said, but being wrenched from their bases was not factored in to their expected life spans.

“The part that kills me about it is that these were created by local artists who made these and wanted to make an improvement in the community,” Harwell-Dye said. “In just one night they can go from a beautiful asset to being damaged and having to be replaced.”

To contact writer Joe Kovac Jr., call 744-4397.

This story was originally published March 18, 2015 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Two Mercer students confess to uprooting Macon bear statues."