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Dear Editor,

This letter is in reference to the recent ignorant and cowardly act of defacing public property at the Johnson City Recycling Center wherein a person or persons unknown painted racial slurs, swastikas, and KKK on a recycling bin. By virtue of what was done, this action constitutes a hate crime under both state and federal statutes. Further, by invoking the name of the KKK, this action was in furtherance of the agenda of a known domestic terrorist organization; i.e. the Ku Klux Klan. Have the local authorities notified both the FBI and Homeland Security in order that the full investigatory powers of federal law enforcement can be brought to bear?

This action was much, much more heinous than the opening of some fire hydrants. Undoubtedly some of you in this county and the surrounding communities will want to write this action off as a foolish and childish act of vandalism. If you are one of them then you need to review history with particular attention to Germany beginning in 1933. Perhaps then you will realize what happens when you choose to “look the other way.”

Surely someone besides the perpetrators of this act knows who did it. If you do you should do your duty as a lawful and patriotic citizen and notify the authorities immediately. And further, where is the public outrage in response to this action?

To the perpetrators of this cowardly action: you could have stood on the steps of the county courthouse and spewed your venomous, hateful rhetoric with the full protection of the 1st amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. Instead, like cockroaches and rats, you chose to slink out in the cover of darkness to state your misguided beliefs. But it is not too late. Why do you not show some courage, crawl out from under the rock where you are hiding, and turn yourselves into the authorities where you can accept full responsibility for your actions and your beliefs in a public forum? Sadly, the nature of your actions would indicate that, at best, you are only semi-literate and will not even read or understand this letter.

Respectfully,

Don Silver