“An outbreak of racist graffiti at Bainbridge High School – including Nazi iconography and anti-minority slogans – has drawn the attention of police.We’ve had numbers of swastikas show up, said Bainbridge Police Chief Bill Cooper, who sought this week to enlist the help of the public.Three incidents were reported at the school in March and another three last month, although none have been reported for at least three weeks.The graffiti – in pencil or felt marker – generally has turned up on restroom stalls and sometimes on hallway walls.Graffiti phrases documented by police include white power, heil Hitler, anarchist and violent statements against blacks.We must secure the existence of our people and the future of white children, read one inscription.Bainbridge Police Detective Steve Cain said authorities are taking the incidents seriously, although they could be hard to prosecute as hate crimes unless words target a specific individual.I believe this is more the work of a misguided youth who’s out to alarm, Cain said, rather than having a motive of harming people.In April, a 16-year-old student was arrested in connection with one of the swastika incidents, after a report by another student. The case was referred to the juvenile prosecutor’s office for review.But school officials could not prove the boy was responsible for the vandalism, and he was not disciplined; the prosecutor also declined to bring criminal charges for want of evidence. Police do not know if the school outbreak is tied to an April incident of vandalism at Seabold Church, where several windows were broken and the phrases Satan lives and stay true to your pagan roots was found inscribed on a wall. That report was included among those Cooper discussed with the Review this week.More diligencePolice said school officials have been more diligent about reporting graffiti incidents, after a lesser outbreak a year ago – which included a swastika found scrawled in a Commodore building stairwell – went unreported for a month. That apparent oversight drew complaints from several parents, who said the incidents were being downplayed or concealed.Bainbridge High School Principal Dave Ellick said his office is more attuned to the issue after last year’s criticism, to the point that we turn in things (to police) that most schools don’t.Such vandalism is documented and photographed, and police notified before it is removed.Ellick said the school has maintained an affirmative climate for students through diversity workshops, and has responded to the graffiti with classroom discussions and schoolwide announcements. Also, a representative of the Anti-Defamation League was brought in last week to meet with school staff members.There’s nobody here who thinks it’s cool – whoever’s doing it is doing it in secret, Ellick said. One-hundred percent of our staff and 99 percent of our students think this is stupid, sick behavior.Karen Ahern, head of the Bainbridge Unity Coalition, said school officials should take the incidents seriously and offer a formal response.I think we have one sick person out there who’s acting out – maybe more, Ahern said. She described that graffiti as right out of Aryan and white supremacist literature.It’s ‘killer’ language. It’s the kind of person who could target people for violence at the school. It’s time to get more serious.Ahern said she was told by a regional human rights group that the phrase we must secure the existence of our people and the future of white children has particular significance in gang circles, but that could not be confirmed this week.The Bainbridge coalition is already planning to bring a speaker to campus next fall – a reformed Aryan Nations member who now campaigns against racism. But Ahern suggested that a more immediate response might be necessary, in view of the recent incidents. Anyone with information on the graffiti is asked to call Bainbridge Police at 842-5211. “