Destroying Atascadero’s monolith was a disgusting act. Find those punks and punish them

Update to this story >> >> Mysterious monolith is back in Atascadero — and another one just popped up in SLO County

So now we know.

That strange monolith in Atascadero that generated worldwide buzz?

It was viciously ripped out by four young, camo-clad, racist-mouthed punks from SoCal who claimed to be doing God’s work. They toppled the metal sculpture and left a wooden cross in its place.

“Christ is king in this country, let’s tear this b---- down,” they said in a livestream video that’s since been taken down.

“We don’t want illegal aliens from Mexico or outer space,” was another of their pronouncements.

Here’s our question: How desperate for attention to you have to be to drive five hours in the middle of a pandemic — breaking curfew, by the way — to deliberately destroy something that brought some levity to a world that’s been going through hell?

The answer: Pretty damn desperate. And nasty.

As Atascadero Mayor Heather Moreno described, “The monolith was something unique and fun in an otherwise stressful time.”

It was also the third in a series of monoliths that appeared in remote places — the first in Utah and the second in Romania — and then disappeared, fueling speculation about aliens, artists and PR stunts.

It’s unclear what happened to the one in Romania.

A couple of eco-hooligans allegedly destroyed the original monolith in the Utah desert because they were upset about lookie-loos tearing up fragile environment.

We don’t agree with their tactics but, hey, at least they had a righteous cause.

But tearing down a metal sculpture because it’s “a monument to Satan”?

That’s just nuts.

In a news release, the city of Atascadero said it’s looking into the incident and would like anyone with information to contact the Police Department at 805-461-5051.

Please do. Don’t let these idiots get away with sneaking in under cover of night, outrageously destroying a playful work of art that obviously took effort and ingenuity to create and put in place — and then bragging about it on social media.

We aren’t looking to throw the book at them, but there should be some sort of appropriate penalty. Maybe livestream a public apology, followed by oodles of hours of public service in Atascadero’s parks?

Finally, to the person or persons who created the Atascadero monolith, thank you, and we’re sorry it ended this way.

If you’re ever up for an encore, there are a lot of other cool hilltops in SLO County.

This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 5:30 AM.