12/23/2006

Garthe still haunted by Cherry Festival mugging

By Brian McGillivary

bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com

Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Peter Garthe, 47, was mugged on his way home from selling pins at the 2006 National Cherry Festival. He suffered minor injuries and managed to hang onto the cash but still thinks about the mugging.

TRAVERSE CITY — The July mugging of well-known National Cherry Festival volunteer Peter Garthe prompted security changes for next year's festival.

Meanwhile, Garthe's assailants remain at-large, five months after the attack.

"I was pretty shocked, totally shocked,” Garthe said of an attack committed by three young men. "It's the first time I had to defend myself. Never occurred to me that could happen.”

Garthe and members of his family said they were told Traverse City police had a good idea of the identities of two of the three muggers, but police publicly said they have not identified any suspects.

Police Capt. Patrick Hinds said detectives developed some possible suspects, but Garthe hasn't been able to identify anyone from photographs.

Garthe, 48, said he never got a good look at the men who attacked him from behind on July 7 as he walked home from the Cherry Festival around 11 p.m. He'd sold $1,800 worth of festival entry pins that day.

Garthe had the cash and unsold pins with him because the Cherry Festival office on Sixth Street was closed for the evening and festival Executive Director Tom Menzel, who usually escorted Garthe to the office, was attending the festival queen's coronation.

Garthe said he clung to a bag containing cash and pins as two attackers beat him: first a kick to the knee, another to his leg, a punch to his arm that left a bruise and six blows to the head.

"The other guy wasn't doing anything, he just stood there laughing and told the other guys to keep hitting me,” Garthe said.

The ruckus alerted neighbors, who spooked the assailants. They fled without the bag.

Witnesses told police the attackers were young men in their late teens or early 20s.

Hinds said it's possible the assailants knew Garthe, who'd garnered publicity for selling 150,000 festival pins over the last 15 years.

Garthe still hasn't completely recovered from the attack and can't help but think about it, he said. His hearing has suffered and he still has occasional nightmares.

The punch to the arm left nerve damage that causes pain to run from the tip of one finger to his shoulder.

The Cherry Festival is covering all of Garthe's medical costs from the attack, Menzel said.

"Peter (Garthe) is so loved by everyone, people were just incensed that it happened to him,” Menzel said. "It would be a tragedy to anyone, but because it happened to Peter people were just livid.”

Menzel said the attack on Garthe was a red flag that made festival officials realize how "extremely lax” they'd been about security.

"We're going to do a better job in protecting our staff and volunteers in the security area,” Menzel said.

Next year the festival hopes to use a Clinch Park Zoo building as a secure collection point for receipts.

A cash reward is available for information leading to the arrest of the assailants through the Silent Observer Tip Line. Any one with information can call 947-TIPS.

"This is one we would like to solve,” said John Hardy, chairman of the Silent Observer program.