Gary, IN statue "Fusion," built to symbolize city's rebirth, is falling apart

In a boast that Professor Harold Hill from The Music Man would come up with, who was, ahem, a graduate of the Gary Music Conservatory, Class of '05, then-Gary, Indiana mayor Scott King claimed seven years ago that a statue would, according to the Post-Tribune, spark "spark an economic revival" of the northwest Indiana city's sleepy downtown.

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"The Fusion” sculpture, meant to symbolize the city's rebirth, has become unhinged.

Or more accurately ­— granite has toppled off its wing.

Chunks of granite have fallen off a butterfly wing on the pricey $650,000 downtown monument erected in the city’s centennial year in 2006 to mark its past and future revitalization.

Pieces of black granite sit in front of the base of the statue that's been loosely cordoned off just east of the Genesis Center across from City Hall. The granite fell off months ago and the tape surrounding it has begun to sag downward.

Bombed-out Gary is the Detroit of the Hoosier State.

One of President Obama's community organizer mentors, Gerald Kellman, later organized in Gary.

Things didn't work out there either.

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Sunday night at the Michael Jackson home in Gary

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