Owners of a family-run Aldergrove landscaping company woke up Friday morning to racist graffiti covering their work truck and trailer – including several swear words and even mentions of the N-word.
Whipshaw Landscaping owner Donna Mathieson said she was tipped off by her cousin who was driving by and saw what had happened.
“He called me and said, ‘who do I have to beat up’, and I had no idea what he was talking about,” she said. “We hadn’t been outside.”
Mathieson, who is Caucasian, said she has no idea why the vehicle was targeted with that kind of language – believing it is not racially motivated.
“I can’t even say that word. It makes me uncomfortable,” she told The Star.
Thinking it was paint, husband Tim later found cans behind their home that confirmed the material used was a type of spray chalk.
READ MORE: Fort Langley ‘pick’ organized by campaigner for tougher graffiti regulations
He managed to wash off the words from his truck, but being made of wood, the trailer still has remnants that may have permanent damage.
“I think that if I was to say something as a message to the people of Aldergrove, it would be to seriously educate their children on such stuff as racism, first of all, second, teach them about the value of a dollar,” she explained.
Mathieson said they have filed a police report and and hope RCMP will amp up patrols in the neighbourhood in the coming days.
She added that her home has been targeted in the past year, with vandals destroying part of their fence; but the tweens responsible had been caught in the act.
Langley RCMP Cpl. Craig van Herk said as of right now it is being treated as a random act of mischief with no suspects nor indication of further acts.
READ MORE: Another Langley school hit by graffiti
“It’s just so disturbing that even a young adult would write such horrible things,” Mathieson added.
Tips on such crimes can be anonymously reported to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or reported to Langley RCMP at ocre-sielc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/Langley/en.
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Whipshaw Landscaping's vehicles were hit with racist vandalism done by spray chalk paint on Thursday night. (Special to The Star)
Tim and Donna Mathieson. (Special to The Star)
Whipshaw Landscaping’s vehicles were hit with racist vandalism on Thursday night. (Special to The Star)
