Bustin’ Rocks….
An Ohio man could end up busting rocks in a Kentucky prison because he took a rock from Kentucky.
But not just ANY rock.
It was THIS rock…
This rock has lived in the Ohio River near Ironton, Ohio for many decades.
And that part of the river forms the border between Kentucky and Ohio.
Officials say the Rock was on the Kentucky side of the river—and thus that state lays claim to it as a protected archaeological object.
But, the man who took the rock says he was just trying to protect it.
Steve Shaffer is an historian and he says the Indian Head rock—as its called—needed to be taken from the river to protect it.
Here’s why.
The rock is covered with all sorts of carvings—and images that some claim may be a native American petroglyph.
Once upon a time—the rock was used as a navigation point in the river..
But sometime around 1920—the rock became submerged under the Ohio’s waters after a Dam raised the water level—and it hasn’t been seen since.
Shaffer believes by pulling the 8-ton boulder out of the water—it’ll be there for future generations.
But the good folks of Kentucky see it as nothing more than theft—and they’ve indicted Shaffer.
If he’s convicted—he could face up to 5 years in prison.
Shaffer says he plans to fight the charges—because he doesn’t want to get taken for Granite !
—Steve
Link to the video and the story Steve covered today on NBC-17
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June 20th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
For those who do not know I am one of Steve’s photographers, lead writer of Hey Look a Monkey (well only writer) and frequent reader of his fine blog. I awoke this morning wanting to see what is going on in Steve’s strange world and what do I find a story involving an Ohio man having issues with Kentucky. I’m from Ohio and I was wondering what the deal is, I continued to read and finally I see the word I dread to see in news or blog articles… Ironton. The reason I dread seeing my hometown in print is, well nothing good ever gets picked up. It’s things like the duct tape bandit or a guy killing his daughter and stuffing her into a trash can and burring it under his house, that’s the type of news that gets exposure.
Of course, this story is rather silly and wasting valuable time and money that the region does not have. The biggest issue involved is not the rock itself it over the border. With a river you would think that it would be easy to tell where the boundary is, not so my friend. Kentucky was a state first so they get rights to more of the river. Locals on both sides have always argued as to where the “line” is and the rock is in that zone. I hate bringing in this parrell but this story has a Hatfield/McCoy corollary too it, a lot of fist shaking and lawsuits thrown down. I would even say this battle goes back to the Civil War, even though Kentucky was part of the north, it is still in the south, the Mason/Dixon line is the river and a lot of that bad blood is still slightly present. As a kid, you would see a Confederate flag sticker and knew it was someone from Kentucky, I would even get into arguments over the fact they proudly displayed a flag of rebellion that they were not even apart of. Even in sports there was a divide, Kentucky had University of Kentucky basketball and we had Ohio State football. There were fans of the “other” school on either side of the river, but as an Ohioan I always rooted against Kentucky… that other state!
This whole rock thing is another saga in this craptaclar feud. It’s not like Steve Shaffer tippy toed to the river while piccicato violins were play, he spent days with a large crew dragging that rock out. Kentucky could have stopped him at any point, yet they didn’t. They waited and even sent people over to investigate the thing. I hate to say it I agree with Shaffer on this, it needs to preserved as a historic marker. What I can tell Kentucky wants to put the thing BACK into the water as a way to preserve it. If that is true, then Kentucky needs to be smacked. The idea thing to do is put in a museum somewhere and leave it. It’s not going to draw large crowds to begin with… it’s a freaking rock! When I go home to visit my family will I go and see Indian Head Rock? Sure why not, it’s better than most things there, but I am not going to make a special seven hour drive from Raleigh to see it.
Finally for those who think the face is a native American petroglyph… IT’S A FACE! Who knows, my grandparents could have carved that back in the 20s! In fact I’m going to say they did, I have no proof, but neither do you saying it’s a petroglyph so there!