Swastika painted on Florida Jewish fraternity house

[Ian David]

Swastika painted on Florida Jewish fraternity house

By Eric Fingerhut · April 8, 2009

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A swastika was painted on a Jewish fraternity house at the University of Florida.

The swastika, which appeared on an outside wall of the under-construction Alpha Epsilon Pi house, was found last week and reported Sunday to the University of Florida police department, according to media reports.

Fraternity member Alex Mehler told the Gainsville Sun that the vandalism was "a blatant act of anti-Semitism" and said many members of the fraternity were "distraught." He said the Florida AEPi chapter has been working on building the house for three years and plans to move into the facility at the beginning of the next school year.

A campus police captain said the incident is being investigated as criminal mischief, a second-degree misdemeanor, but could be raised to a hate crime -- which is a first-degree misdemeanor. He said the swastika painting appears to be an "isolated incident."

More:
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/04/08/1004345/swastika-painted-on-uf-jewish-fraternity-house

[YOY]

1. Oh those lovable skinhead scamps and their kooky antics!

:sarcasm:

[MineralMan]

2. Yeah, right...a swastika on a Jewish frat house is just

"mischief." Them good ol' boys'r gonna be boys. You betcha.

[JonLP24]

4. Unfamiliar with the law regarding these types of incidents

What is the normal charge? Please forgive my ignorance. I understand Vandalism could be a plausible charge.

[MineralMan]

5. I don't know the laws in Florida. I live in Minnesota.

[MineralMan]

8. I have more information. If an offense in Florida is deemed

a hate crime, the punishment for that crime is increased. Here's the wording:

"775.085 Evidencing prejudice while committing offense; reclassification.--

(1)(a) The penalty for any felony or misdemeanor shall be reclassified as provided in this subsection if the commission of such felony or misdemeanor evidences prejudice based on the race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, mental or physical disability, or advanced age of the victim:

1. A misdemeanor of the second degree is reclassified to a misdemeanor of the first degree.

2. A misdemeanor of the first degree is reclassified to a felony of the third degree.

3. A felony of the third degree is reclassified to a felony of the second degree.

4. A felony of the second degree is reclassified to a felony of the first degree.

5. A felony of the first degree is reclassified to a life felony."

I'd say that fits here.

[EmilyAnne]

3. Poor guys! That would be so scary. And right at Passover, so it seems planned out rather than

just some prank done on a whim. What is WRONG with people?

I hope they catch the idiots who did this, especially so they can be publicly humiliated.

[gotmessage]

6. And they didn't burn it down?

Like republicans burnt down those black churches a few years back?

http://www.socialism.com/fsarticles/vol17no3/churchburn.html

[sofa king]

7. Oh, there's a bright idea: screw with a fraternity.

So here's a bit of advice to you would-be vandals out there: aside from the Bush White House, military installations, and police stations, the one other place you can screw up where you're guaranteed to be searched for forever and have an excellent chance of being tortured to death if caught is a fraternity.

Now, I'm not saying fraternities are evil, though I may or may not privately believe that. No, what I notice is that they have the same similarities which make cops and soldiers the kind of folks you don't want to fuck with. They all have central locations, they all hang together as a team, they all have a tradition of harassment and causing physical and mental duress to others, and every single year, somewhere, they all kill someone.

So yeah, bad idea.

[Behind the Aegis]

9. Tacky.