As we told you two weeks ago, park officials in Arizona have deemed that an underwater Jason Voorhees statue must be removed from the bottom of Lake Pleasant, as they say it’s nothing more than litter and it needs to go. The Voorhees statue, among other props (including a Volkswagen), were placed by divers as underwater markers, with Zachary Nagy telling AZ Central that it was he who put Jason down there back in May of this year. It was placed under the cover of night, because Nagy feared that park officials wouldn’t be fans of his work. In fact, they had no idea it was even there until video of the Jason statue started making its way around the net; once they caught wind of the statue, they worked towards removing it.

Contrary to more recent reports that have claimed the statue has already been removed, we’ve received confirmation that Jason is still down there, and the folks over at Slasher Radio have now spear-headed a petition to ensure he remains in his watery grave. They say the statue is a “harmless work of art,” made using environmentally friendly materials…

“In May of this year, diving enthusiast Zachary Nagy recreated the iconic horror character Jason Voorhees in the form of a statue as a way to make for an interesting piece for the Arizona scuba diving community. Zach and fellow local divers built the statue from scratch with all environmentally friendly materials, not to mention, they ensured that Jason was at a depth as to not cause any safety issues for those above water. During an interview on Slasher Radio, he went into detail about how his statue and other objects in the lake actually aid in the reproduction of underwater wildlife as well as providing them with shelter. So much time and passion was put into this project and was founded on an idea of good intentions and harmless fun.

We’re disappointed at the exaggerated claims and negative remarks from the officials involved with the statue’s removal. Zach’s work is being deemed as “trash” and/or “obnoxious material” by officials who are actively working to locate and discard the Jason statue. Not only does this decision affect Zach’s recent creation but it will discourage any other similar ideas in the future. We won’t let this issue go down quietly. We will be providing this #SaveJason petition progress and updates via our weekly podcast at www.SlasherRadio.com.”

To sign the #SaveJason petition, head over to Change.org.