Vandals

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A historic schoolhouse for blacks prior to desegregation was painted with graffiti that contained racial overtones, police said Friday. Several walls and windows of what now is known as the Ramer Center at 515 W. Martin St. in Martinsburg were spray painted with racial slurs and symbols, Martinsburg Police Department Detective S.F. Doyle said. Graffiti also was painted on a neighboring house and a vehicle parked outside, said Jaimee Borger, director of communications for Berkeley County Schools.

Shotgun, building supplies are missing The following crimes were reported to the Washington County Sheriff's Department: A .410-gauge shotgun was reported stolen Friday at about 11:30 p.m. from a residence in the 14000 block of Spickler Road east of Clear Spring, said Washington County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Mark Knight. He said the shotgun was valued at $400. More than $1,100 worth of building supplies were reported stolen at 8:30 a.m. Saturday from a job site at 11856 Boyd Road off U.S. 40 near Clear Spring, Knight said.

Fort Ritchie vandalized By KIMBERLY YAKOWSKI kimy@herald-mail.com Vandals have broken into vacant housing units and smashed windows at Fort Ritchie, causing more than $25,000 in damage, police said. Washington County Sheriff's deputies have been called to the former U.S. Army base to investigate vandalism and burglary incidents at least five times since Jan. 1, Sgt. Mark Knight said. The most recent reports of damage were made Tuesday, after windows of a Mountain Road home on the base were shattered, and on Jan. 16, when several windows of building 700 were smashed, he said.

HARPERS FERRY, W.VA. - Four classrooms at Jefferson High School's ninth-grade complex were flooded Friday morning after a fire sprinkler was vandalized, prompting early dismissal of classes at the Shenandoah Junction school, officials said. The destructive prank is the third substantial act of vandalism since March 30 on Jefferson and Berkeley county school district property. At least two computers in one of the classrooms were damaged by the water, as were ceiling tiles, according to Independent Fire Co. Chief Ed Smith.

kimy@herald-mail.com Two Boonsboro brothers charged with wrenching the arm off a Yogi Bear statue at a Washington County campground during a vandalism spree received supervised probation at a disposition hearing Wednesday. Washington County Circuit Judge Donald Beachley said the juveniles should receive similar punishments for their part in damaging the 10-foot-tall statue on Dec. 16, 2001, at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park campground near Williamsport. The brothers, both 17, each pleaded guilty to malicious destruction of property, police said.

kimy@herald-mail.com Vandals caused more than $40,000 damage to a historic Village Mill Drive farmhouse in what was the most recent in a series of theft and vandalism incidents in Maugansville, a Washington County Sheriff's deputy said. The damage to 13772 Village Mill Drive was reported Tuesday but it is believed to have occurred between early August and Sept. 8, Deputy 1st Class James Grimm said. Grimm said he believes the vandalism was the work of several people because of the extent of the damage.

HAGERSTOWN -- The Hagerstown Police Department is offering a $250 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the young people who pulled out more than 20 trees last week at the Park Valley Road Tributary. The tributary runs to the rear of the City Light Substation behind the Hagerstown Ice & Sports Complex off Security Road. Hagerstown Police Chief Arthur Smith said an investigation of the crime should wrap up later this week. "In all my years, I've never been able to get a satisfactory answer why they do this," Smith said.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania State Police are investigating several incidents of criminal mischief that occurred Saturday night or Sunday morning around Chambersburg and Greencastle, Pa. Obscenities and Satanic symbols were spray-painted onto a number of properties on Bikle Road and King Drive in Guilford Township between 10:30 p.m. Saturday and 7:15 a.m. Sunday, according to Pennsylvania State Police. The report said red, silver, black and blue spray paints were used to damage the properties of 11 people.

Cascade school signs vandalized By TARA REILLY tarar@herald-mail.com All but one of the signs placed throughout the Cascade area in support of keeping Cascade Elementary School from possibly closing and being consolidated have been vandalized. Parents think whoever is responsible planned the act in advance. continued "I can tell you that it doesn't seem to be a random act of vandalism by bored youth," said Karl Weissenbach, chairman of the Cascade Committee.

NEEDMORE, Pa. - David Scott Reed, 15, a Hancock High School sophomore, is rounding up a crane and some volunteers to reset 50 headstones that vandals knocked over this summer in an 18th century cemetery near Needmore. State Police in McConnellsburg, Pa., said last week that three juveniles have been charged in the vandalism at Hill Chapel Cemetery. The graveyard sits off Alpine Road in the village of Dott in southern Fulton County, Pa. Reed is coordinating the restoration to qualify for his Boy Scout Eagle badge.