Local Obama supporter victim of vandalism, theft
By KEN BLACK, TIMES-REPUBLICANArticle Photos
But one Marshalltown family woke up on Christmas Eve having to deal with much more than baking pies and wrapping a few additional presents.
Supporters of Barack Obama living on 25th Street reported a number of racial slurs and derogatory comments had been spray painted on their property. Further, the family’s Christmas presents were all stolen from a vehicle and a garage.
Chief Lon Walker confirms the police received the report Monday morning.
“We found vandalism to the house. When we got there, we found some racial things regarding presidential candidate Barack Obama,” he said.
Marie Ortiz has been working as a volunteer for the Obama campaign locally. She has volunteered her time in the office, going door to door, and has signs supporting Obama in her yard.
She has two children, ages 11 and 2.
But Christmas was not completely ruined for the youngsters. Campaign workers at the local Obama office came by on Christmas Eve with presents.
A neighbor also gave the family some money to replace some of the things that were lost.
“They were really a godsend,” Ortiz said.
Walker reported he considers the case somewhat unusual because there has been no other reports of such severe backlash for those outwardly supporting presidential candidates. Even among Obama backers, no other crime of this degree has been reported.
“We are treating it right now as if the derogatory racial comments were aimed toward Obama,” the chief said. “We’re not treating it as a hate crime because it does not appear as if the victims were the intended recipient of the racial slurs.”
The couple living at the home comes from a minority heritage.
However, Ortiz has a different opinion on the matter.
“A hate crime is a hate crime. I think it was probably racially motivated,” she said.
At this point, the police have little to go on. Some footprints were found in the snow and photographed, but a canvas of the neighborhood turned up no significant information.
“If anyone saw anything or knows of anything, we’d sure love to hear from them,” Walker said.
The Marshalltown Police Department can be contacted at 641-754-5725.
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Contact Ken Black at 641-753-6611 or kblack@timesrepublican.com
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skeeto
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12-28-07 9:01 AM
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America does not need this kind of idiocy.
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CycloneMom
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12-27-07 10:45 PM
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Good. Let's hope the county attorney knows the law. I may not be an Obama supporter, but I sure don't think it's right for anyone to be attacked in any such manner for exercising their civic duty. I hope the person/people responsible is caught and that they do prosecute this as a hate crime. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
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mtownwatcher
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12-27-07 6:41 PM
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If the culprit(s) were caught, the county attorney would have the final say on what the criminal charges would be anyway.
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LawyerGuy
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12-27-07 5:13 PM
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Chief Lon Walker does not know Iowa law. Iowa Code ยง 729A.2 defines a hate crime as a crime comitted against a person or a person's property because of the person's race, color, religion, etc., OR because of the person's ASSOCIATION WITH a person of a certain race, color, religion, etc. Here, Ms. Ortiz was clearly targeted because of her association with a specific African-American person and it sounds like the spray painting specifically mentioned Obama's race. So clearly, this should be charged as a hate crime.
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campaignman
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12-27-07 2:50 PM
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It is hard to believe that the police chief would not consider this a hate crime just because it was not directed personally to the homeowner. Is he really saying that unless the vandal and bigot writes Dear so and so before adding the message of hate, it won't be considered a hate crime? That is crazy.
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