Chris Smith: The Healdsburg hammer story will end one day — but not today

So many questions linger in the evolving saga of the stolen and half-recovered giant hammer:

Who heisted the more than 20-foot-long sculpture from the lawn of the Healdsburg Community Center last October and, for heaven’s sake, why?

How and why did the great ball-peen hammer’s head wind up dumped on someone’s land?

What’s become of the handle crafted from a redwood log?

Despite the mystery’s many loose ends, there has come a most satisfying resolution to the issue of a reward.

You’ll recall that sculptor Doug Unkrey posted a ?$1,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the hammer.

About a month ago, the steel head was delivered by trailer to the Healdsburg police. A Sebastopol attorney, Izaak Schwaiger, announced that it had been left on the property of a client who desired to remain anonymous and to get the piece back to creator Unkrey and his exhibition sponsor, the Voigt Family Sculpture Foundation.

More recently, Schwaiger shared his client’s disappointment at being denied the ?$1,000 reward. The public-art foundation’s Judy Voigt said there would be no reward for several reasons, among them: The lack of the hammer handle and the anonymity of the purported finder.

Days ago, Voigt emailed lawyer Schwaiger to say she and Unkrey still believe “the terms of the reward offer were not met” but at the same time they want to be fair.

Voigt floated an offer: She and Unkrey would give Schwaiger’s client $500 for the return of the hammerhead, or would donate $1,000 “to a local program that teaches art skills to youth, such as Artstart.”

“That’s great,” responded Schwaiger. Aware that his client could use the money, the attorney devised a brilliant solution:

He will give his client $500, and he will cheer sculptor Unkrey and the Voigt foundation for donating $1,000 for the benefit of young artists. Stay tuned.

HHHHHH

WHAT A RIDE! Back before celebrity chef-restaurateurs Duskie Estes, Domenica Catelli and Liza Hinman agreed to pedal 300 miles through Wine Country to raise food money for under-fed children, all three knew what a bicycle is.

Catelli, of Geyserville’s landmark Catelli’s Restaurant, can even recall riding a bike in the past but resists specifying just how long ago that was.

For the cycling newbies to take part in last week’s Chefs Cycle, a benefit for the Share Our Strength organization’s No Kid Hungry initiative, would have been challenging even if the weather hadn’t been partially to mostly miserable.

Hinman, of Santa Rosa’s Spinster Sisters, finished well ahead of teammates Catelli and Estes, of the currently in-limbo Zazu Kitchen and Farm.

“I had to get it done. I was cold and hungry,” Hinman said.

Estes and Catelli had no problem with coming in last - they felt even better about it when four CHP motorcycle officers bringing up the rear escorted them into the concluding celebration at the Flamingo Hotel.

The sore yet elated chefs note that their team, Last Call, continues to raise money for No Kid Hungry. To donate go to chefscycle.org and search for the name of one of the riders or for Team Last Call.

This cycling thing is addictive. Estes said she and her chums now are “going to try to ride once a week.”

You can reach Staff Writer Chris Smith at 707 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.