Citizens of the city of Joseph are outraged by a recent hate crime apparently committed in an escalation of protest over a special events ordinance recently presented to city council in draft form – but since withdrawn – by Evelyn Swart of Joseph.

On the evening of June 28, Swart’s husband, Don, apparently interrupted the perpetrators as they were attempting to ignite a swastika and crosses they had created by gasoline poured onto the Swarts’ front lawn.

Swart, former editor of the Chieftain newspaper, was taking his garbage out and noticed a “couple of people” running from the area.

“When I got to the end of my driveway, I could smell gasoline,” Swart said. “But I kind of passed it off, because my pickup is out there and we’ve been using it to haul stain.”

The next day, Swart awoke to find the image of crosses in his lawn where the petroleum-based product had been poured. And a day later, a swastika also appeared in the grass.

“Next to the swastika were some matches lying on the grass, and (there was evidence that) somebody had tried to strike these matches on the curb,” Swart said.

Then, the next day, a note appeared in the Swart’s driveway. Written in what appears to be broad-tip felt marker on a paper towel, the note reads: “HOUSE NEXT.”

“That really upset me,” Swart said. “Instead of going to the fireworks at Wallowa Lake (on the Fourth of July) we decided, since there might be fireworks around our house, we’ll stay here instead.”

The Wallowa County Sheriff’s department is also outraged by the crime.

“It’s obviously a hate crime, in my opinion,” said Undersheriff Steve Rogers who is handling the case. “Citizens of Joseph are really mad – and they should be. I hate cowards more than I hate anything else on this planet – and that was a cowardly act. The sort of people who do this are chicken-shit little cowards.”

The sheriff’s department kept the crime under wraps for several days, with the Swart’s agreement, while Rogers ran an undercover investigation.

“I believe Don Swart caught the guys that made the swastika,” Rogers said. “I think they were getting ready to light the swastika when he came out with the garbage. My concern was somebody trying to burn the Swart’s house. I had the house watched for several days and I didn’t want any news in the press right away.”

A group of Joseph residents, led by Kathy Drake, wife of Joseph city councilor Mark Lacey, has begun raising money for a reward to be offered for information that leads to the arrest of the perpetrators. “As citizens, we can’t just turn the other way and hope it doesn’t happen to us,” Drake said.

Drake opened The Hate Crime Reward Fund at the Joseph Community Bank with $162 she recently earned from selling a painting at the local Indigo Gallery. Contributions to the fund are welcomed. Anyone with information concerning the crime is encouraged to call Sheriff Fred Steen.

“I may charge the offenders with a hate crime when I find them,” said Undersheriff Rogers. “It depends on the evidence. If I charged them with just the damage amount, we’re probably only talking criminal mischief 2 at the max; a class-B misdemeanor.”

Should evidence of attempted arson be found, the charges could jump up into the felony category, Rogers said.

“Arson against a home is an A felony. It ranks right up there with homicide,” Rogers said.

Furthermore, if sheriff’s deputies become convinced that an attempt of arson that threatened lives was underway, “an officer is going to do what he needs to do to protect people,” said Wallowa County District Attorney Mona Williams.

However, Rogers does not yet have sufficient evidence to make an arrest for the crimes already committed, and feels it is highly unlikely the persons who made the threats will return to the Swart’s residence.

“I have ideas (about who did this) that I’m going to keep to myself,” Rogers said.

Rogers suspects that the perpetrators have “gone to ground” and are rightly scared. “Because of the righteous indignation of this town, right now, just about anybody who saw them is going to rat them out,” he said. “Joseph residents are, and should be, righteously indignant.”

However, Rogers warns residents not to take their indignation too far.

“I’ve never believed in vigilantism and I never will,” he said.

Whatever the evidence police find on which to base their charges, the district attorney has the power to add or raise the level of charges should she feel there is sufficient evidence to press a more serious charge, Williams said.

In the meantime, the Swarts are continuing life as before. Evelyn is still working to beautify the city of Joseph with donated flower boxes and garden-work.

“Evelyn’s been calmer than me,” Don Swart said. “I want to catch the people who did this and tell the people around us ‘get a rope.’ We feel a lot of support. Evelyn was mentioned in at least two church sermons on Sunday, July 6; the people in those churches were outraged. We’re just kind of dealing with it.”

Evelyn has had time to think the whole drama through, starting with the presentation of the draft of a suggested ordinance, and she’s become philosophical about the events.

“I’m doing okay,” she said. “I’m 72 years old and I’ve been through things like this before – although not to this extent. I’ve never had something burned in my lawn. But, I’m doing okay.”

What Evelyn would like to see happen now, she said, is for something good to come out of the situation.

“I’d like to see if anything can happen toward getting some conflict resolution or mediation that would help people understand each other or talk to each other when there are differences of opinion. Somehow or other things just got blown completely out of proportion and people swallowed a bill of goods about the so-called events ordinance. They didn’t understand what was going on and they didn’t want to hear more than one side.

“I think the people who were initially involved in stirring things up probably wouldn’t be interested in conflict resolution. But there are some people who would.”

Undersheriff Rogers agrees with Swart about the cause of the whole outrage.

“It’s because people won’t sit down and talk to one another,” he said. “The only thing Evelyn brought forward was a suggestion. It’s insane.”