the love bug? not so much...

From Jim Bruggers in the C-J, the proposed removal of a VW Bug from Beargrass Creek.

One question: why hasn't the owner been prosecuted?

Maybe it could be turned into a modern art exhibit, with an environmental theme. Or a park bench with a plaque explaining its mysterious history.

Whatever lies ahead for Beargrass Creek's most famous aquatic invertebrate -- a partially sunken Volkswagen Beetle, circa 1968 or so -- the first step will be extricating it from the mud where it has rested for at least 29 years. The vehicle came to symbolize the blight of Louisville's main urban waterway.

"I'm going to get it out, one way or another," said Bud Schardein, executive director of the Metropolitan Sewer District. "I don't think I want it to be the symbol of Beargrass Creek."

The rusted, cream-colored VW was featured in a Sept. 21 Courier-Journal story about Beargrass Creek, including a front-page photo showing plants growing from the vehicle's mud-filled interior.

The car lies beneath a steep, forested cliff in about three feet of water. About a third of it is submerged....

Schardein estimated it could cost $5,000 to $10,000 to complete the task.

Even before the creek excursion, Middeler determined it likely would be too difficult to use cables to haul the car up the creek bank. The VW is too far from the nearest parking lot on Mellwood Avenue, and there are too many trees and a fence in the way....Another option, Middeler said, would be to bring in metal-cutting torches and cut the VW into pieces....

Nobody seems to knows how the VW ended up in the creek....