Three white kids charged with hate crime

[Tyrone N. Butts]

3 white teens charged with painting slurs on black family's Valrico home

VALRICO -- Three white teenagers spray-painted a swastika and racial slurs on a black neighbor's garage and driveway, officials said.

Damian Yeager, 15, Phillip Belcher, 14, and John Bailey, 16, all of Valrico, admitted painting a dark green swastika, profanities and references to the Ku Klux Klan on the home of Brenda Snow, said Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

They were charged with criminal mischief as a hate crime,
hich is a felony, and processed at the Juvenile Assessment Center.

Snow said she found the paint Tuesday, and called authorities.

Belcher and Bailey had stayed over at Yeager's house, a
few blocks away from Snow's home, on Tuesday night, officials said. Al
l three teens had green paint on their hands and clothes, Carter said.

Snow said she also found a paint on her cars, one of which had been vandalized with a smear of paint two weeks earlier. It was unclear whether the incidents were related.

Neighbors in this Tampa suburb offered to help pressure wash the paint off her driveway and paint over her garage, Snow said.

****************
You get less time for killing n-ggers without the hate crime kicker than you do with spray paint with the hate crime kicker.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

Slurs for one come as blow to many

VALRICO - With a few sprays of white paint, neighbors worked together Thursday evening to mask the traces of a hateful crime. But their healing process is only beginning.

A day earlier, three Valrico teens had been arrested on felony charges of criminal mischief as a hate crime after admitting to painting racial slurs on a black neighbor's garage and driveway.

The crime roiled the Brentwood Hills subdivision, a usually tranquil collection of cul-de-sacs in east Hillsborough County.

"When you do something to one pe
son, it affects the community," said Brenda Snow, 56, who lives with her sister and three nephews in the home, where references to the Ku Klux Klan and a swastika were scrawled on the garage door. &quo
t;The community is hurting because of this also."

The inci
dent was the culmination of a falling-out between one of her nephews and the suspects, according to Snow and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

The three boys accused of the vandalism had spent the night together at a nearby house where officers found them after the incident was reported in the morning. The teens, who are white, were found with paint on their clothing, arms and hands.

"They admitted to what they had done," said Debbie Carter, a spokeswoman for the department, noting that hate crimes are rare in Hillsborough. "I can't remember the last one we had."

Sheriff's officers arrested a 14-year-old, 15-year-old and 16-year-old. Because the boys are juveniles, the St.
Petersburg Times is not releasing their names.

A search of Florida law enforcement records turned up no prior arrests for the boys.

Two of them and their mothers have apologized to Snow a
nd her family.

"I went over because I'm sorry," said the 14-year-old in a telephone interview. He said a friend act
ed as the instigator. "I didn't do any of the racial slurs."

Snow and her family have accepted the apologies. But the teens still face punishments ranging from juvenile sanctions to 15 years if tried as adults, said Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi, a spokeswoman for the office.

Although the maximum punishment is unlikely, the office has yet to decide whether to try the two oldest children as adults. One boy's mother said they are receiving threats at home.

On Thursday, a shocked community came together. One neighbor has offered to use a pressure washer to clean remaining paint on Snow's driveway and car.

Strangers arr
ived at her house offering to paint.

"We don't have any money, but I said, "What can I do to help?' " said Sonya Gresham, 42, a real estate agent who lives in Riverview.
After hearing news reports, she and her husband, who repairs homes, showed up at Snow's door with a paint sprayer.

"We didn't even discuss it," said Tony Rose, 40, her husband. "We said,
"Let's go.' "

As they painted, conversation turned to the sting of the crime. Gresham, who is black, grew up with prejudice. Her husband, who is white, feels its burden in hateful words that he overhears in conversation.

"It can happen anywhere," Snow agreed, as distraught neighbors paused in her driveway to share their thoughts and pledges of help.

"It's not right that people do this," said neighbor Larry Boyce, 31, placing his black Mustang in idle in Snow's driveway to ask if his services wer
e needed.

"I know that's true," Snow said. "Hopefully, the teenagers will learn from this."

********************

As they painted, conversation turned to the sting of the crime. Gresham, who is black, grew up with prejudice. Her husband, who is white, feels its burden in hateful words that he overhears in conversation.

Wow a white man who married a coon! Now that's a rare bird.

T.N.B.