[MSN] Artifacts, pottery stolen from I-10 rest area

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Artifacts, pottery stolen from I-10 rest area

By David DeKunder
The Gazette-Enterprise   

Published December 10, 2006

SEGUIN - Thieves made out with pieces of local history displayed at a state
rest area Thursday.

Investigators with the Guadalupe County Sheriff's Office said a state
employee at the Guadalupe County Safety Rest Area on Interstate 10 alerted a
deputy about the theft of historical artifacts at 1:10 p.m.

The artifacts were taken from a display case located on the eastbound part
of the rest area on I-10 located east of Seguin.

The items were part of an exhibit being put together by The Heritage Museum
and the Texas Department of Transportation.

"The artifacts we lost date to the late 19th Century to the early 20th
Century," said John Gesick, local historian and director of The Heritage
Museum. "We are all disappointed that someone would do this, especially at
this time of the year."

The items that were stolen were Mexican terra cotta pottery, a jar made by
the Wilson Pottery and a few Indian artifacts.

There are four display cases of historical artifacts at the rest area, two
on the eastbound side and two on the westbound part of the interstate.

"It is a regional exhibit of Guadalupe County and South Central Texas,"
Gesick said. "We reflect the German, Spanish, black and Hispanic cultures in
this area. We are rotating the artifacts in and out so that there is a
change [in the exhibits]."

Authorities are looking at surveillance cameras at the scene to try and
identify the suspects who were involved in the thefts.

"We are actually working with them right now to see if we can obtain any
additional leads to any type of suspects through surveillance and any people
that may have reported to the staff about suspicious activities," Guadalupe
County Sheriff's Office investigator Bruce Tubbs said. 

Brent Rainosek, maintenance supervisor for the Seguin TxDOT office, said
TxDOT is working with the authorities to help them catch the thieves.

"I have talked to the staff working out there [rest area]," Rainosek said.
"They are going to review the surveillance video to see if they can catch
somebody in the act."

The rest area has surveillance cameras inside the buildings used for the
exhibits and outside of the buildings.

Rainosek said authorities and employees at the rest area were trying to see
if they could get a license plate number on the vehicle the thieves got away
in.

Gesick said he has talked to the designers of the display cases to find ways
to prevent any more thefts from occurring. 

"We have come in contact with them to upgrade the security of the cases
themselves," Gesick said. 

http://www.seguingazette.com/