Vandalism Barely Sees Dawn

The vandals struck the quiet Westminster neighborhood in the dark early Saturday morning, coating dozens of houses, garages, even cars with hate.

On David Antine’s garage door were scrawled a swastika and the words “White Power.”

Joyce Zumbo found obscenities painted across her garage when she went out to get the newspaper.

But within hours, the racist slogans and symbols that had been sprayed on 29 homes and garages and 20 vehicles on Plumwood and Maybrook streets had been erased by neighbors and city workers.

Westminster police said Sunday that it was the quick work of neighbors that ensured the symbols of hate disappeared even before some residents realized it had happened.

The vandals’ “message didn’t get through as they thought it might,” Westminster Police Sgt. Mark Nye said. “A lot of times when they do it, they drive around and show their friends--so, basically, [the graffiti] was for naught.”

Nye said he’d never seen so many homes targeted. While vandals have occasionally tagged businesses and walls in the area, he said, they seldom hit homes.

“It didn’t seem to be targeting any specific person,” Nye said, noting that the victims were of various races and backgrounds.

Many of those hit--and some who weren’t--joined together early Saturday to clean up the damage, which police estimate occurred between 3 and 6 a.m. Armed with cleaning supplies and paintbrushes, residents rid graffiti from even the homes of sleeping neighbors.

Pat Turner, a 30-year resident, put on her gloves, took her kitchen sponge and 409 cleaner and went to work even though her home had been spared.

“It was very disheartening that people would have the nerve to vandalize your home,” Turner said. “We’ve lived here since the houses were built, and it is just destruction, foolishness, senseless nonsense. We just rallied out in the street and started helping each other.”

Antine, who is disabled, was particularly grateful for the help. His 15-year-old granddaughter worked alongside neighbors to undo the damage. The vandals also splattered his dark green Cadillac with gold paint.

For Maureen Christian, the vandalism came just days before she was set to close the sale of her Maybrook Street home of 25 years. Christian said the crime left her and the Asian American couple buying her home shaken.

“The buyers are all upset,” she said. “I don’t blame them, but I told them to call the police and investigate the neighborhood. This has not been a problem area.”

Many residents said the attack made no sense.

“I don’t know what happened. We’ve never had problems before,” said Zumbo, a 28-year resident of Maybrook Street whose garage door was vandalized.

Westminster police said Sunday that the damage exceeded $5,000, making the crime a felony. Police said they have no leads but said such tagging is usually the work of juveniles. Nye said police will consult with the city’s gang and community policing units in an effort to track down the perpetrators.

Turner, the neighbor who spent her morning pitching in, said it was no block party, but it did show the neighborhood’s heart.

“If these people intended to frighten us or do any damage, it did the opposite,” she said. “It made them realize what a nice neighborhood we have and how we stick together. What they meant for evil turned to good.”