Mormon comments deface property in Rexburg
- posted: 24 Apr 2007
- scrollnews@byui.edu
Abraham Brown / Scroll
This vandalism degrading Mormons found at 4th and 7th street is just one of the nine places that were tagged in orange and blue paint Thursday morning.
Vandals painted profane words around the Rexburg community in nine different locations, including three LDS churches, on April 19 between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m.
Possible suspects are a 16-year-old female and a 17-year-old male said Captain Lewis of the Rexburg Police Department.
Much of the graffiti included slander directed toward the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the three churches painted in the orange and blue graffiti is the North Stake Center at Second North and Third East near the Madison High School seminary building.
“I think this particular one was to offend the youth. I think it’s sad,” said Kelly Carter, seminary principal.
The messages on the North Stake Center had the high school students speculating about possible suspects. “It was the [main] topic of conversation in seminary class,” said Garret Thompson, a junior at Madison High School.
One of the students asked if donations were needed to buy paint so that the graffiti could be covered, Carter said.
“I was disappointed and hopeful it wasn’t one of the youth that attended our high school,” Carter said.
When Garrett Thompson learned of the vandalism, he was surprised that it took place in Rexburg instead of somewhere else.
Some of the more profane language was quickly covered up in certain places, like next to Great Harvest Bread on 16th South Center Street. The graffiti that was on Birch Plaza 258 South Second West is painted over, and seminary students will no longer see the paint that marred the North Stake Center.
Juveniles with nothing better to do were probably the ones who committed the vandalism, Lewis said.
“[The vandalism] was not a hate act,” Lewis said. “Sometimes it can be construed that way.” 
