Gig Harbor church ‘disturbed’ after reader board letters rearranged to reference pornography, racial epithet

Vandalism to the reader board of Peninsula Lutheran Church was discovered May 23 by office administrator Lisa Marinkovich when she arrived at work that morning.

The lock to the church’s reader board had been broken and the letters inside rearranged to reference pornography and include a racial epithet.

“I was disturbed when I saw it when I came in,” Marinkovich said. “It’s sad that people have to resort to vandalism. They have too much time on their hands.”

The board, located in front of the church at 6509 38th Avenue NW, is believed to have been vandalized the night prior, May 22. A report of the incident has been filed with the Gig Harbor Police Department. As of Friday, police had not identified any suspects in the case.

Marinkovich said that the reader board had been “messed with” in the past, but the letters were never rearranged to say something this “hateful.”

The message has been removed and the board secured to prevent further vandalism.

This story was originally published May 31, 2017 at 10:06 AM with the headline "Gig Harbor church ‘disturbed’ after reader board letters rearranged to reference pornography, racial epithet."