by Mike Schnitzel
State Assemblyman Thomas Alfano (R-North Valley Stream) announced on Monday that Governor George Pataki had signed into law a bill making it a Class E felony to commit a hate crime. ³I¹m proud that this bipartisan effort made this bill law,² said Alfano. ³Hate crime has no place in our communities.²
The bill, which was co-sponsored by Brooklyn Democratic Assemblyman William Colton, makes it a hate crime to paint a swastika or burn a cross on public property or a private building in public view without the owner¹s permission. The maximum penalty for such crimes would be one to three years in prison or five years¹ probation.
Prior to the bill¹s passage, such a crime would have been classified as intentional damage of property, a Class A misdemeanor carrying a maximum penalty of a $250 fine, said Scott Cushing, Alfano¹s chief of staff.
Alfano helped introduce the legislation in the state Assembly after an incident in which a North Valley Stream family had swastikas and other racially offensive graffiti spray-painted on the garage door of their Frances Drive home before they moved in. ³I definitely support this move,² said Lee Burke, the home¹s owner, in an interview with the Herald when the bill was proposed. ³I think it deserves more than the old penalty because [such racial discrimination] upsets the apple cart of society.²
Burke¹s home was vandalized on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. According to police, the graffiti was sprayed on the garage door sometime between 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Burke said that personnel from Nassau County Building Maintenance arrived at her house the next day and removed the graffiti. The Burke family has since moved into the home.
Carlton Thomas had a similar experience on Frances Drive two and a half years ago. A native of Jamaica, Thomas had just moved to North Valley Stream from Rosedale with his wife and two young children. When a contractor who had come to do minor work on his house arrived there on Nov. 18, 2003, he saw swastikas and other racially charged graffiti spray-painted on the garage door.
