DESECRATION! Graffiti vandals strike again
Graffiti vandals have struck town once again, this time at the Buddhist temple on South Second Street. Two white marble statues at the front of the temple were spray-painted with black paint with what appears to be the word "IDOL" on each. The face of the Buddha was painted black. The Chua Phap Hoa Temple imported and installed the statues a few years ago.
In a possibly related incident, a train car on the tracks near the intersection of Florence, Barber, and Mill Streets was spray-painted with religious messages, black being the color of choice. The train car is shown in the last photo in this series.
Comments
And the "powers that be" want to blame negative comments on social media as the reason no one wants to come to Columbia. How about those that have come here only to have problems like this. Perhaps THIS is discouraging to those contemplating a move here for business or residence.
This is the " black eye" on Columbia, more so than the Bigler properties.
It's past time to catch these thugs and punish to the fullest extent.
What a shame on this town. Peaceful people here and this is the welcome they get.
Guaranteed someone seen SOMETHING!
Call Lancaster City, theirs seem to the job. If tho they have crime on the streets, quite a few are solved by the cameras.
“A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” Hate itself is not a crime—and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties.”
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/civil-rights/hate-crimes
That church was one of the best things for the block of South Second Street. They need to question the residents, it may turn something up.