BARABOO — Two people were taken into custody Thursday morning in connection with arson at Circus World Museum earlier this week, said Baraboo Police Lt. Robert Sinden.
The two — Kory Evert, 20, and a 16-year-old male — face tentative charges of arson, criminal damage to property and trespassing. Sinden said the charges cover not only the Circus World Museum fire, which damaged an exhibition housing rare circus wagons, but other incidents of graffiti in Baraboo.
Sinden said the suspects were identified with the help of information from the Crimestoppers tip telephone line. Both were released pending a court appearance.
6 comments:
May I cover them with anti-semetic graffitti and then set them on fire?
Please?
Were the wagons with the grafetti antinque circus wagons? Are they restoring things for the great Parade in Wisconsin this year?
-Jimmy
Jimmy, the wagon with the grafetti was not a circus wagon. No other wagons were damaged with grafetti.
Wagons are going through assessments and necessary repairs are being made in preparation for the Great Circus Parade in July, 2009.There were a couple of wagons in the C P Fox Wagon Restoration Shop, which was damaged (see picture in this blog.). There was no damage to the inside of the building.
Three cheers for Crimestoppers who phoned in a tip which led to the arrests.
I understand this parade in 2009 will be the final circus parade? The new director of the circus museum said something to this effect at the Historical Convention in MA this past month. What will become of these beautiful wagons and collections in the museum?
Jimmy G.
The Wisconsin Historical Society would have to step in. Or, maybe applying for federal funding as National Treasures and Nat. Hist. Registry. Those agencies are (fairly) well funded and there is no question that the circus is an integral part of Wisconsin's and our nation's development.
At the recent CHS convention I never heard mention about this being the last parade. It was said that it probably would not be an annual event so this might be the only parade for the next few years. Folks need to understand that the parade and the museum are separate—no parade does NOT mean no museum.
Going on the national registry—and there are two levels of listings, for historic places and historic landmarks—largely means that federal money can’t be spent to destroy the site, i.e. when the fed helps fund road construction. Frankly, it’s a hollow form of protection except for the attention it brings to the history of a site.
As a museum professional, I have been greatly impressed at how the Circus World Museum has managed to weather some extraordinary difficulties these last few years. Much credit must go to the head of the Wisconsin Historical Society and to the new director.
As much as we treasure the wagons, love the parade, and enjoy a good show, the immense value of the museum is its library. And the library is far more than a fine collection of posters. Over the years it has gathered an incredible collection of business letters, account books, and other unique sources that are unequal in scope and depth. The recently published memoirs of Tiny Kline, one of THE best circus books ever, came from the library’s collections. The entire museum deserves our continuing and strong support. It did not need to face a flood this summer and no place in America should have had such a heinous act of vandalism as the museum recently encountered. These were incidents well beyond the recent problems of the museum yet it endures as a national treasure particularly meaningful to the readers of this blog and deserving of our support, verbally and financially.
Dick Flint
Baltimore
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