The Mississauga News
- June 24 / 1998 - No credit for story.
Staff photo by Rob Beinteme
An unwelcome sign for her honor
Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion
awoke to this unwelcome sign etched into her front lawn Saturday morning
- a swastika - burned into the grass with kerosene. Two young offenders
have been charged.
See story page 2.
Vandals target the front lawn of the mayor
Mayor Hazel McCallion was able to
tip police to possible suspects after swastika was burned into her
lawn in an incident early Saturday morning.
“I slept through it,” the mayor
said Monday of the incident, where someone used kerosene to bum a 12-diameter
swastika into part of McCallion's lawn and part of her neighbor’s.
McCallion, her son and their dog
Hurricane all slept through the 3:40 a.m. fire on their lawn.
In fact it wasn't until McCallion
was pulling out of her drive the next day that she was stopped by police
and learned of the incident.
"The police are well on the way
to finding the guilty party,” the mayor said. "It was not done because
of any political statement" she added. [ 1 ]
"I was able to direct them to what
I thought might be the reason,” added the veteran politician, who lives
in the Streetsville area. “I told them about some possibilities and
there was one thing they quizzed me on. They’ve taken
lead.”
Later that same day, police arrested
two Young Offenders, aged 16 and 17 and charged the with mischief.
They made their first appearance
court yesterday.
McCallion didn’t express great concern
about the incident, suggesting it was symptomatic of a general problem.
"There’s, been a lot of vandalism
going on in Streetsville recently, especially late at night,” she said.
“The police are giving special attention to the area.”
It is expected to cost about $150
to replace the sod.
McCallion expressed regret that
the culprits had damaged her neighbor’s lawn as well as her own