Fallen Heroes plaza sprayed by graffiti
Tom Hasslinger | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 14 years AGO
<p>The Fallen Heroes Plaza in Coeur d'Alene was vandalized with graffiti last Thursday. The city Parks Department had the graffiti removed from the 9-11 memorial site shortly after it was discovered.</p>
<p>Police are searching for three suspects who sprayed graffiti on the Pita Pit on Thursday evening.</p>
<p>Police are searching for three suspects who sprayed graffiti on the Pita Pit on Thursday evening.</p>
<p>Police are searching for three suspects who sprayed graffiti on the Pita Pit on Thursday evening.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - You would think, said Glenn Lauper, that people would have more respect for those who gave their lives protecting our freedoms.
But some don't.
"There are just some people who don't have respect for public property, or private property for that matter," said Lauper, deputy fire chief with the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department. "I'm not shocked. Some people just don't have the same respect for things."
Vandals struck at the Fallen Heroes Memorial Plaza on Cherry Hill, tagging the back side of the foundation on which the statues of firefighters are perched as well as the entrance sign to the whole display.
It's one of a string of several graffiti cases the Coeur d'Alene Police Department is investigating.
The memorial has five statues dedicated to Idaho's police officers and firefighters who have fallen in the line of duty. It commemorates the nearly 3,000 victims who died in the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 in New York City.
"I would say that's extremely disrespectful," said Doug Eastwood, parks director, who had the graffiti removed shortly after it was put up Thursday night.
The police's gang investigators suspect juveniles, according to the police department. The department plans to offer a reward beginning today for the perpetrators with paint on their hands. They're also investigating several other graffiti jobs, some of which also happened on public property. The water tanks at Tubbs Hill were tagged, as were fences at Sunset Field. All markings have been removed.
Pita Pit on Sherman was also hit Thursday, but police don't suspect the incidents are related.
"It's offensive," said Police Sgt. Christie Wood on the memorial's defacing. "But to say it takes precedent over the others is not true."
Before the $140,000 memorial dedication last year, someone attempted to light the tarps covering the columns on fire.
Authorities haven't seen a spike in vandalism in general. Through Oct. 26, there were 92 graffiti reports in 2010, the exact amount through the same time last year.
Information: 769-2320