Hermann coming down

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM--The statue of Hermann is coming down Tuesday morning to be examined and then to be refurbished. Maybe.

A temporary resting place beside the monument base has been prepared by Heymann Construction and New Ulm Public Utilities Department. Early Tuesday morning Steve Schaefer of Schaefer Crane Service of New Ulm will decide whether conditions are right for removing Hermann from his permanent base.

"It's just a case of if it's too windy or not," Steve Schaefer. "The guys up there will make the decision whether it's a go or not. Sometimes, it's all right if there's a little breeze, but if it snows, it's a definite no go because I can't have my guys slipping up there."

The way the apparatus that will lift Hermann's body off its base is designed assures that it is lifted from the bottom not the top, City Manager Brian Gramentz explained.

The uprights on which Hermann stands will be cut, but there are braces welded to the uprights to guide the statue's base back exactly dead on with uprights in case it has to be immediately replaced or when it is returned to its base.

The preparations for this move are divided into two categories, Gramentz said.

"Some is related to security, and some is related to just the act of getting him down," Gramentz said.

Once Hermann is safely on his temporary base he'll be surrounded by a fence-type structure, Gramentz explained.

"Actually, the fence will be on three sides as the temporary base is up against the monument base. "So it will be like a fence within a fence (the chainlink that now surrounds the monument), only this one will be much, much higher," Gramentz said.

Instead of chainlink, however, the fence will be the netting used to catch golf balls in indoor ranges, Gramentz explained. That's to catch any kind of debris that might be hurled at it by vandals or by winds.

Also, police patrols will be stepped up, and other security measures will be used to identify whomever might try to get to the statue and vandalize it.

"This is the first time we've ever done this, but I think we've tried to think of everything that can happen to it," Gramentz said.

"We've got it pretty well covered," Schaefer agrees.

Schaefer was the low bidder among the three firms that bid on moving the statue. He got it for a bid of $12,000.

Gramentz said that when the other costs of getting Hermann down are totaled, it will probably be in the $45,000 to $50,000 range.

The city has a total of $168,000 in its statue restoration fund. It also has a $75,000 from the Minnesota Historical Society, as well as some other donations which will add up to $100,000 additional to start with.

When Hermann's firmly on his new base, sculptor David Hyduke of St. Peter and artisan Arnie Lillo of rural Mankato will be able to get up inside to do their inspection and evaluation of what it will take to get Hermann back on his permanent base again.

"We have no way of knowing at this point how much money it will take to get Hermann fixed up," Gramentz said. "So we can't say now whether it will take $250,000 or $400,000 or what to get the job done. We're hoping it won't be a million."

The city also is including $100,000 in this year's bond sale, and if that's not enough, the plan is to put more into the 2004 bond sale, Gramentz said.

"And if it is more, we'll also be out there looking for donations," Assistant City Manager Tom MacAulay said.