The fiberglass fowl had been in the news recently after the city ordered it taken down.

Lake Stevens, WA
The chicken soup -- or plot, rather -- has thickened.

The city's deadline for Chicken Drive-In owner Trisha Akerlund to remove the 7-foot fiberglass rooster from in front of her business -- or accept a possible compromise -- was Friday. The business's three signs together, counting the chicken, violate the city's sign code.

Akerlund, however, didn't have to move the landmark bird. Someone else already did it.

Last Saturday night, it was stolen from in front of her business in downtown Lake Stevens, and not by a merry high school prankster, Akerlund believes.

"It's really depressing," said Akerlund, 23, a 2002 Lake Stevens High School grad. "It's a huge deal to me that it comes back."

Should the chicken return, the city has offered Akerlund some options for saving its neck. She would keep it at home until the situation is resolved, she said.

Akerlund bought the business last summer partly to keep alive the tradition of Lake Stevens High School students stealing the chicken. The prank became a regular practice at the drive-in's original location near Frontier Village. This rooster is a replica of the original, which is safe with a previous owner.

Akerlund believes the bird was taken between 10:10 and 10:40 p.m. last Saturday. So far, no one has come forward with any information.

Akerlund said she would wait another month or so to ask police to pursue the matter, in case the theft was a prank.

"They have better things to work on," she said.

The only clue so far is a cryptic anonymous post on the Web site www.savethechicken.org. The site was begun recently by Rachel Barner, a 1989 Lake Stevens High alumna.

The post reads, simply, "The Chicken is in a better place now."

"It's a bit suspicious to me," Barner said.

Barner started the Web site because, as an alum, she's concerned about the city's enforcement of the sign code and wants to see the poultry-purloining tradition carry on.

The site includes historical information, articles, blogs and more. Barner, who lives in Lake Stevens with her family, has gathered 40 online signatures in support of saving the chicken.

"It's part of Lake Stevens, it's part of the student body, the kids look forward to it," Barner said of the nearly annual theft prank by the senior class. "It's just innocent fun."

City code considers the rooster an attention-getting device and, therefore, a sign. The drive-in's roof sign, its reader-board menu and the chicken together take more space than city code allows.

The city's enforcement of the code "needs to be predictable, and everyone needs to be treated the same," city administrator Jan Berg said.

Berg said Frank McDaniel, who opened the drive-in last spring, was supposed to display the chicken only temporarily as a grand-opening display. But he didn't take it down, and then he sold the business to Akerlund, his cousin. McDaniel said he never agreed to the temporary stipulation. He admits not following through with the city's suggestion that he appeal to the City Council if he disagreed with the conditions.

To keep the chicken, Akerlund would have to remove one of the other signs; display the chicken as a temporary sign, a maximum of 12 days per year and no more than three consecutive days; or ask the city's Planning Commission for an exception.

The first two options won't work but the third one might, Akerlund said.

"I'll make an appointment as soon as I can," she said.

Originally published online here.