Hate Crime in Rochester?
AP reports that four teenagers in Rochester, New York broke into a mosque, urinated in the purification water, smashed wine bottles against the walls, left bicycle skid marks on the carpet, emptied the fire extinguishers and burned cigarette holes in the prayer rugs.
The four were arrested, and are being held in jail charged with felony hate crimes.
Oh wait — I got mixed up. It was a Catholic Church not a mosque, and the four were charged with ordinary vandalism and released to their parents.
Whew! For a minute there I thought it was a hate crime.
(Warning: Retroactive sarcasm alert in effect!)
July 11th, 2005 at 11:34 am
thanks for the sarcasm alert. not sure i would have caught it, otherwise …
July 11th, 2005 at 11:35 am
of course, unfortunately the AP article misspells the name of the saint after whom the church is named.
and it’s a shame they don’t take a stand on the issue (as they do on so many others). but the Church is such an easy target - obviously.
blah.
July 11th, 2005 at 4:49 pm
See, this is why the editor-less blogosphere can’t compete with the mainstream media with professional journalists and professinal editors — we don’t misspell well enough!
August 4th, 2005 at 8:49 am
Actually the “purification water” was the tipoff!
August 4th, 2005 at 10:44 am
Well, I guess changing “holy water” to “purification water” wasn’t good enough. I thought Muslims have the custom to wash their hands and feet before praying, but I could be wrong.