THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994 TAG: 9406090746
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: WILLIAMSBURG, VA.
DATELINE: 940609 LENGTH: Medium
Gumby was taken from the James City County front porch of Scott and Suzanne Dye on Memorial Day. The theft caught the media's fancy, especially after a ransom note was delivered to a radio station Wednesday.
{REST} A group calling itself the ``JEHU Revolutionary Front'' sent a ransom demand, along with a Polaroid of Gumby bound and blindfolded, demanding that Gov. George Allen donate $5 to a Richmond homeless shelter. The governor declined to meet the ransom demand.
Scott Dye said that the 7-foot stuffed toy was returned Wednesday night. ``Now, we're having a party,'' he said.
Miss Manuel, 16, of Virginia Beach, said she saw Gumby sitting outside a tent at the Jamestown Beach campground over the Memorial Day weekend and asked the boys in the tent if she could have it.
``I love Gumby,'' she said. But when she saw a television report Wednesday evening of Gumby's abduction, she knew she had to return the stuffed toy. So she and her father put Gumby on the roof of the family car and drove to James City County to return it.
``I wanted Gumby to come home, but I never thought it would happen,'' Mrs. Scott said as Gumby was put back on the front porch.
Scott said he believed the Gumby pictured with the ransom demand was not his Gumby.
``Although this may have been offered in jest, the governor will not pay the $5 for several reasons, the first being that a crime was committed when the Gumby doll was stolen, and if he paid the $5 it could cause a copycat incident to occur,'' said Melissa Herring, an Allen spokeswoman.
by CNB