"Mormons Suck"

WEST LINN -- Police and school officials are investigating what they believe started as a student prank but later degenerated into a hate crime.

Intruders apparently broke into West Linn High School early today, using marking pens to leave graffiti on the walls, including a Nazi swastika.

In the school library, the intruders placed the Book of Mormon on a desk, circled its title with a marking pen, then wrote "Mormons suck" on the desk.

The school librarian is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Meanwhile, the intruders glued more than a dozen locks shut, threw an estimated 800 library books on the floor of the hallway and tied together the "crash bars" of several exit doors.

An estimate of the damage was not available.

Authorities suspect high school seniors may be responsible. If caught, they will be disciplined up to and including expulsion, said Roger Woehl, West Linn-Wilsonville school superintendent.

"We may not catch them all," Woehl said.

However, he expects other students to leak information to staff members as they hear it. Because the incident affects all students, they're likely to be annoyed with the vandalism, Woehl said.

"In any good group, there's always a knot head," Woehl said.

Sgt. Neil Hennelly, West Linn police spokesman, said the intruders apparently staged some kind of diversion to keep a security guard occupied, then slipped into the school through another entrance.

Hennelly said intimidating someone on the basis of their religion is a hate crime. If more than one person is involved, it would be a felony.

-- Rick Bella;


This happened this morning, in our very own West Linn. I wonder why these kids were feeling this way. Considering the Librarian was Mormon, they probably had it out for her. She probably told them to be quiet or something horrific like that! My favorite quote was "In any good group, there is always a knot head!!" Too true. West Linn is one of the most accepting, community driven, cities I have ever seen, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a knot head or two out there!! They said the vandals were seniors. What a way to end school, go to prison for essentially saying "Mormons Suck". If they had left that statement out, and just vandalized the school, it wouldn't have been a hate crime, or a felony. Teenagers.....some need more help than others.

The irony of it all is this: Just last Thursday our Ward honored the great teachers of West Linn High School. The high schoolers in our Ward served the teachers dinner and presented awards to them, it was really neat. It was sort of a visible way to show that our church supports the teachers of West Linn and appreciates the hard work they put out for our kids. Funny how things go!!