A group which backs removal of the William McKinley statue in Arcata has released a statement saying its members are not responsible for the vandalizing the statue recently. It reads, in part, “…in light of the recent defacing of the William McKinley Statue, the NO on Measure M group would like to make a statement to the public to be clear where we stand. We did not take part in nor were we aware of the vandalism that was done to the statue on October 16th, 2018. Although we are working to get the statue removed we are concerned that someone has defaced the statue in order to influence the election outcome. End of quote. A patina eating chemical was put on the statue recently.