Vandals hit SUVs at dealership: Ecoterrorists suspected in 22-vehicle strike
I can understand those who militantly oppose SUVs. I don't agree with them, but I can understand their point of view. That being said, militant anti-SUV groups DO NOT have the right to resort to violence. Does anyone really think that people will come to support their cause after this sort of malicious vandalism?
An attack that damaged 22 automobiles, including 20 sport utility vehicles, at a Humble car dealership early Tuesday may have been the work of ecoterrorists, the dealership's managers said.
While acknowledging that it is a possibility, police cautioned it would be premature to blame militant environmentalists, who have been linked to attacks on other dealerships and private owners of the popular vehicles elsewhere in the country.
In Tuesday's vandalism, a BB pistol was used to shoot out the rear and side windows of some vehicles, tires were punctured with a knife, and paint was scratched sometime overnight, said officials at All American Pontiac Buick GMC at 18225 Eastex Freeway.
"The strange thing is, they took nothing out of the vehicles," said Don. L. Wolfe, dealership president. "And some of the vehicles have CD (players), radios, DVD players and videocassette players. All they wanted to do was damage."
The total damage was estimated at $60,000 on the new 2003 and 2004 GMC Yukons, Yukon XLs and a Denali, as well as a new Buick LeSabre and a used 2002 GMC 4x4 truck.
Although Houston police were investigating the incident as a case of criminal mischief, a department spokesman acknowledged that nothing can be ruled out until investigators find the people who caused the damage.
Officials at All American said the attack was similar to those on SUVs and trucks at California dealerships in recent months, incidents linked to so-called ecoterrorists.
Dozens of SUVs, most of them Hummers, were torched and painted with slogans such as "polluter" and "fat, lazy Americans" at four Southern California car dealerships during a vandalism spree in late August. Newspapers reported that militant environmentalists with ties to the Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attacks.
There is a time, a place, and a manner in which protests are appropriate. Malicious vandalism of private property is none of these. Actually, there is a word to describe someone who would create this sort of damage in order to make a statement: felon. When you damage private property, you have left the realm of political protest and entered that of criminal behavior. Should they be caught, the person or persons responsible for this crime deserve some hard time as someone's girlfriend. Such is the price to be paid in our society for holding yourself or your political views to be above the law.
