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A POLICE sniffer dog helped track down five teenagers who have been arrested over a rock-throwing incident in Melbourne's north-east overnight. It's claimed the five threw concrete and masonry at cars driving along St Georges Road in Northcote, including a taxi at about 3.15am. The taxi driver contacted police, who dispatched a canine unit to the area. Nat the Rottweiler sniffed out one offender hiding in a creek bed and the remaining four under a building at a local school. The group was taken to the Northcote police station for questioning. Police have called for any witnesses to come forward.

The artist who created the “Hope” poster of President Barack Obama was sentenced to two years’ probation Friday after pleading guilty to three vandalism charges. Prosecutors dropped 11 other charges.

Vandals cut an AT&T fiber-optic cable in San Jose early this morning, knocking out landline and cellular phone service and the Internet to thousands of residential customers and businesses in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties, authorities said.Police used yellow tape to cordon off the area, which is near railroad tracks, as investigators and phone company workers descended into an underground vault where the cable is located. "We're treating this as a crime scene," Lopez said.The outage is affecting 911 service, meaning people who have an emergency will have to get to a police or fire station or...

Chapel Hill, N.C. — The kitchen at Smith Middle School was vandalized last week, and the vandals urinated in the ice machine, according to a letter sent to school staff and parents of students. The vandalism occurred Dec. 15, and school officials said the ice machine was used Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, officials said.Ice from the machine is used to chill containers on the lunch serving line and is used in drinks by students and staff, officials said. After learning of the possibility of tainted ice, Smith Middle officials said, they removed all ice from the machine and any items...

As Diane Guzman left home Wednesday to take her children to school, tears began streaming down her face when she saw that her Tahoe's back window was shattered. Then she and her children noticed police lights up and down her block and in the neighborhood. Guzman, who lives in the 4900 block of 59th Street, was one of about 130 vehicle owners victimized overnight by vandals who randomly shot out windows in the southwest quadrant of Lubbock. Most of the vehicles targeted were SUVs. Some blocks had vehicle after vehicle with shattered windows. Most reports were concentrated in the area...

CHAPEL HILL - After Shawn Turschak saw two sets of McCain-Palin signs disappear from his yard within hours of being planted, he took steps to protect the latest pair. On Monday, he ran wires from his house and hooked the signs into a power source for an electric pet fence. Then he mounted a surveillance camera in a nearby tree and wired it to a digital recorder. Tuesday afternoon, the camera saw this: A neighbor trotting up with an Obama-Biden sign, grabbing a handful of volts as he touched a McCain-Palin sign, then fleeing at top 9-year-old boy speed. A...

Vandals hit two S.J. homes with signs supporting ban on same-sex marriage For the second time in a week, homeowners in South San Jose have been targeted for their support of a proposition that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Unlike the previous incident where no law was broken, the culprits who spray-painted large "No on 8" messages Sunday night on the garage doors of two homes on a cul-de-sac near Monterey and Bernal roads could face jail time and a fine if arrested and convicted. San Jose police were called to the scene...

A spokesman for Sen. Norm Coleman says that vandals wrote graffiti on the garage of his St. Paul home that called the senator "scum" and a "criminal." Coleman and his wife, Laurie, live in the Crocus Hill neighborhood of St. Paul. Spokesman Mark Drake says Wednesday morning that grafitti left on the outside of the garage says: "You are a criminal resign or else"; "Scum," which is written three times; and "Psalm 2."

Owner Believes Lexus Vandalized Due To McCain Sticker News Channel 8/JIM FARQUHAR The owner of this Lexus believes his McCain/Palin sticker is the reason behind approximately $4,500 worth of damage done to his vehicle. By DAVE NICHOLSON | The Tampa Tribune Published: October 18, 2008 Clearwater - CLEARWATER Frank Armstrong was preparing to go for a jog this morning when he noticed his Lexus – adorned with a McCain-Palin sticker - had been vandalized with obscenities and a burned American flag. Armstrong discovered the damage to his 2006 Lexus about 8:30 a.m. at his Sand Key condominium at 1400 Gulf...

PHOENIX — When it comes to marking up historic signs, good grammar is a bad defense. Two self-styled vigilantes against typos who defaced a more than 60-year-old, hand-painted sign at Grand Canyon National Park were sentenced to probation and banned from national parks for a year. Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson pleaded guilty Aug. 11 for the damage done March 28 at the park's Desert View Watchtower. The sign was made by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, the architect who designed the rustic 1930s watchtower and other Grand Canyon-area landmarks. Deck and Herson, both 28, toured the United States this spring,...

TBILISI, Georgia — Georgia remained in a state of uncertainty Thursday as Russian troops retreated from and then returned to the city of Gori and spent much of the day destroying or carrying away captured Georgian military equipment. Elsewhere in the country, Russian tanks and trucks rolled along country roads toward unknown destinations. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared that Georgia could "forget about" ever regaining the two secessionist regions that are at the heart of the conflict. At the Kremlin, President Dmitry Medvedev warmly received the political leaders of the zones, which Georgia and the United States insist remain...

Vandals entered the six-bedroom lodge and sprayed the interior with fire extinguishers, slathering the floors and walls with dust. They poured cooking oils, soaps and lemon juice in the living room, halls and kitchen and even on a dining table large enough to seat 20 for dinner, using it as a slip-and-slide. They threw eggs on the walls and television set. They scribbled obscenities. They stole two hair dryers and two pillows and left the water running. They might have spent five years behind bars had they been adults convicted on burglary and vandalism charges. As preteens, they might have...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Vandals spray-painted "Obama Smokes Crack" and other hate messages on 60 city vehicles parked across the street from City Hall in downtown Orlando. Investigators said the vandals painted the messages -- which appear to be politically motivated -- after dark Saturday night. Local 6 showed several vehicles covered in different colors with the "Obama" messages. A passing motorist initially spotted the damage and called police. "I'm driving by and every car I see has been hit with spray paint," witness Mike Lowe said. "There is so much damage to them. There are messages written on them and...

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - Call it poetic justice: More than two dozen young people who broke into Robert Frost's former home for a beer party and trashed the place are being required to take classes in his poetry as part of their punishment. Using "The Road Not Taken" and another poem as jumping-off points, Frost biographer Jay Parini hopes to show the vandals the error of their ways — and the redemptive power of poetry. "I guess I was thinking that if these teens had a better understanding of who Robert Frost was and his contribution to our society, that they...

"Vandals dumped red paint on a downtown veterans memorial Wednesday morning in what police suspect was a symbolic act of protest on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. "

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- New Haven's Vietnam War Memorial has been hit by vandals for the second time in two weeks. Both times, the memorial on Long Wharf was defaced by a spray painted message touting a violet street gang known as MS-13. Police said the gang, with roots in El Salvador, is not known to be active in New Haven. City officials said they are considering putting up cameras near the memorial to help protect it from future vandalism. No arrests have been made. The city plans to clean the monument on Monday.

Calculating the Risks in Pakistan A small group of U.S. military experts and intelligence officials convened in Washington for a classified war game last year, exploring strategies for securing Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if the country's political institutions and military safeguards began to fall apart. The secret exercise — conducted without official sponsorship from any government agency, apparently due to the sensitivity of its subject — was one of several such games the U.S. government has conducted in recent years examining various options and scenarios for Pakistan's nuclear weapons: How many troops might be required for a military intervention in...

72-year-old fights off man who trashed Christmas decorations BY RICHARD WEIR and DAVE GOLDINER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Thursday, November 29th 2007, 4:00 AM A grinch-like robber was nabbed after he attacked a 72-year-old Westbury man as he strung Christmas lights in his front yard, cops said Wednesday. Santos Zelaya, 21, followed Reinaldo Herrera inside his house on Fifth Ave., put a BB gun to his head and trashed his living room tree and biblical figurines, police say. "Jesus, Mary and the wise men all fell to the ground," said Detective Lt. Raymond Cote. "He smashed up the Nativity scene."...

A Hoffman Estates man said Sunday that he is recovering from the minor injuries suffered when he was dragged by a car carrying youths who stomped on and broke pieces of the Christmas display that has illuminated his yard for 17 years. "There was about seven or eight boys just absolutely destroying our Christmas decorations," he said. "Just stomping, ripping and breaking them to pieces." OBrill, 46, of the 4000 block of Winston Drive, said he stood in front of one of the two vehicles that the vandals jumped into. "I got in front of the first car, thinking it...

Vandals have broken into the Musée d'Orsay and punched a hole in Claude Monet's "Le Pont d'Argenteuil", in the latest in a series of attacks on artwork in France. A surveillance camera caught a group of four to five apparently drunk people entering the Paris museum early yesterday morning. An alarm sounded and the group fled, but not before putting a four-inch tear in the painting, Christine Albanel, the French culture minister, said. No arrests have been made so far. After attempting to force open other doors, the intruders managed to get in through a back door, "even though it...

About a dozen lawmakers gathered Thursday to introduce a resolution condemning the recent vandalism of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. “This is really an affront to the men and women who served in the Vietnam War,” Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) said. “I’m pretty damn mad about it.” An oily substance was found splashed on the memorial Sept. 7, according to the U.S. Park Police. The substance, according to the National Park Service, has stained 14 of the memorial’s 140 black granite panels. Carter said more than 100 members are supporting a resolution condemning the vandalism so far, and he hopes every...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Two teenagers were accused of gang-raping a woman and forcing her 12-year-old son to join in the attack, then beating him and pouring cleaning solution into his eyes. Authorities allege Avion Lawson, 14, and Nathan Walker, 16, were among a group of about 10 masked suspects who forced their way into the womanÂ’s apartment in a crime-ridden housing project the night of June 18. The two were being held without bail Friday on suspicion of armed sexual battery by multiple perpetrators, sexual performance by a child, armed home invasion and aggravated battery. Both were arrested...

MILWAUKEE - A group of Iraq War protesters vandalized the windows at the Army recruitment center on Oakland Avenue near the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee campus on Monday night. Milwaukee police had six people in custody and were questioning several more potential suspects. Witnesses say they saw anywhere from 20 to 40 people dressed in black flee from the scene. A Web site posting on Monday said that the act was a protest against the U.S. involvement in Iraq, in connection with Tuesday's fourth anniversary of the war. Torches made from chair legs, fireworks, and black flags were strewn in...

The commies at International ANSWER are scrambling to cover their rears after Vietnam veterans and Freepers announced they were going to defend the Wall from desecration at the ANSWER rally in Washington, D.C. on March 17. ANSWER made the mistake of poking a sleeping giant with a hot poker by announcing they were going to hold their so-called antiwar rally on sacred ground:The March 17 demonstration will assemble at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Constitution Gardens) at 12 noon in Washington, D.C.and march to the Pentagon.The response by veterans, military families and patriotic Americans has been ferocious. The Park Service has...

"During an anti-war demonstration, protesters were allowed to spray paint graffiti on part of the west front steps of the United States Capitol building. FRC Radio correspondent Bethanie Swendsen reports from the Capital grounds."

Anti-war protesters were allowed to spray paint on part of thewest front steps of the United States Capitol building after police wereordered to break their security line by their leadership, two sources toldThe Hill. According to the sources, police officers were livid when theywere told to fall back by U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Chief Phillip Morse andDeputy Chief Daniel Nichols. "They were the commanders on the scene," one source said,who requested anonymity. "It was disgusting." After police ceded the stairs, located on the lower west frontof the Capitol, the building was locked down, the source added. A second source who...

LONG BEACH, Calif. A statue of Jesus at a Long Beach Catholic church was beheaded the day after Christmas, possibly by skateboarders who had been shooed off the grounds by a priest, it was reported Friday. Skateboarders have been at odds with members of St. Cyprian Catholic Church, at Clark Avenue and Arbor Road, since September over their use of the church's bench, hand rails, stairs and other property for their sport, the Press-Telegram reported. While it is unknown if skateboarders are responsible for the attacks on the statue of Jesus and elsewhere on church grounds, church officials told the...

VANDALS set fire to about 400 cars overnight and police said they arrested more than 250 people, as violence marred France's New Year celebrations. However, a police spokesman said there were fewer problems than in 2005, when youths attacked trains in the Paris region and southeast of the country. 25,000 police were on duty throughout the country during the night, including 4500 in Paris, where the authorities banned fireworks and firecrackers.

Yesterday, Christmas day, our son's car was stolen around 5:30 p.m. as it was parked in front of our house. Christmas morning his girl friend's car was got stolen while parked in front of her house in Palm Springs, and also yesterday a friend's new Volvo in DHS had its tail lights bashed out with some rocks and his neighbor's van window was bashed out with the same rock. I hope your Christmas day was a little better than mine and that of all those affected by the Christmas day vandalism spree. But it is not all happening on Christmas....

WASHINGTON, December 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic League is reporting vandalism to nativity scenes across the United States. Figures from nativity scenes were stolen or vandalized in Tucson, AZ ; Millbrae, CA; Mission Viejo, CA; Moorpark, CA; San Francisco, CA; Naugatuck, CT; Waterbury, CT (Jesus was taken, but one of the arms was left behind); Fort Walton Beach, FL; Des Moines, IA; Sioux City, IA; Ammon, ID; Chicago, IL (32 figures of baby Jesus were nabbed-they were later dumped on the lawn of a Catholic church); Jackson County, IL (two incidents); Tinley Park, IL; Floyd County, IN; Fort Wayne,...

Vandals behead N.Y. George Washington statue POSTED: November 10, 2006 NEW YORK (AP) -- Vandals beheaded a statue of George Washington at one of the world's largest cathedrals and left a dollar bill on what was left of the neck, police said Friday. The damage was discovered Sunday at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, near Columbia University, Officer Kathleen Price said. The statue, near the front of the church, is part of a church collection of historical figures spanning 20 centuries. A statue of William Shakespeare represents 17th century, Washington the 18th century, and Abraham Lincoln the 19th...

Repeated vandalism of mosque stirs fear BY BETH AARON AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Members of a Lubbock mosque fear for their safety as vandals have continuously defaced their place of worship. Within the last month, the Islamic Center of the South Plains at 3419 La Salle Ave. has been vandalized at least three times. Between 11 p.m. Monday and 6:45 a.m. Tuesday, someone wrote the misspelled word "Redemtion" in black spray paint and scribbled lines on the sidewalks. "I don't know what is the message they're trying to give," said Faiz Rahman, a member of the mosque and the adviser to Texas Tech's...

What happened to the 50 tons of gold, silver and sacred treasures looted from Herod's Temple following the Roman legionnaires' sack of Jerusalem on Tisha b'Av in the year 70 CE? The Arch of Titus in Rome, erected shortly after the death of Titus who reigned as emperor from 79 to 81, clearly depicts Roman soldiers bearing on their shoulders the golden candelabrum, silver trumpets and bejewelled Table of the Divine Presence which the Roman emperor Vespasian and his son Titus carted back to Rome as trophies of war. Between 75 CE and the early 5th century, the treasure...

Vandals pour paint on Elamite bas-reliefs in southern Iran Tehran Times Culture Desk TEHRAN -- Unidentified men have poured paint on the bas-reliefs of the Elamite Tarisha Temple in the Izeh region of Khuzestan Province, the Persian service of CHN reported on Sunday. In response, the Izeh Cultural Heritage Lovers Society has asked Iranian cultural officials to mobilize security guard teams for the Tarisha Temple, which is also known as Eshkaft-e Salman, and for the nearby Kul-Farah site. The security detail for Izeh’s ancient sites has no means to defend themselves or the ancient sites, society chairman Faramarz Khoshab told...

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) -- A congresswoman's son and three Democratic campaign workers were sentenced Wednesday to four to six months in jail for slashing tires outside a Bush-Cheney campaign office on Election Day 2004. The men pleaded no contest in January to misdemeanor property damage. A fifth worker was found not guilty. "This case had to be a public example of what can happen when you interfere with voters' rights," said Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Brennan, who rejected prosecutors' recommendation of probation for the four men.

Army employees were startled Monday afternoon when a brick crashed through the window of the campus Army Recruiting Station, 73 University Square, around 2:30 p.m. Army officers were in the building when the window shattered, but were unable to catch the vandal. According to Sergeant First Class Bruce Bovenkerk, station commander for U.S. Army Recruiting, the vandalism was not the first of its kind at the Army Recruiting Station. “Our window has been broken many times,” Bovenkerk said. “It’s part of the job. We’ve got insurance and they cover it. So nobody got hurt and nobody got injured. We board...

The heartbroken family of a fallen Bay State soldier was devastated yesterday to find his memorial defaced by callous anti-war vandals who scrawled “Oil” and “Christian Crusade” on a sign commemorating his sacrifice. “I was enraged,” said Lou Petithory, whose son Daniel, 32, was killed in Afghanistan Dec. 5, 2001. “My main concern is that my son’s memory was attacked.” It is a memory that Green Beret Sgt. Daniel Petithory’s parents have struggled to preserve amid the politics over the war on terror. They have stopped reading newspaper editorials and watching TV news shows; not because they disagree with debate,...

OAKLAND, Calif. — Dressed in bow ties and dark suits, nearly a dozen men carrying metal pipes entered a corner store, shattered refrigerator cases and smashed bottles of liquor, wine and beer, terrifying the clerk but stealing nothing. The just wanted to leave a message: Stop selling alcohol to fellow Muslims. In urban America, friction between poor residents and immigrant storeowners is nothing new. Nor are complaints that inner-city neighborhoods are glutted with markets that sell alcohol and contribute to violent crime, vagrancy and other social ills. But the recent attack at San Pablo Liquor — and an identical vandalism...

Menorah destroyed by vandals in Orange County Associated Press MISSION VIEJO, Calif. - A public menorah erected on an Orange County town green to encourage understanding about Judaism and Hanukkah was destroyed by vandals. The 150-pound menorah, which was 15 feet high and 10 feet wide, was placed earlier this month in Ladera Ranch, a planned community near Mission Viejo. One or more vandals struck between 10 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday, cutting the menorah's stem, breaking its lightbulbs, and smashing its stars, said Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Lloyd Downing. He said the incident has been labeled a hate...

Oakland grocers set to fight vandals Police say they will have more details this week in the attacks on two liquor stores By William Brand, STAFF WRITER NATION OF ISLAM minister Tony Muhammad, standing in front of Muhammad Mosque 26 in Oakland on Saturday, says the Nation had no part in the destruction inside two West Oakland liquor stores Wednesday night. (GREG TARCZYNSKI) OAKLAND — The president of the Yemini American Grocery Association said Saturday that grocers have the right to defend themselves if their stores are invaded like two West Oakland markets were hit Wednesday night. The association, which...

Police, baffled by attacks on liquor stores, add patrols Dressy appearance of vandals consistent with Nation of Islam, official in West Oakland says. A surveillance video showing a dozen men in suits and bow ties filing into a West Oakland liquor store and confronting the manager before destroying rows of liquor bottles provides detailed images that could pinpoint the culprits and lead to hate crime charges, police said Friday. The men who smashed up San Pablo Liquor at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday staged an almost identical attack about 10 minutes later at another West Oakland corner store, New York Market, police...

'I Eat Babies' Painted At Central Fla. Church   POSTED: 12:42 pm EDT September 15, 2005 UPDATED: 1:37 pm EDT September 15, 2005   Police in Sharpes, Fla., are investigating a case of vandalism at a Catholic church in which the message "I eat babies to stay young" and other words were spray painted on signs.Officials at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church located on U.S. 1 north of Cocoa said vandals painted words on their main church sign and a thrift store sign. "We haven't had any problems out here before ... no other run-ins. They also spray painted...

OLD TOWN - Vandals on Sunday evening caused an estimated $10,000-plus in damage at the West Old Town Landfill, police said. Old Town police received a call at 6:41 p.m. from subcontractors who had been working at the site reporting extensive damage to the landfill's main building, scale house and some equipment. When police arrived, they discovered the group of subcontractors, who had been working about half-mile away from the entrance, were locked inside. Vandals superglued the locks on the doors of some buildings. They also broke off a key or other object in the locked chain on the main...

Two teenage boys have been arrested in the Fairfield vandalism and arson that happened outside the home of a dead soldier's family. Early Saturday morning, just a few hours after the funeral of Pfc. Timothy Hines, the boys allegedly stole 20 American flags from the family's lawn and set them on fire under Hines' sister-in-law's car. Police say the boys, ages 13 and 15, were not aware of the significance of the flags outside the home. The boys were also involved with other acts of vandalism in the area that same morning, police said. The teens were released to the...

Vandals are compounding the grief of a Tri-state soldier's family. Not even 24-hours after Private First Class Tim Hines's wife and family said goodbye at his funeral, American flags that had adorned their Fairfield yard were piled beneath a car and burned....

Twenty-four people were arrested Saturday after police discovered spray-painted graffiti on the Statehouse -- messages that authorities said were part of a protest against an extension of Interstate 69. Authorities said the 24, walking away from the Statehouse and chanting about I-69, disregarded an officer who tried to ask them questions about the graffiti shortly before 1 p.m. Other officers arrived, and the 24 were arrested on disorderly conduct charges a few blocks northwest of the building, state police 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten said. The graffiti was found on two exterior walls, two pillars on the interior and in other...

Word comes from Matt May of a shocking crime in Indianapolis. The Medal of Honor Memorial, the nation’s only monument to all winners of the Medal of Honor, has been defaced by vandals. In his blog entry, Matt reports that The memorial was defaced with a spray painted "peace" sign, Valentine-shaped heart, obscenties directed at Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, and the traditional sign of anarchists (a circle with an A inside). Matt calls these criminals “cowards for peace.” I have much stronger terminology for them, but will not publish it here. Repairs will take weeks and cost thousands of dollars....

ESCONDIDO, CA ---- The Vollmar family's nativity scene was destroyed by vandals on Wednesday night at the family's home on West 11th Street, Jan Vollmar said. The family puts up the scene every year as part of a larger Christmas display in their front yard, Vollmar said. The destruction of the scene began on Christmas night when one of three wise men was smashed in the street. "After the first incident on Christmas, we had neighbors approach us and say that they hoped we wouldn't let the destruction make us take down our display," Vollmar said on Friday. "But two...

A "heroic" security guard suffered an excruciating death, being burned alive in an elevator on Christmas while trying to prevent an arson fire from spreading throughout a Queens apartment building. The blaze inside a garbage cart that killed 32-year-old Raymond James was set by two 13-year-old boys, whom police charged with murder yesterday. [snip] Chief Fire Marshal Louis Garcia called James "a selfless, heroic individual who was trying to save lives of people in the building." [snip] At the same time, two boys who live in the building — 13-year-old cousins — were walking around setting fire to Christmas...

Vandals Hit GOP Headquarters in N.Carolina RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Vandals spray painted vulgar messages on the walls of the North Carolina Republican Party headquarters and left a burned effigy depicting President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, police said. Authorities detained several suspects early Saturday, hours after the attacks took place Friday night, but had not filed any charges, police spokesman Jim Sughrue said. A police officer reported Friday that about 100 people wearing masks and gloves were walking down a street near the headquarters, authorities said. The Republican president won re-election Tuesday after a challenge by Kerry, a Democrat....