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THROWBACK THURSDAY: The Patriot Thief

This is a story from the WQAD News 8 archives from May 2009 by reporter Chris Minor. BETTENDORF, Iowa – While Bob and Alexis Saskowski anxiously waited for thei...

This is a story from the WQAD News 8 archives from May 2009 by reporter Chris Minor.

BETTENDORF, Iowa – While Bob and Alexis Saskowski anxiously waited for their son's safe return from the war in Iraq, they found comfort in decorating their trees with yellow ribbons, in support of the troops.

But earlier this year...

"The ribbons started to disappear," said Bob.  "Every time it disappeared, I would hang a new one up."

It went on for eight months.

The last straw, three stolen ribbons in three days.

"We tried to find a politically correct way to find out who was taking our ribbon because we felt extremely violated," said Alexis Saskowski.

So a very upset Bob appealed to his neighbors through a memo, urging them to talk to their teenagers about respect and patriotism.

Not blaming them, but fishing for answers, asking their help.

"It indicated I needed their eyes, to help them watch the trees."

The neighbors responded in a most neighborly way... with a surprise blanketing of more yellow ribbons, mad someone would sink so low.

"And we all decided if this person gonna pick on Bob, they can pick on all of us, and we literally put ribbons up and down the street," said neighbor Patty Kenyon.

"Bob came out and saw them, putting ribbons on the tree it was very heartwarming, actually," said Alexis.

The heartless thief, though, didn't stop.

He continued stealing ribbons from the backyard , but only from the Saskowski's.

"We thought someone had a vengeance against us, personally because no one else's ribbons in the neighborhood was disappearing," said Alexis.

"Who would do something like that?" asked Kenyon.

"Who is so unpatriotic they would go out of their way to rip off a yellow ribbon?"

At their wits end, the couple set up a video camera.

"I was gonna catch the culprit," Bob vowed.

Six weeks went by, the video camera focused on the backyard.

"And one Saturday afternoon," Bob said, "I looked at the monitor.  The ribbon was missing and I said 'Gotcha!'"

The sneaky thief, caught on tape.

"We were thinking it was kids, playing a prank."

"I caught him," said Bob, "and it was a squirrel."

"A squirrel, a rodent, a tree rodent is doing this?" asked Kenyon.

Yep, no teenage prankster, but a wiley rodent causing all the grief.

Video shows it all: there was no denying the ribbon being shimmied slowly down the tree trunk.  Once at the base, the squirrel cuts the ribbon and takes off, scampering with the yellow ribbon in tow, another score.   The couple then discovered the squirrelly bandit was swiping the yellow ribbon and then stashing them up in his nest in the tree in their backyard.

"We can laugh now, before it was not funny," said Bob.

"The first feeling was relief that it wasn't someone in our neighborhood," said Alexis.

The usual suspects cleared, the Saskowskis say the squirrel actually was a good thing.

"I named him 'Patriot' because he brought our neighborhood together," said Bob.

Once a bandit, now a patriot.

Only in America.

And the best part is, the yellow ribbons worked.

The Saskowskis son is home.

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