Tori Sutton
Staff Reporter
Volunteers spent their Monday morning cleaning up a mess left by vandals at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church on Cambria Street.

Religious obscenities and Satanic symbols were spray painted on the west side of the church. As well, a wooden cross was pulled off the east side of the building.

Though police were notified of the crime on Monday morning, members of the church said the damage likely occurred overnight Saturday.

The weekend vandalism was the second time in as many weeks the church has been the target. On Aug. 22, police were called to the church after a mailbox was set on fire.

“We’ve had a lot of trouble,” said Earl Huras, a church trustee, while scrubbing spray paint off a brick wall on Monday. “But this is the worst that’s happened here.”

Volunteers were armed with paint thinner and power washers to try to remove the offensive graffiti.

Huras estimated the cost of the clean-up wouldn’t be much, but it would take several hours to get the job done.

The Mitchell resident said such vandalism seems to be a widespread problem and cited several recent incidents that have taken place there.

“It’s really awful,” he said.

The night the church’s mailbox was set on fire, a witness observed several youths running away from the scene. No arrests were made.

Insp. Sam Theocharis of the Stratford Police said the recent vandalism is being investigated as a hate crime because of the nature of the damage and what was painted on the wall.

“It’s more than graffiti,” he said.

What local police need most right now is the co-operation of the public. Theocharis said most crimes like this are solved after tips are received, either directly by police or through Crime Stoppers.

“As more citizens become aware this is an ongoing problem they’ll come forward if they see anything or if they hear anything,” he said.

And a rash of incidents over the last few days does prove vandalism continues to be a problem in Stratford. Overnight Sunday, the hood of a car parked at Spruce Lodge was spray painted, with damage estimated at $250. There are no suspects at this time.

There was also another vandalism spree over the weekend, which mostly occurred in the south end of the city. There was over 20 occurrences of mischief using gold spray paint. The letters “LOC” were painted on parked cars, houses and a shed. Thousands of dollars is damage was caused.

Theocharis said the Spruce Lodge incident is likely connected with the south-end vandalism.

Police are asking witnesses to such crimes to obtain a description of the parties involved and the contact police immediately.

“Don’t sit back and watch others be a victim,” he said.