Vandalism in Dos Vientos is overlooked

On Sunday Oct. 8 at the intersection of Borchard Road and Rancho Dos Vientos, a neighborhood sign was vandalized in Dos Vientos, Newbury Park. The graffiti was derogatory towards religion. Madison Kasper, senior, saw the graffiti being painted over at around 8 a.m. that day; however, she she later found out what the graffiti initially was. “When I heard about it, it didn’t necessarily scare me, I just thought it was extremely hateful,” Kasper said.

The Dos Vientos Forum Facebook has provided pictures of this derogatory statement. They also provided pictures of vandalized lampposts near Dos Vientos Park. The graffiti written on these lamppost were also derogatory messages directed towards religion. Rindi Kessler, senior,  not only saw the vandalized neighborhood sign, but she also saw the steps in the Dos Vientos Village vandalized with “crosses and devil signs” on that same day. Kessler feels scared that there are people in her community that feel this hateful towards others’ religious beliefs. “It is disgusting that people think this way and act out in this kind of manner,” Kessler said.

This is not the first incident of vandalism in Dos Vientos. On June 18, a racial slur was painted on the walls of the Trader Market. Also over the summer, swastikas were drawn over the baseball fields in the Dos Vientos Community Center Park. Lauren Corleto, a member of the community center staff, sees these acts as immature. “Everybody was pretty outraged. This shouldn’t be happening at a community center where there are kids. They shouldn’t be exposed to that,” Corleto said.

There have been numerous incidents vandalism spreading threatening messages in Dos Vientos over the past three months. There is currently no public information about who committed the recent vandalism on Oct. 8.