In a sick and unbelievably pathetic incident, two men and two girls have been charged with the vandalism of a Catholic church in Anthon.
The culprits are Michael Euchner and Dirk Dothage of Ida Grove and two teenage girls. It seems the four set off fire extinguishers and caused other damage to St. Joseph Catholic Church in Anthon.
Authorities charged Euchner with criminal trespass and unlawful possession of prescription drugs while Dothage faces charges of criminal mischief and criminal trespass. Unfortunately, the girls were not named since they were underage and were charged in juvenile court.
Our society protects minorities, the handicapped and gays and lesbians through hate crime laws. If you commit a crime against a person and it can be considered as a hate crime then charges are enhanced.
The same should go for desecration of a holy place. People who would even think of vandalizing a place where people go to witness baptisms, weddings and funerals and to open their hearts to God are sick and they should be incarcerated for an extended period of time. Damaging a holy sanctuary is beyond mere vandalism - it is a blow at the spiritual essence of every parishioner and visitor who enters that church.
Hopefully, our legislators will at some point take the severity of such crimes into consideration before they continue. It was not that long ago that a log church in eastern Iowa was all but destroyed by vandals, and an enormous heritage was lost.
Such thoughtless and wanton destruction must stop and it must stop now. If we are to continue as a civilized society, vandals must pay heavily.
And those who vandalize churches should feel the penalty to the very depths of their soul.