'Tool' steals giant hammer in Healdsburg

HEALDSBURG, Calif. (BCN) - Healdsburg police said thieves stole an 800-pound metal hammer with a 21-foot-long wooden handle from the lawn of the Healdsburg Community Center on Friday night or early Saturday morning.

"We believe it was between 6 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday," Healdsburg police Officer Darryl Erkel said this afternoon.

The suspects dragged the hammer and the base it was attached to across a parking lot and likely put it onto a truck. The height of the art exhibit by Doug Unkrey was 6 feet. It was on loan to the community center and was scheduled to be relocated, but not so soon, Erkel said.

Police thought the weighty theft might be a high school prank and checked to see if the hammer ended up at Windsor High School, Healdsburg High School's rival. Not to be.

The exhibit is valued at $15,000, and it was sponsored by the Geyserville-based Voight Family Sculpture Foundation, Erkel said.

A plaque in the ground in front of the hammer was uprooted. The thieves left that, Erkel said.

Anyone with information about the missing sculpture is asked to call Healdsburg police at (707) 431-3377.