PTA FUND-RAISER Police find missing flamingos

For $10, the Struthers PTA will flock any home or business in the city.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
STRUTHERS -- A flock of pink plastic flamingos, missing since June 17, has been recovered.
Bryan A. Cramer, 20, of Maplewood Avenue, was charged with receiving stolen property after 27 of the 30 missing flamingos were discovered in his back yard, police said. He will be arraigned Wednesday.
The birds disappeared from a yard at Morrison Street and Euclid Avenue, where volunteers from the Struthers Parent Teacher Association had placed them about 8 p.m. June 16, a police report states.
The PTA has been "flocking yards" with the plastic flamingos -- for a fee -- since April to raise money for scholarships.
Lost and found
Friday evening, Susan Flesher, president of the PTA, received an anonymous call that the missing flock was in Cramer's back yard. Flesher alerted police, who located the birds and arrested Cramer.
Flesher collected the birds from Cramer's residence Friday night.
"We're back in business now," she said.
The Struthers PTA will flock any home or business in the city for $10, Flesher said. So far, residents have had their friends and neighbors flocked in honor of birthdays, anniversaries and "just because it's funny," she said. "We had one person do it for someone who was coming home from Florida."
Thus far, the organization has raised about $360 flocking yards with flamingos. If demand continues, Flesher said, the organization may add another flock. The PTA will continue the fund-raiser as long as there is a demand or until the ground is frozen so solid the plastic birds can't be placed, Flesher added.
For more information on having someone flocked, call (330) 718-2186.
kubik@vindy.com