http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156392,00.html
Man's Giant Weenie Stolen
Thursday, May 12, 2005
A South Carolina man would like his enormous wiener returned.
Loyd Ardrey, who owns the Ebenezer Grill (search) in Rock Hill, about 20 miles south of Charlotte, N.C., came in to open up Wednesday morning when he discovered that the 12-foot-long smiling hot dog sign on top of the restaurant was missing.
"We looked around, and it wasn't in any yards next door or across the street or anything," Ardrey told the Charlotte Observer.
Turns out there's a giant hot dog thief on the loose.
"It was evident that the screws had been taken out," said Rock Hill Police Lt. Jerry Waldrop.
The aluminum sign, which weighs 35 pounds and cost about $750 to make and install, recently replaced a similar wooden sign that had hung above the popular diner since the 1960s.
"We've got a lot of professional offices nearby, and they use that when people are asking how to get to their office," Ardrey said. "They'll say, 'Do you know where the big weenie is?'"