By Susan Shinn
sshinn@salisburypost.com
Here’s something you don’t see in the police blotter every day:
Stolen. 12-foot tall giraffe. Pink with red spots. Answers to the name of Elizabeth.
If found, contact Joe Lancione and Tom Wolpert, co-owners of A Step in Time.
Elizabeth has stood sentry in a corner outside the store on Easy Street for years now.
She was there when Lancione and Wolpert locked the doors about 5 p.m. Thursday.
But Friday morning, when the shop opened for business, Elizabeth was gone.
“I just got so upset!” Lancione said Friday morning. “Both of us did.”
Several days ago, thieves took an Obama sign out of their yard, which they put there way back during the primary election.
That’s really low, Lancione said. And now this.
“We’re hoping it’s a college prank,” Lancione said. “We’re hoping she’ll show up in front of a frat house.”
After all, Friday was Halloween.
Lancione even called Catawba College and asked them to be on the lookout for Elizabeth.
“The damn thing is 12 feet tall! Where do you hide it?” Wolpert said.
Lancione and Wolpert are offering a reward for Elizabeth’s safe return.
She has a special place in their hearts.
“We are the parents,” Lancione said. “We are the creators. We made her out of thick particle board.”
Friday was a sad day at A Step in Time.
“Do you know how many pictures had been taken with kids in front of Elizabeth?” Lancione said. “They loved her.”
Lancione and Wolpert filed a police report Friday morning.
But the thieves may have more to worry about than just law enforcement.
“I’m Italian,” Lancione said. “You don’t want me to give you the evil Italian sign. It’s not a good thing. It really is not.”