Which of these two vandalism incidents will be treated as a hate crime?
SUN PRAIRIE - Vandals covered a Catholic school's walls and windows with Satanic graffiti and lit a bonfire in an adjacent rummage-sale tent, police said Friday.From the same article:
The damage at Sacred Hearts Elementary School in Sun Prairie included pentagrams, upside-down crosses and the digits "666" painted on the building, said Police Lt. Linda Anderson.
A statue of the Virgin Mary was also targeted, said Duane Moellenberndt, pastor at Sacred Hearts Church.
"It was an upside-down cross painted in black down the front of the white statue ... and the eyes were all painted," he said.
A nearby thrift store run by a biracial couple was also struck by vandals. Police speculated the same perpetrators were responsible.
Vandals covered the back and side walls of the store with profanity, swastikas and at least one racial slur.
Don Baker, a Pentecostal pastor who leases the thrift store, said this was the fourth incident this summer in which race appeared to be a factor.
"From what's on the walls and things, it's obviously racial stuff," Baker said. "They've never busted a window before, so it's obviously getting worse."
