Ault – Most folks in this small farming town say you have to search pretty hard along the tree-lined streets to find anyone with a mean streak.
Acceptance of one another is just a way of life, they say.
And that’s why many residents are unnerved by recent acts of vandalism, including the turning over of several headstones in the town’s cemetery – among them, the grave marker of a local Latino war hero. About the same time, the Catholic church, where many area Latinos attend, was defaced with a Nazi symbol.
While many residents say the incidents are probably the work of bored or misguided kids, they worry the acts may disrupt the peaceful unity whites and Latinos have long enjoyed here.
“I don’t believe (the trouble makers) understand the emotional distress they cause by doing things like this,” Police Chief Tracey McCoy said.
Others wonder if something a little more sinister is percolating in the town of 1,500, about 19 miles east of Fort Collins. After all, the vandals hit just when the illegal immigration issue was kindling racial tension in Colorado.
“I think it’s more than a prank; I think it’s more of a hate crime,” said Eveline Seay, pastoral associate at the 150-member St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church. “Somebody doesn’t like Catholics, or they don’t like Hispanics.”
The town is offering a reward of up to $500 for the apprehension and conviction of the vandals, who first hit the cemetery where many Latinos are buried last month.
On April 28, town maintenance workers found that someone had tipped over the 1-ton gravestone overlooking the grave of Pvt. Joe Martinez, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery in repelling a Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands on May 26, 1943.
Martinez killed 30 enemy soldiers while leading American troops up a hill when he was gunned down by enemy fire. He was one of the first Latinos to receive the Medal of Honor.
The next day, all the U.S. flags in the cemetery were picked up and stacked on top of each other, McCoy said.
Then, two weeks later, nine gravestones were tipped over. Six marked the graves of Latinos; three were from the graves of non-Latinos, McCoy said, adding that he doesn’t believe the Latino gravestones were singled out.
“I don’t believe at all it was a racial act,” the chief said. “I think it was totally random.”
That same night, however, rocks were thrown through the windows of St. Mary’s. Vandals also have smashed the church’s outside lights and shut off its electricity.
On April 9, Palm Sunday, a Nazi swastika and German phrases were scrawled on the church’s outer walls, Seay said.
The church attracts worshipers from other small towns who are American citizens, Seay said.
“They’ve been here for a long time; why would people want to bother them?” she said.
The Martinez tombstone has been put back into place with the help of a Greeley monument company and the maintenance crew.
It’s that kind of willingness to help one another that Ault should be known for, said Mike Martinez, a distant cousin of Joe Martinez. The Martinez family moved to Ault from New Mexico to work in nearby onion fields. Mike Martinez said he never felt targeted because of his heritage.
“There are no prejudiced people in Ault,” he said. “They are all good people.”
While thousands protested immigration policies in Denver this month, four Ault high school students held signs outside the school during their lunch break asking for unity among all people, McCoy said.
“It was very respectful,” he said. “There were more police and school administrators there than demonstrators.”
But there are always a few people on both sides of the issue who try to spark tension, said 47-year resident Priscilla Prazma. She just hopes it doesn’t get too heated in an otherwise friendly town.
“That just makes it bad for everybody,” she said.
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
