Blasphemous

True massholes will understand that this is utter blasphemy...

Boston Herald Monday, April 9, 2007
Orange crush: Vandals topple longtime Saugus landmark

It took an act of God to render dinosaurs extinct, but real chutzpah to lay low a beloved orange landmark that has loomed over Route 1 for 47 years.

“It’s Easter Sunday. Jesus Christ rose from the dead and so will that dinosaur,” vowed Diana Fay, owner of Route 1 Miniature Golf and Batting Cages in Saugus.

Despite massive hind legs fortified with concrete and steel rods, the fiberglass Tyrannosaurus rex was viciously dinosaur-tipped sometime between late Thursday night and early Friday morning.

Fay’s late uncle, Nicholas Melchionna, had the reptilian reproduction built in South Boston in 1960 to rattle putters on the “Double Trouble” Hole 6.

Fay and her husband Richard, who bought the miniature golf course in 1979 to keep it in the family, opened for the season Saturday. The pearly-toothed T. rex, which stands between 12 and 20 feet tall, is their star attraction.

“However it was done, they had to have rocked him hard enough that he just snapped off at his ankles,” said Fay. “It was a vicious act of fun for them, but not so fun for us who are left to pick up the pieces.

“He’s withstood hurricanes, blizzards. This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to him,” she said of the nationally known DayGlo dino.

Fay’s not sure how soon it will be before the T. rex is back on his feet. It will take a crane to lift him.

“Once they get him up, we have to see how extensive the damage is so he’s not a danger to someone out on the course,” Fay said of the cuddly carnivore.

Some fun facts about the Route 1 dinosaur: Legend has it he has gone by a variety of names, including “Nick,” but in reality has never been named, Fay said.

Also, even though T. rex resides on a prime piece of real estate, the family has only allowed him to be used for advertising twice since 1960: First, in 1967, when he donned a Red Sox [team stats] cap for the team’s ill-fated appearance in the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals; and second, in 2003, to hold a banner for Saugus Little League’s trip to their World Series.

Fay hopes anyone with information about the caveman-mentality vandalism will drop her a dime at either 781-233-0584 or by e-mail to rfay26@comcast.net.

“The people who did this have no idea what’s going to be involved in fixing it,” she said. “It’s going to require work, effort and money. We’re no Disney World, but if we can bring a smile to the faces of the families who visit us then it’s been a successful season.”