VOTERS WANT SAVAGE POLL PUTS EX-MP AHEAD OF KELLY {page 3}
INSPIRATION FOR TASTY LUNCH BAGS TRY HAM, CHEESE CASSEROLE {page 16}
HALIFAX
SAND JAM CHEER ON VOLLEYBALL TOURNEY AT BEACH
{page 5}
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
Vandals swipe church sign It will cost about $500 to replace the sign There are fewer than 20 people in the church’s congregation The abandoned Anglican church on Hammonds Plains Road was donated to an Ethiopian group RYAN TAPLIN/METRO
JENNIFER TAPLIN
@METRONEWS.CA
A tiny church for Ethiopian immigrants in Hammonds Plains has been hit again by vandals, the latest incident involving their sign being cut down with a chainsaw. There have been two or three minor occurrences of vandalism since St. Gebriel Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church opened more than a year ago, but the latest one has gone too far, said Deacon Les Zewdie. At around 10:30 p.m. Monday night, police say several people got out of a van and revved up a chainsaw. They cut down the church’s sign, threw it in the back of the van and took off. “This is the limit and there is a red line … We’ve been very patient for these things for a long period of time, but at this time we are not hesitating to make sure legal actions are taking place,” Zewdie said yesterday. He said he has his suspicions of who did it, but wouldn’t say because an investigation is underway.
“Whoever did it, I want to make sure they understand it was a criminal act under Canadian law. Don’t do it again, and also (I want) whoever did it to come forward to us and tell us why.” DEACON LES ZEWDIE
Father Hailemariam Gebresilasse, head of the church, said through a translator he was very unhappy. “If any person who knows our church did it, that will make me more sad, but I don’t think it is,” he said. Halifax RCMP spokesman Cpl. Scott MacRae said it appears planning was involved. “There have been minor complaints of vandalism in the past … but definitely this is a unique occurrence where people are jumping out of a van with a chainsaw to chop down a church sign,” he said. “There’s obviously more to the story.”
Father Hailemariam Gebresilasse poses for a photo outside the St. Gebriel Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Hammonds Plains yesterday. Vandals used a chainsaw to cut down the church’s sign late Monday night.