MERMAID MISCHIEF
You have to wonder how a human mind can sink so low as to purposely harm such an item as the petite little mermaid which graces the harbor of Copenhagen, Denmark. She has been the victim of vandalism of just about every type since she was placed there l913 - almost hundred year ago by Edward Erickson.
The life-sized copper figure is seated gracefully ona protruding rock just a few feet above the harbors crest and millions of visitors from all over the world make sure they see this symbol of Denmark's serene beautiful and sincerity.
I bring this topic up because we have the Statue of Liberty which sos of great importance to New Yorkers, to Americans, in general, and to many other people around the world who have a special love and concern for the principles of liberty which she symbolizes so well. She's a bit older than the mermaid in Copenhagen harbor, having been given to Americans by the people of France by the famed sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi in l886.
Both are in danger today.
You may have read just this past week that the ban on visitors to the island on which Miss Liberty's likeness is situated, has been removed. The rule is still there, however, which forbids entrance of visitors to the base of the monument itself are still in effect. This might well prove to be a wise step because the Statue of Liberty would be a prime target for any terrorist group who might wish to harm such a sterling symbol of our national unity and strength.
The latest serious attack on the mermaid was on September 19, 2003 when some vandals tore her from her perch and , it seem explosive were used because the four heavy bolts which held her to the rock were bent. Over the years, even as recent;y as 1964, she has been beheaded, and she has had arms and arms amputated, two such holes in her legs and other punishments - for whatever reasons unrecorded. She has - six times - been splattered with gaudy, bright-colored paint.,
I know of no such attacks on the larger, less attainable Statue of Liberty. There must have been some such attacks or desecrations of the Statue of Liberty, but one such “attack” has been back in the news recently when, on the 1960;s - a gang of army fatigue-clad Viet Nam War protesters set in operation a plan to ”take over”:the Statue of Liberty using wooden guns. The actual attack never materialized. It seems almost laughable when you think of such a scheme. One of the leaders of that plan was a veteran of a four-month tour of Viet Nam recently returned to the states as an admiral's
aide. His name,was John Kerry. Ironically, he is the same man now campaigning to become President of the nation.
Vandals, it seems, have never voice reasons for mistreating the Mermaid of Copenhagen harbor. Imagine ,if sou can, what the reaction of the average American would be if our Miss Liberty were to be defiled in any way.
A.L.M. April 24, 2004 [c530wds]
