A hateful message scrawled on a fence has caused some concern in Harrison Hot Springs.
At some time on Mar. 3, the phrase “leave town oldies” was spray painted over several panels of a fence surrounding a retirement complex.
“The graffiti is one thing,” said Sid Browning, a resident of Dogwood Court. “But the message is very upsetting.”
Other phrases spray painted included “oldies go home” and “place 4 youth.”
Residents discovered the message on Monday morning, Mar. 4. They have reported it to police and spoken to the mayor, in an effort to help make the wider community aware of the problem — at the very least. But they’re also hoping that someone knows who is responsible.
“We need to keep a record of these things,” Browning said, “even when we know the result that comes of this may be nil.”
They are also hoping that someone saw the culprits at work, since the quality of the graffiti was a bit sophisticated and likely took some time. The messages were sprayed on the fence that runs along Hot Springs Road, close to Alder.
“They probably would have been there from 10 to 20 minutes,” he said.
In the meantime, the orange and white graffiti was quickly painted over by one of the residents.
Browning said that the true face of the community was shown after the graffiti popped up, when members of the Harrison Hot Springs Fire Department stepped forward to fix the fence.
“The local fire chief came out with one of his firemen and they volunteered to do the painting,” Browning said. “That was lovely of them, and shows the beautiful community spirit we have.”
Allan Roth, a local real estate agent, agreed that the message of the graffiti runs counter to what Harrison is about.
“We need all ages in a community,” he said. “This kind of ignorance is just totally uncalled for. It’s beyond ignorant … and certainly wouldn’t reflect any sense of the Agassiz Harrison community.”
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