Twin Cities man gets a big bill for defacing monument with love inscription

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The walkway leading to Pompeys Pillar.

Photo: Friends of Pompeys Pillar

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A Twin Cities man has been charged and owes thousands of dollars for defacing a federal monument in Montana by carving into a sandstone wall his newlywed wife’s name and his own near the revered 200-year-old signature of Captain William Clark of Lewis and Clark expedition fame.

Cole B. Randall, 24, of Plymouth, “accepted responsibility” last week and has agreed to pay $1,000 in fines and $3,400 in restitution for the act of vandalism on Oct. 10 at Pompeys Pillar National Monument, according to an announcement Monday from the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

“The BLM consulted the U.S. attorney’s office in ticketing Mr. Randall and settling his case,” said BLM spokeswoman Melodie Lloyd. Randall received two misdemeanor tickets, one for damaging government property and the other for creating a hazard or nuisance, Lloyd said.

“It is very sad and disheartening that someone would have such little regard for such a historic site,” monument manager Jeff Kitchens said. “We are hopeful that this incident raises public awareness about the negative impacts of vandalism.”

Restoration work is scheduled to begin in May. However, “the carving by Mr. Randall was so deep and severe that we are limited in what can be done,” Kitchens added.

Randall told investigators that a cancer scare for his new wife led him to carve their names into the sandstone column.

In a statement e-mailed last fall to the Star Tribune, Randall called the act “definitely stupid and misguided.”

He wrote that it all began when his honeymoon with Swedish bandmate Shpresa Lleshaj was cut short in October when she discovered “a suspicious lump on her breast.

“I was scared … terrified actually, worst-case scenarios raced through my mind,” Randall wrote. “When love and fear of loss team up: we sometimes lose our better judgment … If something were to happen to my wife, I could come back to this place years from now and see her and my names together.”

Randall carved the names 207 years and three months after explorer William Clark tagged his moniker in 1806. Clark’s inscription is the expedition’s only remaining physical evidence visible of its actual route.

During the government shutdown on Oct. 10, no caretakers were working at the sandstone monument 29 miles east of Billings. But an alarm notified Yellowstone County deputies that someone had stepped over a fence.

Randall and Lleshaj gave a deputy their names, and videotape later revealed he had carved their first names with a plus sign, a heart and the date. The act outraged locals and made him the object of hate mail.

Randall, who has roots in Park Rapids, Minn., is part of a folk duo with his wife called Flora Cash. He said his wife advised against the carving, “but I insisted.” An e-mail was sent Monday to Randall seeking comment about the latest developments in his case.

Jonathan Peart, executive director of the Friends of Pompeys Pillar, said Monday that his preservation group has “worked for 25 years to preserve and protect this site. Mr. Randall’s blatant disregard for this national treasure is very disturbing. We are pleased he has been brought to justice and will suffer the consequences for his actions.”

Star Tribune staff writer Curt Brown contributed to this report. Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482