During each Christmas season, our desks are loaded with stories on Christmas vandalism. This year was no different. Here is a list of incidents that came to our attention:
• Vandals burned the City of Birmingham’s Christmas tree in Alabama.
• The police chief in Middleboro, Massachusetts said he received more reports of theft and vandalism to Christmas decorations than ever before.
• In Chicago, a driver plowed through a Christmas display running over the Baby Jesus and decapitating angels from the nativity scene.
• A 19-year-old man was arrested in connection with vandalizing homes and Christmas decorations in Hastings, Minnesota. The man covered the displays with swastikas, pentagrams and satanic messages.
• The stable used to house a live nativity for a Baptist church was torn down by vandals in Grenada County, Mississippi.
• Vandals caused over $500 worth of damage to the nativity scene of a Baptist church in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.
• Two fraternity brothers from the University of Missouri stole Christmas decorations from homes near campus in Columbia, Missouri. Among the decorations were figures of the Baby Jesus and other nativity scene statuary.
• The van used by Kidz Korna—a charity that gives away thousands of presents to needy children at Christmas—was torched by vandals in Chicago.
• Figures of the Baby Jesus were stolen from homes, businesses or churches in the following locations: Redford Township, Michigan; Riverton, Utah; Red Lion, Pennsylvania; Elon, North Carolina; Atlantic Beach, Florida; Lynchburg, Virginia; Dublin, New Hampshire; Kirksville, Missouri; Fort Collins, Colorado; Middletown, Pennsylvania; Downers Grove, Illinois; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Waterloo, Missouri; Cookeville, Tennessee; Arkansas City, Arkansas; La Marque, Texas; and Easthampton, Massachusetts.
