A week after U. S. Rep. Mike Rogers Lansing District office was vandalized, at least one newspaper finally got around to publishing the photo from the security camera of the alleged vandal.
You may recall, the vandalism on March 18-19 saw the door locks glued shut, the building was spray-painted, a "Support Our Troops" sign attached to the front of the building was splattered with blood-red paint and a hand-painted sign was also plastered to an entryway window that said “Rogers There is Blood on Your Hands.” The news was quickly picked up by just about every newspaper in the state, on TV news and even in some national publications.
It didn’t take long for the Rogers people to make political hay with it to condemn the alleged “violent peace protestors,” and Rogers’ family even received extra protection by the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department. The photo was released four days ago. But to date - at least that I am aware of – only the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus published a photo of the suspect. It seems inconceivable to me with all the attention and heat from this incident that there is now very little publicity generated to actually catch the vandal. The Lansing Police Department believes at least two people are involved.
Sylvia Warner, a spokeswoman for the Republican lawmaker's office, said the vandalism appeared to be related to the Iraq war, and is the "worst" the office has experienced.
Rogers' Lansing office has been the target of vandals a number of times, Warner said.
Really? How many times? Warner is a former journalist, and most journalists will at least estimate the number of times to give readers an idea of the amount of activity, using terms like “more than two,” “less than 1,” or “at least twice,” etc.
The aggressive destruction of federal property and vandalism was a callous attempt to intimidate Congressman Rogers and his staff," Rogers' chief of staff, Andy Keiser, said at the time.
Rogers said the aggressiveness of the attack was most disturbing, and that similar attacks are popping up across the country.
Rogers also feared for his family's safety, especially that of his children.
"I really want them to worry about their math homework, not some war protester doing harm to them or their property," he said.
That is perhaps the most absurd statement from the Rogers camp among many about this regrettable incident. There seems to be a lot of indigent outrage and exaggeration from the Rogers camp, but there doesn’t seem to be much effort to catch this person.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call Investigator James Thornburg at (517) 483-4611.
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