PORT ANGELES — Crews must replace a 82-foot section of sidewalk this week after obscenities, names, initials, pentagrams and the words “Kill Jesus” were carved into freshly-poured cement last week.
The replacement of the sidewalk in the 1500 block of South E Street will cost $6,000, said George Peabody Jr., foreman at Lakeside Industries of Port Angeles.
The sidewalk must be torn out and repoured, he said.
The marks are too deep and the concrete was too well-set when they were discovered to allow crews to smooth over the cement or buff out the carvings, Peabody said.
“We poured it early in midafternoon,” he said. “They came in late at night. . . . They used a nail and got it about an inch deep.”
Crews will re-pour the sidewalk mid-eek, Peabody said.
The vandalism is being investigated as malicious mischief, said Officer Erik Smith of the Port Angeles Police Department.
“We have to make contact with a person we suspect,” he said Friday.
“One of the names scratched is a moniker that the person has used in the past.
“We don’t have any specific suspects, but the name corresponds and we will check it out.”
No one had been taken into custody as of Saturday, Smith said.
Smith said the vandalism could have occurred any time between 6 p.m. Thursday night and 6 a.m. Friday morning.
Names and initials carved into the sidewalk included “G POSS,” “P.S.M.,” “Hannah,” “Craig + Patty,” “Burn in Hell,” “Kill Jesus,” and “Heavy Head.”
Several footprints were found in the cement, but they were of no use in the investigation, Smith said.
“They were scuffed, as if somebody was dragging their feet, so there are no actual shoe prints,” he said.
He also said that the concrete was set more firmly in the area of the footprints than in the other portion, and that crews were able to smooth the concrete and salvage that part of the sidewalk.
Peabody said that the carvings are the first vandalism encountered on the project which began June 21.
Anyone with information about the vandalism is urged to contact Crimestoppers at 800-222-8477 or Port Angeles Police dispatchers at 360-452-4545.
Photos are available online at www.cityofpa.us/policePressReleases.htm.