TIMNATH — Dino — a 25-foot-high scrap-metal T. rex who peered over northbound I-25 traffic for more than 20 years — was plowed over Tuesday night by an allegedly drunken driver, jolting those who saw the dinosaur as a trusty anchor in a fast-changing landscape.
“This is just so disappointing,” said Timnath Town Manager Rebecca Davidson. “In just one fell swoop, a lot of the town’s history has been wiped out.”
Dino was the first of Bill Swets’ whimsical creations. Swets built the Swetsville Zoo sculpture park just south of Timnath.
Swets — an insomniac volunteer firefighter — constructed more than 100 aliens and spaceships, insects and dinosaurs from truck parts, farm equipment, turbines and sheet metal for travelers and locals to admire for free.
Dino’s destruction hit Swets hard, his daughter-in-law said Thursday. Swets and his wife live in Texas during the winter.
“He’s really saddened by it,” said JoDee Swets. “He sees his sculptures as his kids. When something like this happens, or when they are vandalized, he takes it pretty hard.”
Dino towered near a frontage road about a quarter-mile south of the Harmony Road exit.
He was taken out Tuesday night about 9:10 p.m. by 26-year-old Kacie Tomlinson of Windsor, according to the Colorado State Patrol.
Tomlinson, traveling north on the frontage road, missed a curve and continued straight onto a dirt road, said Trooper Chad Eastwood.
Tomlinson hit the brakes, lost control of her vehicle, skidded into a ditch and, at the top of the ditch, launched into the air, going about 40 feet before hitting the side of Dino, Eastwood said.
“She and the dinosaur rolled together and landed on their right side,” Eastwood said.
Tomlinson was treated and released from Poudre Valley Hospital. She was cited on DUI and careless driving counts, Eastwood said.
He estimates Tomlinson was traveling about 70 mph in a 55-mph zone.
“We’ve actually had very few incidents of vandalism,” JoDee Swets said. “People have been very respectful of what he’s done.”
Timnath bought Dino and a second sculpture and is leasing about 100 others to place along a trail near the Poudre River, Davidson said. The sculptures remind newcomers to the fast-growing town of Timnath’s past and the contributions made by the Swets family, she said.
“This is a huge part of our history, and while we grow, we don’t want to lose track of that,” Davidson said.
It’s not known yet whether Dino can be rebuilt. “We’ll haul Dino away to a hospital and see if we can resurrect him,” JoDee Swets said.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
