Artist's Widow Outraged With KOA After His Art Disappears
CRAIG, Colo. (CBS4) - The widow of a North Western Colorado artist is outraged after the new owners of a Craig KOA campground sent two Native American Indian sculptures he created to the dump.
Artist Bernie Rose, who died in 2012, made the life-sized copper sculptures.
According to his widow Kathleen "Kathy" Shea, she noticed the iconic art disappeared a few weeks ago.
"I asked what happened and the new owners originally told me someone had stolen them," Shea told CBS4.
The owners now confirm to her they put them in a dumpster without knowing they had any value to the community.
Shea says she is furious the gift her late husband created was just hauled away to a landfill. She values the pieces at $20,000.
CBS4 did ask for the owners of the KOA for comment, but they have not returned our calls.
They did tell the local newspaper that they did not realize the artwork had value to the community and are sorry about what happened.
Matt Kroschel covers news throughout Colorado working from the CBS4 Mountain Newsroom. Send story ideas to mrkroschel@cbs.com and connect with him on Twitter @Matt_Kroschel.