Vandals spray Nazi symbol on Unity signs

Road signs in Unity, N.H., have been vandalized with swastika graffiti. (Courtesy Christian Avard) Courtesy photo — Christian Avard
Published: 11-18-2024 6:36 PM
Modified: 11-19-2024 12:32 PM |
UNITY — The symbol spray painted on road signs is not quite befitting with the town’s name.
Road signs in Unity have been defaced with Nazi swastikas and the town has yet to remove them. The vandalism may be tied to similar road sign defacement that appeared in neighboring Acworth around the same time, according to residents and town officials.
The Unity Selectboard was scheduled to take up on Monday afternoon — for the second time this month — how the town is addressing the vandalism of road signs that were spray painted with swastikas on Copeland Brook Road and Lear Hill Road earlier this fall.
Unity residents have expressed frustration with what they said has been the town’s slow response in removing the graffiti that is universally identified as symbols of racism and hate, and which are easily identifiable from vehicles traveling on the roadway.
“We were surprised when we saw it,” said Christian Avard, who with his partner, Jennifer Thompson, are both educators at Charlestown Primary School. “Hate has no place in Unity and this should not be tolerated, especially with an elementary school in the town.”
Avard and Thompson said they first noticed the swastikas sprayed in black paint on a stop signs on Copeland Hill as far back as September and then also this past weekend on Lear Hill Road. Thompson twice emailed the Selectboard about it, and was informed on Monday that the issue would again be addressed at that afternoon’s Selectboard meeting.
Gary Ross, a Selectboard member, said that the town has been aware of the defacement and has been working to remove it. Work has been slowed because the solvents that were first applied removed the stop sign’s red paint. Then the town was set back further because of the extra time required to order “graffiti proof” stop signs.
“We’re very upset about this,” Ross said on Monday, adding that the town did not like “drawing attention” to the matter “because stop signs are targets and once people start hearing about it the kids or whoever it is doing this come back. It’s really disgusting.”
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Ross said he tried himself to rub off the graffiti with a solvent but found it took off the sign’s paint and lettering, too.
“I got up on a ladder and scrubbed it and the paint just started coming,” Ross said, explaining that he was initially hoping his DIY approach would “save taxpayer’s money.”
Ross said that two stop signs at a cost of about $2,000 each have been ordered from New Hampshire Correctional Industries, the state prison facility that also manufacturers license plates. But graffiti proof signs — which have a coating over the paint that prevents solvents from removing it — take longer to deliver due to the material used.
Signs on Lear Hill Road warning motorists to slow down for children that was also spray painted with a swastika “are just going to be taken down because they are no longer needed in that area,” Garry Bator, chairman of the Selectboard, said on Monday.
Ross said he anticipates the new stop signs would be delivered and installed “within a couple weeks.”
In August, three road signs were defaced with swastikas in the neighboring town of Acworth, said Collin Crosby, road agent for the town. The graffiti was removed by a town resident, he said.
“Probably just a bunch of kids out drinking beer who decided to have some fun,” said Crosby, who didn’t know if the Unity and Acworth incidents are related.
Rhonda Callum-King, officer manager at Unity’s town office, said that both the Sullivan County Sheriff and New Hampshire State Police were contacted about the vandalism and are investigating. Unity, which has a population of about 1,500, does not have a police department.
”We’ve been told this is kids from Acworth,” Callum-King said. “They think it’s funny.”
Tyler Dumont, spokesman for NHSP, said via email on Monday officers out of the Troop C barracks in Keene, which covers Sullivan County, are “aware of these defacements” and asked anyone with information to contact troopers at 603-271-1162.
Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.
CORRECTION: A sign defaced with a Nazi swas tika is located on Copeland Brook Road in Unity. The name of the road was partially incorrect in a previous version of this story.