BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON -- Fairway Hills, an upscale neighborhood with landscaped lawns and well-kept homes, has seen the occasional prank -- a lawn littered with toilet paper or a car covered with eggs.
Then came Tuesday.
"It's getting scary now. They're getting bolder," said Karen Weinheimer of Kensington Drive, holding a Hamilton High School flag defaced with Nazi swastikas and profanity.
She and more than a dozen other Fairway Hills residents reported vandalism incidents, mostly graffiti written in black, to police Tuesday. At least two of the crimes are labeled "ethnic intimidation" because the graffiti included racial slurs; one set of garage doors was marked "Cubans Go Home."
Thought to have occurred between midnight and 6 a.m. Tuesday, the incidents represent one of the city's largest string of vandalism in recent years, but police aren't sure what's fueling it, said Sgt. Dan Pratt, Hamilton police spokesman.
"Whoever did this must've been up all night," Mrs. Weinheimer said. "We can't believe they got this many houses and nobody saw them."
Besides the 14 officially filed complaints, a number of residents elected not to file reports, Sgt. Pratt said.
By Wednesday morning, few visible signs of the vandalism remained. Since Mrs. Weinheimer and her family moved to the neighborhood in August 1997, this is the second time vandals have struck. The first time was last Christmas, when someone tore down and crushed decorations.
"It makes you feel like why should you bother to decorate if someone's just going to tear it down?" she said.
A number of the neighbors didn't notice the damage until they returned from work Tuesday evening -- and then they began calling the police.
"All along the street, people were just standing in their driveways waiting for the police to come to them next," said Beth Gowins of Fairborn Drive.
She reported a flag with a Christian motif was ruined by the vandals. Around the corner on Kensington Drive, Sue Thruston noticed early in the morning that someone had removed the light bulbs from fixtures installed along her flower beds.
"There have been a few little things that happened, but never anything like this."
She and Mrs. Weinheimer said they were considering trying to start a neighborhood watch program.
