Employees and clients of the organization arrived Monday morning at the Pine Street Community Center in Cortez to discover that a wheelchair-accessible bus at the center had been spray-painted with obscene messages and the word “retards,” according to the release.
“Incidents like this act of vandalism serve to intimidate people with disabilities, their families, and their caregivers and call into question their safety in their own communities,” Community Connections President Tara Kiene said in the release.
An informational meeting will be held Thursday at 3:30 p.m. at the community center, 325 Pine St. The paint had been cleaned off of the bus by Tuesday afternoon.
Community Connections provides opportunities for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, according to the group’s mission statement.
Kiene called the incident a hate crime in her news release, saying that the U.S. Department of Justice defined crimes motivated by bias as hate crimes. Community Connections denounced the act, she said.
“The defacement of a wheelchair-accessible bus with obscene and hateful language is a clear message of bias, hate, and intolerance that qualifies as a hate crime,” Kiene said. “Every hate crime is an assault on the health and unity of the community at large.”
Under Colorado statute, a crime may be considered “bias-motivated” if the defendant intends to harass or intimidate someone through words or conduct based on their race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, or sexual orientation. Words or conduct that are likely to produce bodily injury to a person or damage to a person’s property may be considered “bias-motivated,” according to the statute.
Lieutenant Andy Brock of the Cortez Police Department said Wednesday there were no leads for the incident. There also was a vandalism incident at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which is near the Community Connections center, at around the same time, he said. Police are assuming the two incidents are related, he added.
jacobk@the-journal.com