Vandals spray anti-Semitic graffiti

Vandals spraypainted a Nazi swastika and a Star of David - a widely recognized symbol of Judaism - on the back of the toilet shelter at Cloquet's Veterans Park last week. The symbols and the letters "olf" and maybe "jaz" or "taz" were quickly removed by city parks staff, who power-washed the building.

Cloquet parks maintenance worker Karin Stedman said they found more graffiti underneath the Highway 33 overpass, letters and numbers that may have been gang signs. There were also more swastika-like symbols. Those have been painted over, she said.

"It was a pretty tough week graffiti-wise," Stedman said.

The power-washing at Veterans Park dulled the paint enough that people can't tell what was there, but the building still shows the signs of the crude graffiti and wash.

Ward 3 Cloquet city councilor Chris Swanson said Cloquet takes pride in its diversity of people, opinions and expression.

"This vandalism does not reflect those values and I'm grateful city staff was able to quickly remove it after becoming aware," Swanson said. "It might be a challenge, but we must keep building a healthier community, together."

The images at Veterans Park also drew a lot of attention on Facebook last week, with many volunteering to help clean it off and others blaming kids and/or gangs. "A strong community should be against hate," commented Tash Foxcloud.

Cloquet at-large councilor Lara Wilkinson updated the Cloquet Neighbors Facebook page after the graffiti was mostly removed at Veterans Park, noting that the brick can't be painted, so the city is working to remove the remnants of the paint.

"Thank you all for caring about this," Wilkinson wrote. "The racist nature of some of the graffiti was especially unacceptable. There is room in our community for broad perspectives and beliefs, but there is NO place for racism in Cloquet. None of us should tolerate it."

Last fall the Cloquet Police Department put out a call for information after a spate of graffiti in September that appeared to include the word "junk" repeatedly. The police department did not respond to messages about the most recent property damage before the Pine Knot went to press.

CPD patrol commander David O'Connor told the Pine Knot previously that graffiti is classified as property damage. The seriousness of the crime largely depends on the value of the property, according to state law, with fourth-degree property damage classified as a misdemeanor and first-degree (anything over $1,000) classified as a felony.

A "community intimidation bill" (HF 1691) to expand the state's hate crime laws is currently working its way through the Minnesota House and would include racist, anti-Semitic and other hate crimes in public places that affect communities at large rather than just a particular individual or institution.