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Think Pink has flocked more than 2,000 homes.

(Courtesy of Think Pink)

The hot pink of a plastic flamingo is not usually menacing. Tacky, sure. But these are tense days for Portland Public Schools leaders, with the teachers union considering the district's first ever strike. And anything -- even a flock of fake birds -- can stir the pot.

So when someone paid a Hillsboro-based company to put 300 plastic birds and a few “settle the flocking contract” signs in three school board members’ yards last week, one didn’t take it as a joke. He threw the birds away, leaving the small business that delivered the ornaments out $600.

“We’re not asking for compensation,” said Wendy Ettelson, co-owner of

. “We just want to know where our birds are.”

Think Pink started delivering flamingos across the Portland region four years ago with the motto “send flamingos instead of flowers.” They call it a “flocking:” someone pays to stake a bunch of the ornaments in a friend’s yard, usually to celebrate a birthday or other big, happy events.

Think Pink has flocked more than 2,000 people, Ettelson said, including police officers and fire fighters. The Oregon Zoo hired Think Pink to flock its grounds last March when the

. They’ve helped Ducks and Beavers fans flock each other.

“But we’ve never had this kind of a response,” Ettelson said. “What has happened to our small business is so upsetting and unwanted.”

The drama started last Wednesday when someone called asking to buy flamingos for three school board members’ yards. Flocking a yard costs about $100 -- “it’s expensive,” Ettelson said -- so she didn’t ask why the caller didn’t want to flock all seven

.

Ettelson declined to say which members had been hit, though the company posted a picture on its Facebook page of board co-chairwoman Pam Knowles’ yard peppered with plastic birds. (Think Pink didn’t identify the house in the picture, but it matches a photograph of Knowles’ address -- minus the flamingos -- on Google Maps.)

The person who placed the order wanted the flamingos to carry signs, too, each alluding to the on-going contract negotiations between the district and its teachers’ union.

“Settle a fair flocking contract,” one said. “Separate yourself from the flock: Do what is right. Settle a fair contract,” read another.

Ettelson said she and business partner Robin Doeling-Posen didn’t find the signs offensive.

“This was not vindictive,” she said. “Nobody’s name was on it. It is not like we egged or painted a house. It’s just a happy business.”

A Think Pink crew spent about 20 minutes at each house. They tried to stay on the sidewalks as they placed 100 flamingos outside each home, Ettelson said. They also left large signs in each yard with their business brochures and a sign saying they would pick the flamingos up in 48 hours.

The next morning, one of the three school board members called and asked the company to remove the sculptures. Another emailed, Ettelson said, initially wanting the birds gone, but wrote again five minutes later to say the statues could stay.

The company didn’t hear from the third board member until the next day when one of Think Pink’s seven employees went to collect the birds.

The third school board member met the employee outside. He told her he had taken the birds and Think Pink’s sign to a dump, Ettelson said. Think Pink’s owners tried emailing him later to find out where he took the stash, but he never responded.

If the flamingos don’t turn up, Think Pink is out about $600 for the birds and signs, Ettelson said. The small business can’t afford insurance.

“I’m completely baffled that an adult, let alone someone in the public eye, would do this,” Ettelson said.

Five of the seven board members did not return The Oregonian’s calls or emails Monday. Bobbie Regan said her yard was not flocked. Steve Buel, the board’s newest member and a union favorite, said he hadn’t received any flamingos.

“No, no, they’re not putting anything in my yard,” he said. “If they come over here, they’re going to come over and mow it. I live in a condo anyway.”

Buel said he didn’t know how his fellow board members felt about the flocking, but he understands why someone might not find it funny.

“The people in the business probably wouldn’t think of it that way,” he said. “But it would have been possible for someone to look at it in a negative way under the circumstances.”

-- Casey Parks