SAINT ALPHONSE, DIGBY COUNTY – The president of the parish council that looks after the Saint-Alphonse-de-Ligouri church hopes no more senseless graffiti or vandalism occurs at the church in Saint Alphonse, Digby County.
The RCMP is investigating an incident whereby someone used a marker to write offensive words and draw an offensive symbol on a basement door of the church.
“It was a swastika,” says Jim Deveau, president of the parish council, who says vulgar language was also included.
It’s believed the graffiti occurred between 6 p.m. on Feb. 8 and 8 a.m. on Feb. 9. The RCMP are trying to identify the person(s) responsible. The police say they checked with neighbours in the area but did not learn of any information that may help identify the person(s) responsible for the mischief.
Deveau isn’t holding out much hope that the people will be caught. He hopes nothing else happens. He says about a week before this incident something else had occurred at the church, whereby a couple of small cement pylons and had been moved around and a swastika, using nail polish, had been painted on some steps. There was also nail polish thrown on the statue of the Virgin Mary. The nail polish was removed.
Deveau said it was hard to get rid of the recent graffiti on the door because it’s been too cold to paint over it.
“I took a piece of sandpaper and sanded it off, you don’t see it too much now,” he said. “When it warms up a bit I’m going to go put a coat of paint on it to hide it.”
Deveau points out that the size congregation of the church continues to shrink due to age and when you have less people attending mass and less people contributing to the collection basket it means the church doesn’t have a lot of extra funding to have to repair senseless graffiti of vandalism.
“It wasn’t a big thing,” he acknowledges, but that’s not the point. “The rest, it didn’t bother me but the swastika, I wasn’t too impressed.”
Deveau says they don’t have surveillance cameras but says if more things occur they may have to look into installing some.
The RCMP says anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Meteghan RCMP at 902-645-2326. Should you wish to remain anonymous call Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers toll free at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips App.
