Firefighters refurbish bike for Tacoma ‘icon’ who had his stolen

As far as firefighters Dean McAuley and Evan Stanley are concerned, Jim Cook is a Tacoma icon.

“He is Tacoma,” said Stanley, a Tacoma resident who works for the Ocean Shores Fire Department.

For the past 25 years Jim Cook has waved to passersby on the Tacoma waterfront while holding a sign advertising the Lobster Shop. He says he likes the job because “I like being outdoors.”

McAuley, who lives in North Tacoma and works for Auburn’s Valley Regional Fire Authority, sees Cook regularly when he walks the waterfront with his family. He stops to talk to him. “He puts smiles on a lot of people’s faces,” McAuley said.

So when McAuley learned somebody had stolen Cook’s bike, he decided to do something about it. Cook says his bike was stolen while he worked last summer.

On Monday, McAuley and Stanley met Cook in the Lobster Shop parking lot to present him with a refurbished bike.

“Thank you,” Cook said as he shook hands with the men. Moments later, responding to a comment by Stanley, he added, “I love Tacoma.”

Cook has been using another gift bike since his was stolen.

McAuley saw Cook last summer, moments before the bike was stolen. He was walking with his family and stopped to talk to Cook when a man who McAuley described “as not right” started saying Cook’s bike was his. McAuley intervened as best as he could with his children in tow, and warned McAuley to keep an eye on the bike.

But the next day, when McAuley saw Cook, the bike was gone. Cook said his primary source of transportation had been stolen.

McAuley contacted Stanley, who had an old blue-and-silver mountain bike he was willing to give to Cook. It had front shocks and a rear carrier rack, but it needed some work. Dereck Pickerel of the Valley Regional Fire Authority volunteered to fix up the bike. When he was a done, the men placed an International Association of Fire Fighters decal on the head tube.

“It’s great to see this bike back out on the road,” Stanley said of his old bike.

Before handing the bike off to Cook, McAuley took it to Old Town Bicycle for an inspection. The crew tuned it up for free and donated a lifetime tuneups package to Cook. And moments before McAuley headed out to deliver the bike, Old Town manager Tory Grant handed him one more gift for Cook: a heavy-duty bike lock.

This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 5:49 AM with the headline "Firefighters refurbish bike for Tacoma ‘icon’ who had his stolen."