by Kevin Burton
Wichita police have arrested 45-year-old Ricky Aldrete for multiple crimes, including the theft and destruction of a bronze Jackie Robinson statue, according to published reports.
Page 7 reported on the story after Major League Baseball stepped forward to pay for replacing the statue, (MLB To Replace Vandalized Robinson Statue, Feb 2).
“Alderete, who is jailed on $150,000 bond, faces charges of felony theft and aggravated criminal damage to property in the statue case,” according to reporter Heather Hollingsworth of the Associated Press. “He also was charged with identity theft and making false information in an October 2022 incident involving a pawn ticket, the complaint said.”
Police said three other people are shown on surveillance video and that the statue was taken to a location where other people were present. So there could be more arrests.
“The investigation has not revealed any evidence indicating that this was a hate-motivated crime,” said Wichita Police Lt. Aaron Moses during a news conference. “Instead, we believe this theft was motivated by the financial gain of scrapping common metal.”
Glad the police are the on the case. They seem to be doing to a good, thorough job so that whatever charges come from this will stick. I don’t believe that last quote about this not being a hate crime however. I think the police said that to keep their city from erupting. For that, I can’t blame them.
Meanwhile ESPN reported yesterday that the cleats from the statue will be donated to the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City. The people who destroyed the statue cut it off at the ankles.
“We thought it was the absolute right thing to do,” said Bob Lutz, who founded and operates League 42, a baseball league for inner-city youth which was named after the baseball Hall of Famer and civil rights icon. “It’s looking like the cleats will be delivered by April 11, definitely before Jackie Robinson Day [April 15].”
“Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, said Friday that there are plans to have a ceremony when the cleats arrive at the museum,” ESPN reported. “Kendrick said the cleats likely will be displayed alongside a historical marker from Robinson’s birthplace in Cairo, Georgia — a marker that was damaged by gunfire in 2021 and was donated to the museum.”
“We have a story to tell,” Kendrick said.
Amen to that……
Updating another recent story, I got away clean from dirty dancing last Sunday, too clean.
There was supposed to be an actual dancing element to our Valentine’s Day celebration, an interactive viewing of the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing (Valentines Dirty Dancing With The Burtons, Feb. 14).
I guess there were dance lesson to be had in the hour before the movie started. But there weren’t any signs and we never found the lessons. Overall it was a great event, put on by Exploration Place in Wichita. The lack of signs, or people directing traffic, was our only complaint.
I hate dancing and am terrible at it, but my wife Jeannette loves it and I think she is good at it. I pounced on the Dirty Dancing event when I saw it advertised. I was trying to be a good sport and a good valentine.
But since we didn’t do any actual dancing, I feel like I still owe her some kind of dance event. So like the police investigation mentioned in the statue story above, this dancing caper is an ongoing story.
I got the idea to write a song with the working title “Exploration.” But I’m going to need some kind of dancing to make that happen.
Early on in the movie, lead dance instructor Johnny tells the movie’s female lead Baby to “feel the music.”
I totally get that, when it comes to singing. When it comes to dancing though I am just too self-conscious. I’d rather carry a watermelon.
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