Andy Griffith Statue Vandalized
By Roxanna Haynes Staff Writer
2:21 PM PST, February 23, 2010
MOUNT AIRY, N.C. - The statue of Andy and Opie that sits outside the Surry Arts Council building was painted red and green by vandals over the weekend."Very sad. Very sad that someone would do that," said resident Judy Hansen.
The statue is based on characters from the television show "The Andy Griffith Show," which featured Andy Griffith playing Sheriff Andy Taylor in the fictional town of Mayberry, which was based on Mount Airy, Griffith's hometown.
Vandals painted Andy's hair green and his mouth and badge red. The statue of Opie was not damaged.
"I was extremely disappointed that somebody would do that to something that's so important to our community," said Tanya Jones, the executive director of the Surry County Arts Council.
Jones said executives from TV Land, which maintains the statue, have told her not to try to clean up the paint. TV Land is flying someone in to look at it.
"I think it's probably teenagers who think they were probably doing something funny, but it's definitely not funny right now because of tourism," Jones said.
Thousands of people see the statue every year. It's normally protected by video surveillance, but the system had accidentally been turned off.
Neither the arts council nor TV Land know how much it will cost to clean up the statue. A cash reward is being offered to information that leads police to the perpetrator.
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