Vandalism leaves The Legacy without trademark buck

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By COLLEEN KENNEY / Lincoln Journal Star

An antler and leg are all that’s left. They lie on the office carpet like roadkill.

“I’m thinking it was a college-age prank,” says T.J. Niehaus, director of The Legacy retirement community, now missing the buck that was the centerpiece of its public art piece at 56th and Pioneers, “The Pioneer Legacy.”

“Maybe a joke. Maybe a dare.”

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Tschetter mural sculpture at The Legacy Fountain at 56th and Pioneers Boulevard photographed on November 5, 2005. The buck that was the centerpiece of the sculpture was vandalized, and will be replaced. (LJS File)

Tschetter mural sculpture at The Legacy Fountain at 56th and Pioneers Boulevard photographed on November 5, 2005. The buck that was the centerpiece of the sculpture was vandalized, and will be replaced. (LJS File)

He picks up the metal antler, 10 pounds or more. He picks up the leg, metal exposed like bone.

Several people probably took it, he’s thinking, because it would have been difficult for one person to pull out the metal bone, which extended several inches into stone.

It probably happened a week ago Saturday, maybe around 3 a.m., when cars were few at the intersection. One thief probably watched for cars while the others took down the buck.

“Why would somebody do that? I really don’t understand why?”

He crosses the parking lot to show the spot where the buck used to be. In the background, under trees, water falls over rocks and collects in a pool. To the left of the pool, three deer and many trees are sculpted onto a brick wall. To the right, a family of pioneers is sculpted onto another wall.

They look in awe at the scene.

The buck stood in the middle, a front leg raised, the other planted on stone, back legs in the green water.

Since its creation in 1995, Niehaus says, this piece has become a landmark. Try to describe the retirement community to others, and if you mention the deer, they know right away.

He’s heard people use it to give directions to Target.

The owner could easily have faced it in, toward the retirement community, Niehaus says, but he wanted to share it with the city. Now he’s offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction.

The buck will be replaced.

The people who took the deer?

Maybe they think it’s funny and can’t wait to pull another prank like this. Or maybe this was a one-time thing, peer pressure, beer, and now they feel shame in the light of day.

Maybe they feel nothing.

There are many shades of human nature.

Reach Colleen Kenney at 473-2655 or ckenney@journalstar.com.