Vandals spray-paint church

Malice has put a mark on St. Charles Catholic Church and its neighborhood.

Racial and anti-gay slurs were spray-painted on the exterior walls and windows of the church at 4514 N. Alberta St. between 5:30 p.m. Saturday and early Sunday.

At a nearby one-story office and medical building at 2603 W. Wellesley Ave., tenant Dr. John Kellogg told Spokane police, seven or eight large windows were broken. The vandalism occurred between the end of the business day Friday and Monday morning, the police report said.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Boys will be boys,’ but this shows malicious intent,” said the Rev. Eugene Tracy, of St. Charles.

The vandal or vandals used red and blue spray paint to mark the church’s activity center doors to the north, the classroom windows and walls to the west, the chapel’s pitched roof and the fountain area in the northeast corner of the campus. Aside from hate words, the vandals painted “Blink 182” and “Simple Plan.” Both are names of punk-pop bands. The words “Don’t hate” also were splattered outside the classroom area. A tag, or signature, was painted on walls.

“The problem is not going to get better,” Tracy said. “The kids probably don’t have any moral focus on their lives.”

Tracy said skateboarders often use the sloped roof of the church and fountain steps to practice tricks. The fountain also was hit by the vandals, who broke up parts of the concrete steps.

“We’ve had problems with kids and skateboards here, but this is a more difficult issue,” Tracy said.

According to Kellogg, of Kellogg Chiropractic, two boys who skateboard in the neighborhood have been a problem for him and his business for months. Kellogg, who rents space in the medical building, said he has filed four police reports since January and nothing has been done.

Kellogg said the windows of his 1991 Ford Ranger truck were broken on the weekend of July 9-10. The truck was parked outside his office.

Last weekend, Rami Nixon, 23, who was house-sitting across from the medical building, said she saw two boys throwing rocks at the building at 4 p.m. She said she called 911, but no one responded. Nixon said that on Monday, she went to Dr. Robert Granly, a dentist who also rents space in the building, and told him what she witnessed.

“It’s nice to know you try to do some good for somebody and they (police) don’t even care. I was a little upset,” said Nixon, who recently moved here from Kettle Falls.

Last weekend, officers responded to four different incidents of shootings, including one homicide, police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

“That obviously took priority,” Cottam said. He noted that the department is 15 officers under-staffed.

“The police do care about property crimes, and when we have the resources, we do work them,” Cottam said. “The fact is we are short of officers and we are getting more and more crimes against people with gangs and guns.”

Tracy said a contractor will be at the church today to assess the damage.

“I’d like restitution,” Tracy said. “I want them to pay the bills. Parents have homeowners’ insurance.”

Kellogg estimates the damage to the building is $5,000. The windows in his truck are valued at $500, he said.

The Spokane Police Department is asking anyone with information to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.