Vandals deface Main Street construction equipment and sign with graffiti

September 16, 2020 | By Lisa Scagliotti

The trench box-form near the Waterbury Municipal Offices displays spray-painted graffiti Wednesday morning. The vandalism occurred adjacent to the frame where a Black Lives Matter banner has hung this summer until recently removed for repairs. Photo by Gordon Miller.

UPDATE: This story has been updated with comments from Maroni Minter with the Waterbury Area Anti-Racism Coalition.

New graffiti painted on a piece of construction equipment and road construction sign on Main Street have gotten the attention of Vermont State Police who have reported it to the state Attorney General’s Office as another “bias incident” in Waterbury. 

Early Wednesday morning, workers arriving to the J.A.McDonald work site near the Waterbury Municipal Offices saw a message spray-painted on a large trench box-form sitting along Main Street near the office building. 

The message in white paint said: “State Police support -- WLM as well.”

Across the street, an orange “One Lane Road Ahead” construction sign was also defaced with what appeared to be the letters “NR” in white paint as well. 

State Trooper Keith Lewia said police are asking for the public’s help in finding out more about the incident. He said the reference to “state police” in the graffiti has no connection with law enforcement. 

“To be clear there is, at the moment, zero evidence pointing towards who put up the message. There is no reason to believe anyone associated with the State Police put it up, and it certainly was not sanctioned by anyone here,” he said in an email Wednesday. 

Workers from McDonald, the contractor on the ongoing Main Street reconstruction project, turned the trench form over so the graffiti was no longer visible. 

The incident was reported to the Vermont State Police at 6:18 a.m. In a news release Wednesday afternoon, police called the incident vandalism that is under investigation and flagged for additional scrutiny. 

A road construction sign also was defaced with white paint sometime overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning. Photo by Gordon Miller.

The location of the vandalism was adjacent to the large wooden frame beside the town offices built to display banners with messages for community events. In late July, a banner announcing “Waterbury Stands With Black Lives Matter” was raised on the frame. It was put there by community members with a new group called the Waterbury Area Anti-Racism Coalition formed in June following a rally and march in town to call out acts of racism locally, in Vermont and across the country. The group is interested in creating a mural for downtown Waterbury with an anti-racism message. The banner was an immediate way to share that sentiment. 

Contacted Wednesday, Maroni Minter with the anti-racism coalition said the banner has been removed for repairs after wind had caused it to tear and break free from the cords attaching it to the frame. 

Investigators considered the spray-painted messages of concern for their “WLM” abbreviation -- as apparently meaning “white lives matter” -- following the Black Lives Matter messaging activists have used in recent months to decry acts of racial injustice. 

Lewia said the initial report included a photo from social media of the message on the trench form. He said he was not aware of the additional vandalism to the construction road sign until he saw a photo from Waterbury Roundabout. Lewia said he would check with McDonald to see if there were any other incidences discovered along the road project in addition to those near the municipal offices.  

It was unclear what the letters on the road sign meant. It also wasn’t clear whether the painted message on the trench form was a statement or a request. Regardless, those who were aware of the damage expressed concern. 

“This is kind of disheartening,” said Barbara Farr, the town staffer who works as transportation liaison with the various transportation projects. 

Although he had not seen the graffiti, Minter said he was disappointed but not surprised at the incident, calling it an example of why the anti-racism group came together. “These messages of hate, ignorance and divisiveness will not define our community or the progress we seek for all residents of the Waterbury area,” Minter said. “The WAARC firmly believes that these expressions of hate, though offensive, are not representative of the vast majority of the people who live, work, and raise their families in Waterbury.”

State police said they informed the Vermont Attorney General’s Office of the incident under the Bias Incident Reporting System, a protocol created in 2019 following an investigation into racial harassment of former state representative Kiah Morris of Bennington. It provides a way for law enforcement and prosecutors to share reports of bias incidents with the Civil Rights Unit of the Attorney General’s Office for potential civil investigation and remedy.

This is the second vandalism case in Waterbury state police have investigated and flagged as a bias incident. In early July, graffiti linked with an national white-supremacist group, Patriot Front, was painted on the Waterbury Dam. 

To counter these sentiments by what Minter said the Black Lives Matter banner will be returned to the frame near the town offices soon. The coalition also has made small yard signs similar in design to the banner. The signs are available at Zenbarn and the group is suggesting a $10 donation per sign as a fundraiser for the mural project. “We have work to do,” Minter said.

Anyone with information about these incidents is asked to contact Trooper Keith Lewia at the Vermont State Police in Middlesex at 802-229-9191.