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“That’s been the really positive side for us,” Judy L. Coons said Friday
Early Monday morning, vandals painted “Mormans Die you will PAY,” and other threats on Judy and Steven Coons’ house. Since then, people throughout Placedo –and from around the state –have offered the couple support and help cleaning up.
A man came to the house with graffiti wipes, which erased the spray paint from the walls, Coons said. Another couple walking through the neighborhood stopped to clean and paint the wooden doors, Coons said.
Many people who are angry about the vandalism have questions about what Mormons believe.
“There was one parent who said she was going to send her daughter over here because she was asking about what Mormons are,”Coons said.
Glen Schrade, a retired firefighter from Victoria, said he doesn’t know much about Mormonism, but reading about the graffiti made him mad. Schrade plans to contact the family to see if there’s any way he can help them.
“I’m tired of seeing people get hurt,” Schrade said. “My understanding is Mormons don’t believe in Jesus Christ. But they’re just people. Everybody’s got their own religion.”
In fact, Mormons, as Christians, believe Jesus is their savior, Bishop John Bastian said. Bastian leads the second ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Victoria.
People often confuse that church with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but they’re not the same, Bastian said.
The fundamentalist group has been in the news after a recent raid of its Eldorado compound by law enforcement. There, members were accused of polygamy and forcing teenage girls into marriage. Neither are supported by the Mormon Church, Bastian said.
“I’m just really glad people are learning the difference between the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints Church and us,” Coons said.
The Victoria County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the graffiti, Sheriff T. Michael O’Connor said. No arrests have been made
Leslie Wilber is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6521 or lwilber@vicad.com.