FIRE DEPARTMENT'S DISNEY CHARACTERS ARE STOLENING

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E was M-I-S-S-I-N-G.

Mickey Mouse, part of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department holiday display at Cape County Park North was swiped from the display last week along with one of the seven dwarfs and Sparky the dog.

The dwarf, Bashful, and Sparky, taken last week with Mickey, were soon discovered at the Oak Ridge High School, but Mickey's whereabouts weren't known until Thursday.

"There was no trace of Mickey," said Capt. Mearlin Allen, the man who crafted the characters. "And I really don't know when they were taken."

Allen said the park called to ask if the characters were missing last week because a woman from Oak Ridge called to say she found some Disney characters. He didn't know the characters were missing until after the phone call and a trip to the park.

"Sure enough," he said, "they were gone."

Allen said Thursday that Mickey was discovered in Klaus Park.

"The park called me and told me," he said. "I've got him back again."

Allen said he didn't file another police report about the thefts.

"I'm tired of that," he said, "and I knew they couldn't have walked off too far."

Allen said this was the first year the characters were used in the County Park's holiday display. The characters have been used outside fire stations during holiday and fire prevention month in the past, he said.

Three other Disney characters were taken from the park before Christmas, but were recovered before the holiday. A note attached to one of the characters made reference to a scavenger hunt.

"The characters have had quite a holiday this year," Allen said.

Allen built Donald Duck, Goofey, Mickey, Donald's nephews, the dwarfs and Sparky the dog a couple of years ago. He said the characters were built for different outdoor displays the fire department exhibits.