Hateful slurs deface church

Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009

The Charles County sheriff and county commissioners Tuesday condemned a series of hate crimes that began last week when someone painted racial slurs on two schools and includes the vandalism of a Pisgah church.

"We were totally outraged at the cowardly act that has taken place again here in Charles County," said commissioners' President F. Wayne Cooper (D) at the afternoon press conference.

At about 6:30 a.m. Feb. 10, a passerby notified police of the vandalism at Smith Chapel United Methodist Church on Poorhouse Road. Responding officers found racial slurs spray-painted on the church.

The message on the church referred to President Barack Obama and also employed a hateful racial term for the church's members, according to church member Tammi Gray.

Investigators also found racist graffiti and swastikas in several other places, including classroom trailers at Mount Hope/Nanjemoy Elementary School, the Calvert Wood Recycling Center sign on Ripley Road and a stop sign at Annapolis Woods Road and Poorhouse Road.

"It's in big red letters on the door of the church," said Nancy Burroughs, the chairman of the church's board of trustees. "… It's a hate crime."

Burroughs said the church had not been targeted previously by vandals. "We're all a little stunned," she said.

Burroughs said she didn't know how much it would cost to remove the hateful graffiti, but said it doesn't matter anyway. "We're going to leave it there," she said. "We just want people to see the hate in this area."

"In reality, acts of this nature reaffirm the beliefs of a lot of African-Americans that I talk to in this county. That there are some people in this county with some deep-rooted hatred and they just won't let it go," William Braxton, president of the Charles County branch of the NAACP, wrote in an e-mail.

"Obviously, this is a tragedy for our community," said Commissioner Reuben B. Collins II (D) at the press conference. Collins also drew attention to the fact that some of the slurs were painted on a place of worship.

"We will continue to disavow that these people represent Charles County," said commissioners' Vice President Edith J. Patterson (D).

"I think the sheriff and the commissioners' immediate press release is monumental and speaks in volume to their commitment to solving these cases," Braxton wrote.

Detectives are investigating the possibility that the string of crimes discovered Tuesday is related to vandalism at two schools last week.

At about 6:55 a.m. Feb. 3, an employee at Gale-Bailey Elementary School discovered racial slurs spray-painted on the front of the building. The same day, sheriff's officers found vandalism on a classroom trailer at Henry E. Lackey High School, according to police. Investigators believe that the crimes occurred overnight and that the same person might have vandalized both schools.

"We're going to solve this crime. We feel confident we're going to solve this one," said Sheriff Rex W. Coffey (D) at the press conference. He added that he believes the crimes were committed by teenagers or young adults.

In addition to a $1,000 reward being offered by the Charles County Crime Solvers, Coffey has announced a $5,000 reward for information in the crimes discovered Tuesday.

They are also offering rewards in the same amounts for information about the hate crimes at Lackey and Gale-Bailey, according to police.

Anyone with information about any of these hate crimes is asked to call Charles County Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS.

Staff writers Jay Friess and Joel Davis contributed to this report.

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