Before she was boxed up and stowed away in 2006, Tillie had achieved a degree of fame in her rise from a dummy criminal to promoter of driver safety.
Her popularity even propelled her to the Indianapolis 500 for a ride in a pre-race Indy car.
Now Tillie hopes to make her mark once again, thanks to a relative in Washington state.
The relative, a homemade dummy wearing a Halloween mask of Gandalf the wizard from “Lord of the Rings,” was discovered Thursday by the Washington State Patrol in suburban Seattle. It was running the same scam Tillie was three years ago on U.S. 36: duping the law as a phony passenger in the HOV lane.
Tillie’s owner, Greg Pringle of Broomfield, was sentenced to stand along U.S. 36 holding a sign that read: “HOV lane is not for dummies.” Pringle then auctioned Tillie for charity.
A Lakewood company, Video Professor, purchased the doll for $15,000, and now spokesman Brian Olson said “semi-retired” Tillie can be used again. “Tillie is at the ready and willing . . . to share her story to encourage that community … to turn this into a positive,” Olson said. Anthony Bowe, The Denver Post
