2nd Ohioan faces jail in 8-ton-rock fight

7/25/2008

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Another Ohio resident faces possible jail time in the ongoing squabble between Kentucky and Ohio over an 8-ton boulder known as Indian Head Rock.

A Greenup County special grand jury indicted David Vetter of Portsmouth, Ohio, yesterday on a felony charge of removing a protected archaeological object.

Mr. Vetter, 54, was allegedly one of the divers who helped pull the massive and historic rock from the river, Greenup County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Duvall said.

The historic rock bears numerous carvings of initials, names, and a crude face, and was once an attraction for locals.

The rock had been submerged since about the 1920s until September, when a local historian directed a team to extract it.

The boulder now sits in a city garage in Portsmouth, Ohio.

Historian Steve Shaffer was indicted on the same charge as Mr. Vetter last month.

Mr. Shaffer pleaded not guilty yesterday to the Class D felony, which is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Mr. Shaffer has a pretrial hearing that is scheduled to be held Oct. 16.

Allison Martin, a spokesman for Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, said officials are involved in talks with the Ohio attorney general's office regarding the rock's return to the Bluegrass State.