Last weekend, racist and antisemitic graffiti was discovered under the James F Lettis highway bridge on support structures in Neahwa Park in the City of Oneonta. Police report that once the graffiti was discovered, it was quickly covered over with gray paint by city crews to remove the ugly messages.

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City police are continuing to investigate to discover who is responsible and are asking anyone with information that relates to this case to call the Oneonta Police Department at 607-432-1111 or you can reach out to the police department through nixle.com.

 

This graffiti is considered a hate crime which is described by New York State as "a traditional offense that is motivated by bias". Hate crimes target an individual, group, or public or private property because of "a perception or belief about their race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation, or when such an act is committed as a result of that type of perception or belief."

New York State has gotten tougher on those committing hate crimes in recent years and if the person or persons responsible for this Oneonta graffiti incident are discovered, they will face felony charges according to New York State law.

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