Vandals hit memorial
Angry residents prompt police to inspect defacing of 9/11 tribute
By Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell
Staff writer LA HABRA At the center of an angry public opinion storm, La Habra police on Tuesday said they are conducting a criminal investigation into weekend vandalism at a 9/11 memorial fence.Police said as soon as the probe is completed they will take their evidence to the Orange County District Attorney to determine if a complaint will be issued.
Early after the vandalism, residents near the memorial accused the Police Department of not taking adequate action when they first spotted people altering patriotic signs on the fence Saturday afternoon. The police reportedly determined at first that the sign alteration was more free expression than a case of vandalism, so they went away.
However, they said the activity later escalated into flag burning and replacing patriotic signs on the fence with antiwar slogans, which did qualify as acts of vandalism.
On Tuesday, Police Chief Dennis Kies stood behind the department's handling of the case.
"We did not observe anybody tearing flags or burning flags,' he said. "The first call we got on this was at 3 p.m Saturday. There were these cups stuck in the fence that spelled out something like 'We Love The USA,' and a woman was rearranging them to read something like 'No War.' She was not burning or tearing up anything at that time.'
Since the woman was not destroying anything, officers left without making an arrest or writing a police report.
Kies said his officers were called to the scene at Whittier Boulevard and Macy Street again at 5 p.m., Saturday and again at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Officers found damage to the display on both occasions but found no one but Tracey Chandler, who maintains the patriotic fence, and her friends near the location.
"On vandalism, a misdemeanor offense, we can't arrest anyone unless it happens in front of us,' Kies said.
Chandler, who started maintaining the memorial soon after it was initiated by neighbors the night of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, believes the same people who were at the fence earlier in the day came back later that night and burned the flags.
Jeff Collison, owner of The RV Center in La Habra, who has allowed Chandler and other residents to fill his fence with patriotic symbols, said he and Chandler plan to go to the police station today to file charges.
David Bisset of Whittier, who has contributed to the memorial since the evening of 9/11, said he will continue to do so, as another Whittier resident, Dusty Rhodes, came by with a pile of flags. "I was in the military myself for seven years, so for someone to burn my flag, well that burns my butt,' said Rhodes.
Chandler, who started pinning new 9/11 tribute posters made by her two children to the fence on Tuesday, is determined to rebuild the memorial. "It will be done by the end of the week, bigger and better than it ever was,' she said.