Millvale police make arrest in library vandalism
Millvale Police have made an arrest after the vandalism of the beloved community statue Pages the Dog Saturday night.
The concrete statue of a dog balancing a stack of books on his nose has sat outside of the Millvale Community Library since 2013 when James Simon constructed it. Library director Melissa Mason said that a police officer discovered the damage Saturday night during a foot patrol.
Mason said that the statue’s head and tail had been knocked off and the books had been separated from the statue as well.
“Initially, I felt sad and confused as to why it happened,” Mason said. “I don’t believe that it was malicious or targeted at all. I think it was just the result of reckless behavior.”
Her immediate reaction was to call the library’s board president.
“I called our board president without really thinking and we kind of shared a moment of sorrow for Pages,” Mason said. “We knew that there would be support getting to the bottom of it and support bouncing back from it.”
Mason added that while the library has security cameras, there were some blindspots in the footage. Surrounding stores on the street ended up sending their security footage to the police to assist with the investigation.
Millvale police Chief Tim Komoroski said that their detective made an arrest in the case Thursday. He said that the culprit gave a full confession, adding that it was the most “I’m feeling horrible” confession that Komoroski had heard in 32 years.
“I told him ‘Hey, when you’re 20 years old, you’re going to make some stupid decisions,’” Komoroski said. “He was extremely extremely remorseful. Don’t get me wrong he was absolutely in the wrong for doing it. He chose the wrong statue to mess with.”
Komoroski was right. When the news broke of Pages’s damage, Mason said that residents immediately offered their help.
“It was a really nice example of how the Millvale community pulls together,” Mason said. “So many people have come forward to share their stories with Pages and give financially.”
She said that she couldn’t describe how grateful she was for the support that flooded in from Millvale residents and natives.
The biggest surprise was when James Simon, the statue’s artist, showed up at the library Thursday morning to assess the damages. He was successfully able to reattach the statue’s head, tail and books, and plans to do a fully-body update soon. Mason said that she hopes the repairs help the statue last another 10 years in front of the library.
The statue was named by a third-grade class from Reserve Primary School in 2013 when it was initially built. Mason said that the teacher of that class, Kim Carhart, reached out to share her memories of voting with her students to decide on a name.
Another resident told Mason that every one of her grandchildren has a photo with Pages.
“In one way or another, everyone has been touched by that statue,” Mason said.
Komoroski said that the culprit wrote a formal letter of apology to the library.
Haley Daugherty is a TribLive reporter covering local politics, feature stories and Allegheny County news. A native of Pittsburgh, she lived in Alabama for six years. She joined the Trib in 2022 after graduating from Chatham University. She can be reached at hdaugherty@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.