DUMMERSTON — Vandals spray-painted racially charged graffiti on one of the piers of the West Dummerston Covered Bridge last week.
According to the Vermont State Police, the graffiti - which was discovered on July 13 - included swastikas and racial epithets.
A popular West River swimming hole lies not far from the bridge, offering easy access to its structure.
“It's a pretty public place,” said Selectboard Chair Andrew McFarland, who reported the vandalism to the State Police after a citizen alerted staff at Town Hall.
“It's such a nice spot,” MacFarland said. “So many people enjoy it, and it's a shame [that the perpetrator] could wreck it and make people not feel as welcome.”
Dummerston Road Foreman Lee Chamberlain said that his crew blacked out the most offensive parts late last week, and that it took two days of pressure washing this week to remove the graffiti off the pier.
“We tried with just the pressure washer on Monday, and it didn't come off,” he said. “We tried again [Tuesday] with some paint remover first, and that did the trick. We don't have a lot of experience with this sort of thing.”
Curtiss Reed Jr., executive director of the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, said Monday that his organization notified the Southern Poverty Law Center in Atlanta, a civil rights advocacy group, about the incident so it can be included in the SPLC's hate-crime database.
“We hope anyone who might know what happen will come forward with information,” Reed said. “This was an incident that reflects values that are not consistent with what our community stands for.”
State police continue to investigate the incident, but according to Trooper James Matthews, the lack of evidence at the scene and the lack of solid information from the public have made the investigation more difficult.
“We've received quite a few phone calls expressing interest in what happened,” said Matthews. “This appears to be an isolated incident, but we really want anyone who knows more about this to give us a call.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Matthews at the Brattleboro barracks at 802-254-2382.