Dog walkers stumbled on a swastika that was painted onto a path at Sunshine Acres Park off of Town Line Road in Commack on Saturday morning.

 

Karen Hieronymus told LongIsland.com that she was out walking her dog as she usually does when she came across the hateful symbol. She said it looked like someone had burned the symbol into the asphalt. 

 

Hieronymus loves the park and it’s her go-to place to walk her dogs. She was disheartened to see it defaced in this way, calling it “horrifying.”

 

“It’s been so long since the Holocaust that most of the survivors are now deceased, so there are fewer people who can share what happened,” she said. “More and more people don’t even believe the Holocaust happened, or they think it was greatly exaggerated.”

 

Huntington Town Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci denounced the anti-Semitic graffiti in a statement released on Tuesday. He urged residents to report suspicious activity and instances of hate to the town.

 

“The swastika is a symbol meant to threaten and intimidate and this demonstration of hate will not be tolerated in the Town of Huntington,” said Supervisor Lupinacci, who visited the park on Monday.

 

Lupinacci was briefed by Director of General Services, Andre Sorrentino, whose staff temporarily painted over the graffiti with green paint over the Labor Day holiday weekend until they could permanently sealcoat the area.

 

They were joined by Public Safety security guard Dan Froehlich, who was patrolling the trail in the park. Froehlich said he had personally broken up groups of young people loitering in there.

 

“Our Department of Public Safety is ramping up foot patrols at the park and I urge our residents to stay vigilant and report suspicious activity in our parks to the Department of Public Safety and suspected instances of hate to the Town’s Anti-Bias Task Force,” added Lupinacci.

It wasn’t the first time that same park had been vandalized by swastika graffiti.

 

“I heard that a few months ago, in May, the park bench that sits right next to where the swastika was - was defaced with small swastikas,” Hieronymus said.

 

Hieronymus returned to the park to find that the swastika had been painted over by the Town of Huntington but vandals struck again using the yellow caution tape around the painted roadway to form another swastika.

 

 

“Those same people (probably) took that yellow caution tape and fashioned into another swastika - that’s just awful,” she said. “It is like they are mocking us.”

 

She said the people who did it might not even realize the extent of the hatefulness of their actions or the history behind the swastika.

 

“I think some teenage boys probably burned that swastika into the ground, not even knowing what it really symbolizes,” she said. “I just wish people realized that this isn’t a joke, it isn’t funny. I don’t know what the answer is. I guess people just need to be better educated.”

 

The Department of Public Safety reported the hate crime to the Suffolk County Police Department over the weekend, as is standard protocol. Suspicious or illegal activity in Town parks can be reported to the Department of Public Safety to investigate by clicking here or their 24-hour emergency hotline, (631) 351-3234.

 

Residents can report instances of hate or bias to the Town’s Anti-Bias Task Force through their Town Department of Human Services liaison, Department Director Carmen Kasper at humanservices@huntingtonny.gov or at (631) 351-3304.