An embarrassment turned positive

Several swastikas appeared on a Palatine bike path over the New Year’s weekend, certainly a disgraceful hate symbol, made the more appalling by the current Israeli-Hamas conflict. To minimize copycat behavior, Palatine Park District staff promptly painted over them the first workday in January.

What inspired hope, however, was not so much the park staff’s quick response after I alerted them, but the fact that several other community members also made the district aware of the detestable graffiti.

An embarrassment for our village quickly transformed itself into a positive.

Ralph Banasiak

Palatine