Andy, Opie statue endorsed

Mary Richards has one, and so does Ralph Kramden. Soon there could be a statue honoring Sheriff Andy Taylor and his young son, Opie.

The TV Land cable network’s offer of a statue of “The Andy Griffith Show” characters, played by Andy Griffith and Ron Howard, has received unanimous endorsement from the City Council in Raleigh, N.C. Andy and Opie will be depicted on their way to the fishing hole, just as they were in the opening sequence of the ‘60s sitcom.

TV Land, which immortalized Kramden in New York in 2000 and Richards in Minneapolis in May, will maintain the statue. Griffith and Howard have endorsed the project, and it could go up in central Raleigh as soon as next fall.