Thieves make off with local farmer's prized pumpkin

GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP (WJRT) -- (10/02/08)--A Grand Blanc Township man is offering a reward after thieves ran off with his prized possession.

It's a pumpkin problem of massive proportions.

"It's kind of a tradition in the neighborhood," said Bill Teer, who is missing something. "It is a big deal."

And Teer is missing something larger than life.

"If your time is worth anything, you can't put a price on it," he said.

Sometime Wednesday night, his 450-pound pumpkin disappeared. It vanished from his front yard.

"It's more work than anyone would expect. You start out back in February, ordering the seeds from Nova Scotia," Teer said.

"You prepare the soil. It's well fertilized. I've got an elaborate watering system."

Obviously, this is no joke for the veteran pumpkin grower.

"Halloween is one of my favorite holidays for the kids," he said. "I think my sadness overrides the anger."

Teer thinks a group of three teenagers drove up on Halsey Road and managed to roll the pumpkin into the back of their pickup truck. The reward is now up to $200.

"I think they absolutely planned it," said neighbor Don Simons.

Simons pitched in half the reward money.

"We hope we catch these people," he said. "There was a prior attack on the pumpkin a year or two ago. Somebody jumped out with a hammer and punched some holes in one of them."

Meanwhile, police are baffled.

"Who knows what they want with it or what they did with it," Simons said.

There have been sightings, like an unusually large pumpkin outside the Big Boy restaurant in Grand Blanc. But it turns out that one used to be Teer's, only he sold it.

This time, that's not the case.

"I would like to find out who did it and make them pay for it," Teer said.

After all, for Teer, this is about more than just a pumpkin.

"The reason I started doing this is because of my two young boys," he said. "It's a neat time of the year. And it's a shame to take that away."

If you have information about the pumpkin poachers, give Grand Blanc Township police a call.

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