Vandals painted ‘Obama’ on car before torching it, police say

By Joe Pinchot
Herald Staff Writer

OTTER CREEK TOWNSHIP November 06, 2008 09:53 pm

— An Otter Creek Township man, who is African-American, said he has never run into any racial or ethnic intimidation or seen signs of hate group activity in eight years living in the Greenville area.
So, the man –– whose identity is being withheld –– was shocked in falling victim to what state police have called an incident of ethnic intimidation.
Someone spray-painted “Obama” in white on the rear of his Dodge, and what he called a “semi-swastika” on a rear fender, while it sat along Straub Road, and then torched the car.
A Barack Obama sign was pulled from his yard and possibly burned in the fire, the man said.
“We’re striving for change,” the man said. “People don’t want to change. It’s going back to the olden days. It doesn’t make sense that in these times we have problems like this.”
Police said the call came in at 2:03 a.m. Wednesday. The man said his grandmother spotted the burning car and heard someone say, “Oh s----, it wasn’t supposed to go down like this.”
A relative grabbed a garden hose and watered down the car and the house — the car was only a few feet in front of the house — and then a firefighter arrived and took over until a fire truck came, the man said.
“I have never had a problem in this area,” said the man, who moved from Pittsburgh.
However, he has grown fearful since the fire. “Not knowing what’s coming,” he said.
State police have asked that anyone with information about the fire call them at 724-662-6162.

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