Vandals paint on racial slurs

Lombard police are investigating a report of vandalism after a family found racial slurs spray painted on the side of their rented home in the Pinebrook Meadows subdivision.

Members of the Cousins family, who are black and have lived in the house for about five months, said a neighbor woke them Monday morning to alert them to the graffiti.

Flora Cousins, who lives in the house with her daughter Kyna, said she's in disbelief.

"You see this kind of stuff on TV and you never think it would happen to you," Cousins said. "I can't believe at this time and date people are still doing this crazy stuff."

Lombard police said this is the first time the Cousins have filed a complaint about harassment.

"This type of crime is highly unusual for the area, for Lombard, to begin with," Deputy Chief Dane Cuny said. "We take these types of incidents seriously and we are conducting a thorough investigation to find out how the writing appeared on the house."

Kyna Cousins said the family has experienced other harassment since they began renting their home, such as finding an anonymous letter on their door complaining about the upkeep of their lawn.

Police said the family didn't file reports about those incidents.

Their property manager, Paul Barclay, said he wished the Cousins had contacted police sooner to document other events that he says discriminate against "excellent tenants."

"People were constantly calling me and asking about how many people live in the house and who (the) cars belong to," said Barclay. "But you try to logically work things out with people and work on things amicably."

Barclay said the previous two families who lived in the home the Cousins are renting also were black, but they never reported any discrimination or harassment to him.

Village President William Mueller said racial harassment in Lombard is surprising and unusual.

"Our police department and detective division are working very hard on this," Mueller said. "And we will certainly be offering the residents all the protection we can afford."

Both Kyna and Flora Cousins say they plan to stay in their Lombard home.

"Nobody will put me out of this house," Kyna Cousins said.