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NEWS
[ Monday, March 29, 2004 ]

Head from costume stolen from campaign

Collegian Staff Writer

Undergraduate Student Government (USG) presidential candidates Erin Staab and Ivan Baumwell filed a police report Friday after two unknown individuals dressed in squirrel costumes stole the head from their campaign mascot's squirrel costume during the meet-the-candidates session in front of the Student Book Store, 330 E. College Ave.

According to eyewitness accounts, the two individuals were wearing T-shirts with "Foulke n' A" written on the front and put a Galen Foulke/Luke Adams campaign sticker on the squirrel before taking the head.

PHOTO: Jessie Bright
PHOTO: Jessie Bright
The squirrel mascot represents the Staab/Baumwell campaign in East Halls.

Head Elections Commissioner Tim Dorman, who was not present at the time, said he has heard conflicting accounts and has not been able to prove whether or not the two squirrels were wearing Foulke n' A shirts.

Adams, USG vice presidential candidate, said he and running mate Foulke did not know the individuals who stole the costume's headpiece, which was eventually returned by the police.

He added the two individuals were not wearing official Foulke n' A T-shirts.

Baumwell said he and Staab could have pressed charges against the two individuals for assault and theft, but decided against it.

"Just because the kid was an idiot and immature, I wasn't about to slap a Penn State student with a felony charge just for being stupid," Baumwell said. "Ethically, I wasn't going to allow myself to be involved with that."

Staab added that there has been a lot of tension between her campaign and the Foulke/Adams campaign.

"We haven't done anything to go after Galen, and we're trying to keep this fair, but it's getting out of hand," Staab said.

Baumwell added that he feels he and Staab are being unfairly targeted.

Foulke and Adams said they have not been campaigning negatively against Staab and Baumwell.

"Publicly, we haven't said anything bad about them nor would we have any reason to," Adams said.

Foulke said the tension between the two campaigns has been a result of miscommunication.

Foulke added that he and Baumwell have resolved the conflict, but the squirrel incident did not help the situation.

"I was so upset afterward because we had just worked this out," Foulke said.

Jared Trexler, a Staab/Baumwell campaign worker, said he witnessed the incident.

"There are four people who could have clearly seen what happened," Trexler said. "Three of them were squirrels, and one of them was me."

Trexler said he was talking to the Staab/Baumwell squirrel when two individuals dressed in identical squirrel costumes came around the corner.

He said the first squirrel lightly pushed the Staab/Baumwell squirrel, while the other squirrel "slapped" a Foulke n' A campaign sticker on its chest.

The first squirrel then took the head of the Staab/Baumwell squirrel costume and "bolted for the car, which came at a high rate of speed from around the corner," he said.

Trexler said Baumwell attempted to stop the two squirrels by trying to jump on the back of the car, but was unsuccessful.

Baumwell then chased the car down College Avenue for a while but could not catch up, he said.

 

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