the petty, jealous, resentful, small-minded type who'd do this sort of
thing, that is, back when I lived in NJ. I imagine some have chosen to
hole up in the northwestern part of the state these days.
Figured I'd post this just so folks 'round here didn't imagine I
thought this brand of cowardice is restricted to former CSA locales.
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20081106_ap_crossburnedonlawnofobamasup****tersinnj.html
Cross burned on lawn of Obama sup****ters in NJ
SAMANTHA HENRY
The Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. - A family who had sup****ted Barack Obama's presidential
campaign emerged from their home in the northwestern New Jersey town
of Hardwick Thursday morning to find the charred remnants of a 6-foot
wooden cross on their front lawn.
Pieces of a homemade bedsheet banner reading "President Obama ,
Victory '08," which had been stolen from the yard the night before,
also were found, leading investigators to believe the banner had been
wrapped around the cross before it was set afire.
Lt. Gerald Lewis of the New Jersey State Police said his agency is
treating the incident as a bias crime.
Police believe the cross, made of two-by-fours bolted to a metal pole
like those used to sup****t road signs, was placed on the lawn sometime
between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m., and fell over after being set on fire.
Homeowner Gary Grewal said he had noticed the Obama banner missing
from his lawn the night before and re****ted it to police.
Grewal said his 8-year-old daughter, Arianna, spotted the banner
wrapped around the burnt cross as they walked toward their car to
drive to school.
"She saw it, that's what bothered me the most," Grewal said Thursday.
"You can imagine the types of questions she was asking. It was very
tough to explain."
Grewal, 51, a management consultant who emigrated from India, has
lived in Hardwick Town****p, a largely rural community of about 1,500
people in Warren County, about 40 miles northwest of Newark, since
2001.
He said Obama campaign signs were regularly swiped off his lawn. He
and his wife, Alina, actively sup****ted the Obama campaign in the
largely Republican area.
"I'm not going to be intimidated by something like this," Grewal said.
"I don't go on anyone's property and do this. God forbid if I was
African-American. We're living in the 21st century, and we've got to
be afraid to express our beliefs?"
Grewal described his community as a nice place "with many wonderful
people." But he said his daughter is afraid to sleep in her room,
knowing someone was on the lawn while they were home.
"I'm amazed this can happen in this time and age," Alina Grewal said.
"We're in the Millennium, the world has changed."
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