PORT ANGELES — People have called from as far away as Alaska wanting a T-shirt marking the Gales Addition bulldozer rampage that has become a piece of Port Angeles history.
Tamara Authier, the co-creator and seller of the T-shirts, said Thursday she’s sold at least 100 from Unique Treasures Antique Mall, the store she co-owns on 105 W. First St.
“I sold 15 the first day,” Authier said, adding that she sold her first near the end of June.
The white T-shirts depict a construction-yellow bulldozer with the phrase “Don’t Piss Me Off” written above it, “Port Angeles, WA” written below and “May 10, 2013” on the bulldozer’s blade.
The image and words are a reference to the swath of destruction cut through a neighborhood in Gales Addition, just east of Port Angeles, on May 10.
Barry Swegle, 51, is accused of using a bulldozer to destroy or damage multiple pieces of property, including four homes, a pickup truck and a power pole.
Swegle has been held in the Clallam County jail since the incident on $1 million bail and is next set to appear in Clallam County Superior Court for a case status hearing today at 9 a.m.
Authier said she came up with the idea with her friend after hearing a witness to the destruction use the phrase printed on the shirt during a TV interview not long after it happened.
“So I thought, ‘Hey, why not try to bring in some money [to Unique Treasures Antique Mall]?’” Authier said.
The shirts sell for either $20 or $23, Authier said, with extra-large sizes being the most expensive.
The shirt’s popularity spiked soon after Authier posted a picture of herself holding the shirt on her Facebook page, she said.
Residents purchase
In the weeks following the shirt’s introduction, Authier said many residents bought a shirt, some picking them up for relatives from as far away as Oklahoma.
Reports of the Gales Addition bulldozer rampage made news all over the world, according to media reports following the incident.
ABC’s newsmagazine “20/20” is planning to mention the rampage in a show coming later this summer on “extreme examples of neighborhood disputes,” producer Harry Phillips has said.
A “20/20” film crew was out in the area in May and returned to film this week on the piece of property along East Pioneer Road owned by Dan Davis, with whom Swegle reportedly had feuded in the past.
Following the success of the T-shirts, Authier said she plans to produce the image on tank tops and postcards.
“I think that’s kind of a souvenir,” Authier said, referring to the postcards, “because a lot of people have heard about it.”
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
