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Not all, however, were welcome.

Parks and Recreation Director David Moore said vandals sprayed racist graffiti on a pavilion at River Bends Park the evening of March 14, painting Nazi propaganda, swastikas and racist comments along the walls. The graffiti was discovered the next day.

“People were really disturbed about this, and we got a few calls asking us what had happened and some people were really angry,” said Moore. “I’d like to say it’s not that common of an occurrence but, unfortunately, both River Bends and Lombardo Park tend to get hit like this a few times each season.”

The time of year in which the vandals hit made the situation even more frustrating for Parks and Recreation crews.

“What makes it worse is that in the winter we don’t have our water on, so it’s difficult to get out there and power wash it,” said Moore. “We don’t turn the water on until mid-April, so we had to take a 300-gallon washer out there to hose it down.”

Crews painted over much of the graffiti on Monday, but Moore said it was unable to be totally washed off until Tuesday, March 18.

“It’s just such a waste of time for us to get out there and do that,” he said. “We have trees that we could be tending to or things throughout the township.”

Moore said Shelby Township police located a spray-paint can at the scene and are currently investigating. Anyone with information is asked to call the police at 731-2121.