Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? The answer, of course, is SpongeBob SquarePants. However, since Nov. 11, the larger-than life cartoon character — in the form of a 9-foot-tall balloon — has been taking up residence atop the roofs of select Burger King restaurants across the country.
Apparently, for some with sticky fingers, this has been way too tempting.
In some states, “SpongeBobs” are being stolen from their lofty perches. Locally, at least two of these prodigious parazoans — one at the Huntingdon location and the other at the Tyrone store — have disappeared.
Where’d they go?
“I had one of our employees here Thanksgiving morning for a truck delivery,” explained Pat Hill, manager at the Tyrone Burger King. “That’s when we discovered that our SpongeBob was taken.
“These balloons were professionally installed and tied down to the roof. It looks like whoever took it just cut the ropes, but it couldn’t have been easy; this roof is pretty hard to get up on and down from as it is.”
As part of a nationwide promotion involving Burger King and Nickelodeon, hundreds of the giant, inflatable SpongeBobs, weighing roughly 50 pounds, were ordered for restaurants nationwide and placed on the restaurant roofs.
SpongeBob would dangle his skinny legs over the side of the roof with a hand in the air, waving to passing motorists.
The animated movie and TV star is featured on Burger King children’s meals, watches and toys.
Earlier last week, reports of SpongeBob snatchings began to crop up in certain areas of Florida and Utah. In all, over 50 of the gigantic blow-up SpongeBobs, each valued at about $500, have been thieved.
Tyrone Borough Police Chief Joe Beachem told The Daily News last Thursday that, so far, there are no leads in the Tyrone case.
“We have no suspects at this time,” he said. “We know that the theft occurred sometime during the overnight hours of Nov. 24.
“We’ll continue to investigate this and if we’re able to identify a suspect, we’ll make an arrest. In the meantime, our officers will continue with patrols and stay on the lookout for this type of activity.”
Sallye Margritz, assistant manager at the Huntingdon Burger King, explained that their SpongeBob disappearance has nothing to do with chicanery.
“The winds Wednesday night tore a pretty good-sized hole in ours,” she said.
“He wouldn’t sit upright anymore so we took him down Thursday morning. Now, he’s living in our storage shed.
“He won’t be replaced,” Margritz added. “The promotion is only scheduled to run another two weeks, so we’ll finish it up without SpongeBob on the roof.”
Hill noted that the Tyrone Burger King will follow suit and not replace its balloon.
Authorities around the nation are speculating that many of the larcenies are the product of college pranks and that these balloons could be showing up at a frat party near you. Some of these burgled barnacles have even appeared for sale on the Internet auction site, eBay.
“We access our roof from inside,” Margritz said. “It would’ve been hard for anyone to get to ours, unless they were Spider-Man.”
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On the Net:
SpongeBob movie: www.spongebobmovie.com
Burger King: www.bk.com
