Ribbon-stealing culprit means no harm

BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) -- When yellow ribbons in Bob Saskowski's yard started disappearing, he suspected evil intentions.
"Every time it disappeared, I would hang a new one," said Bob Saskowski, who tied the ribbons with his wife, Alexis, in support of their son and other troops in Iraq.
The disappearances went on for eight months. The last straw was when three ribbons disappeared in three days.
So Bob Saskowski appealed to his neighbors, asking them to talk to their teenagers about respect and patriotism and asked for their help.
Neighbors responded by adding yellow ribbons to the trees in their yards.
"We all decided if this person was going to pick on Bob, they can pick on all of us. And we literally put ribbons up and down the street," said neighbor Patty Kenyon.
The ribbons kept disappearing, but only from the Saskowski yard.
Finally, the couple set up a video camera, focused on the yard. Six weeks later, they caught the culprit on tape.
The ribbons were being shimmied slowly down the trunk by a squirrel.
"We can laugh now," Saskowski said. "Before, it was not funny."