GALENA, Ill. -- A tour bus rolls by.

The driver tells the tale of General Ulysses S. Grant, who lived in the house up the street.

As he details the former president's life, audience members lean closer to hear more. One glance to their left, however, shows them something of more immediate concern.

A Tyrannosaurus rex looms above them, teeth bared and claws at the ready.

While the unsuspecting tourists gawk, Rick Pariser chuckles.

"I don't think they were expecting that," he says.

Neither was he, honestly. When he first ordered the 400-pound replica of a T. rex skeleton to put in his lawn, he figured it'd be big. But as for the details, he didn't really think about what it would look like as much as what it would stand for -- all 10 feet of it.

"Some people are suggesting that because of the recent crime spree here in Galena, that it's my way of installing a new home security system," he said.

In a way, they'd be right. In the past few months, Pariser watched the typically quiet community of Galena experience

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two armed robberies, and in the past two weeks a small rash of car break-ins.

"People around here are pretty scared," he said.

So in came the T. rex, and Pariser said he'd be pleased as punch if the oversized lawn sculpture brought awareness to the problem.

"People need to be more sensitive," he said. "We don't live in this sheltered community. We need to take protections, as sad as it is."

Although he hopes the dinosaur proves daunting, his original reason for ordering the T. rex was to further his collection. Pariser's lawn already hosts a pterodactyl, a miniature dinosaur and a life-sized Tin Man. Yet the arrival of the scrap-metal skeleton timed too nicely with the crime to not be used for good. Not that he expects would-be burglars to be scared off by his new outside decor, although he's certain a few motorists were alarmed at the first sight of the yet-to-be-named metal monster.

On Tuesday, the structure was brought into town on the back of a flatbed trailer. City officials closed off the street, and the dinosaur rolled into town -- his head popping over the top of the trailer, white eyes glaring at oncoming traffic.

Nearly eight men hoisted the sculpture onto Pariser's lawn, and there it sits.

"It's not your typical lawn ornament, but I love it," Pariser said.

And if it brings attention to a communitywide problem, he said, all the better.