OREGON, OH (Toledo News Now) - Anunusual theft was reported over the weekend at the 49th annualGerman American Festival in Oregon.
BerndFehrenbach, a wood carver from Germany, was selling cuckoo clocks at thefestival. He says his tent was secure Sunday night when he left after thefestival, but when he came back Monday morning to pack up, the largest and mostvaluable clock was missing.
The clockis worth about $1,700.
"It'svery sad when you come in in the morning and see the big empty spot," Fehrenbachsaid. "It makes you feel very sad that somebody took it."
Fehrenbachsays there's no good way for vendors to lock their displays up, but he did takesteps to secure his clocks.
"Wesecure it with quite a few means, so it takes quite some time for people to comein," he said.
Eventhough he's out a clock, Fehrenbach says he doesn't regret driving nine hoursto participate in the festival.
"Sales-wise,it was my best year, so it was worth coming still," he said.
Afestival chairman says a report has been filed with Oregon Police and anyonewith information should call them at 419-698-7064.
In additionto the clock theft, Oregon Police say they received nine disorderly calls, twoassault reports and made eight arrests at the festival. Four of those arrestswere for underage drinking, three for disorderly conduct, and two for drivingunder the influence.
Despitethese incidents, police say the weekend went well considering more than 30,000people attended.
"Thepeople who attended the festival were very well-behaved," said Sgt. Ed Depinet."There were a lot of people that were highly intoxicated but they found othermeans home."
Police saythe arrest numbers have decreased in recent years.
