TWF 284: A Call For Help w/a Bias Crime in Freeport!

Greetings, Freeporters,

I hope you had a refreshing holiday, but unfortunately I have to tell a terrible tale, today. Just before Labor Day Weekend, a very good family was the victim of a subtle vandalism that verges, in my humble opinion, into the "Bias" or “Hate Crime” territory – and it happened right here, in Freeport. The silver lining to this situation is that you – yes, you! - may be able to help fix the problem.

Celia and Patricia (last names redacted) who live on Miller Avenue (not too far from my old home, actually!), are fond of flying their rainbow flag next to their American one. For those who don't know, the rainbow flag is a symbol of the LGBTQ+ rights movement – shorthand for Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, and others. On August 29^th, early in the morning, a strange man who none of them knew walked up onto their porch and snatched their rainbow flag down and tossed it into the bushes.  The below still image was taken from a video re-posted at the bottom of this article:

Take a moment to think that even in 2018 there is clear and deliberate discrimination taking place in our own community. Freeport Police have already been contacted by the family as well as their neighbors, but if you're wondering what we can do to help, here it is – we can signal-boost the story and, hopefully, one of you dear readers will know who is responsible. For, you see, Celia shared a picture – and even some video- of the deed being done with me (and the rest of Facebook). I asked her if it would be alright for me to write an article to draw attention to the incident using her pictures, and she agreed.

The good news here, besides the fact that this family isn't backing down, is that if you can recognize who did it, it would be greatly appreciated for you to call the Freeport Police and inform them of your tip. The WORST case scenario, if you recognize the person, is that you mis-identify them; there would be no harm done in the long run, because they would be cleared. Afterwards, you can reach out and we can all meet up and talk about it, but the key thing is to help detectives at FPD make progress.

(Editorial Note:  I will include video once we can ensure the source file's security is appropriate for the victims)