Graffiti concerns Arlington police

Published 10:52 pm Wednesday, April 9, 2008

ARLINGTON — They used a lot of paint thinner and Goof Off to clean Kelly Hardy’s once-pristine white garage doors. Still, the doors are stained with the remnants of graffiti.

“It makes me feel sad that somebody would do that,” said Hardy, whose neighbors and friends helped clean up the mess. “I don’t know what was going through their heads.”

The vandalism, intended to offend, included images of swastikas and penises, and was spray painted early Tuesday morning in what police believe was a spree of similar crimes throughout the city.

Police believe up to 15 similar acts around Arlington are the work of teenagers and likely not hate crimes, even though some of the images and anti-Christian slogans are disturbing, Arlington police Lt. Brian DeWitt said.

No amount of paint remover can erase the pain that hateful images and words leave on the community, the Rev. Jason Martin said. In 2004, a cross was burned on Martin’s lawn in Arlington. The pastor of Marysville’s Jesus is Lord Life Tabernacle is black.

“There’s a history of hate, racial crimes that’s been committed in Arlington,” he said. “Whoever is responsible needs help.”

Arlington police are investigating the vandalism that targeted vehicles, homes, city parks and city property, DeWitt said. They believe the attacks happened between 2 and 4 a.m. Tuesday.

“We take all this seriously,” he said.

Detectives have photographed the markings.

Police are working with the Arlington School District to see if any of the pictures, such as one character drawn in the style of Japanese anime, matches what teachers may have seen drawn in a student’s notebook.

They also are reviewing previous graffiti crimes to see if similarities exist.

Despite the swastikas, crosses, swear words and apparent angry messages about religion, police don’t believe any individual or group was singled out, DeWitt said

“It wasn’t specifically targeted,” he said. “It’s more random.”

The images and words probably aren’t hate messages or other politically motivated graffiti, said Mark Potok, a spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a national organization that tracks hate crimes.

“It looks to me like unpleasant kids trying to shock the adults in any way they know how,” he said, after reviewing photos of the graffiti. “Hitler, Satan, whoever shocks their parents the most.”

While police haven’t determined the graffiti’s motive, racist behavior in Snohomish County has made headlines over the past few years.

In 2004, two white 16-year-old cousins pleaded guilty to burning a cross on Martin’s lawn in Arlington. Also that year, minority students at schools in Arlington and Monroe reported that other students had waved nooses to intimidate them.

Last September, backward swastikas and the words “I eat Jews” were painted on two cars belonging to a Mill Creek Jewish family.

That same month in Arlington, a construction site where a black foreman worked was targeted with racial graffiti. No arrests have been made.

Tuesday’s graffiti needs to be seen in that context, Martin said.

“I’m very concerned about it, and I’m very concerned if they think it’s just some child’s prank,” he said. “To ignore it I think is foolish.”

Arlington schools run a Respect program where students develop a curriculum of activities to promote tolerance and inclusion each year, program coordinator Sarah Cofer said.

For example, a group is planning to go to Seattle on Monday to participate in Seeds of Compassion, to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s visit there.

“When we’re doing all this work it makes it even more disappointing to see” the graffiti, she said.

Cofer and other school officials helped clean up much of the vandalism.

“Part of being a citizen in the community is going out and fixing it,” she said.

Early Tuesday, police knocked on Mary Rocha’s door to alert her to the pornographic images and swastikas scrawled on the side of her home.

By Wednesday, her husband had painted over the images.

“I don’t think it’s racially motivated, I think it’s just kids running around,” Rocha said.

Up the street, the words “God doesn’t exist” were painted on Gary Seat’s motor home.

The sight made Seat, a Christian, feel sick, he said. He covered the message and other swear words painted on his RV with newspaper.

Now, he’d like to see the people who committed the crime arrested and made to clean up graffiti as punishment, Seat said.

“That way they truly are responsible,” he said. “They’re just kids being stupid.”

If it is kids, their parents also need to be held accountable, he said.

Martin said kids need good influences. Young people need to be surrounded by friends who won’t pressure them into committing crimes.

“If we don’t get a hold of them when they’re young, they’re going to be a menace to society,” he said.

Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.

Help police

Anyone with information about the graffiti in Arlington is asked to call Arlington police at 360-403-3400.