Anti-McCain graffiti sprayed at Virginia Oaks

Vandals hit the Virginia Oaks neighborhood in Gainesville early Saturday, spray-painting anti-McCain profanity on several homes, a church and five businesses in a nearby shopping center.

Prince William County police got the first call at 3:56 a.m. and several more throughout the morning hours until 12:58 p.m. as residents and businesses discovered the graffiti, said Officer Erika Hernandez, Prince William police spokeswoman.

Many of the homes vandalized in the golf community at Lake Manassas had McCain-Palin signs in the front yard, residents said.

While police are estimating the number of homes hit at about 14, detectives and officers were still out canvassing the area Saturday afternoon and that number could go higher,

Hernandez said. Virginia Oaks residents say up to 25 homes were

vandalized.

"These cowards did this while everyone was sleeping," said Conrad Holtslag, a John McCain sup-porter who lives in Virginia Oaks.

"It is Third World activity, so to speak, to go onto private property and try to intimidate people to change their political persuasion," he said. "One woman told me that she is going to take her McCain sign out of her yard because of this. It's crazy."

Most of the homes, garages and utility boxes were scrawled in red and black with "F--k McCain," but there were also several homes hit with "666," "Hail Satan" followed by "See What Happens."

Virginia Oaks Association President Andy Britton said he learned about the vandalism at about 10 a.m. He and other association members quickly began cleaning away the graffiti.

"It takes a bit of elbow grease but it comes off," Britton said. "My thought was that you clean it up as quickly as possible to remove the incentive."

The spray-painted profanity has been erased from the sign at the front entrance to the community off U.S. 29 and from many of the houses until the rain hampered some residents' efforts. "It seems to have been one of those senseless Friday night pranks," Britton said.

Britton said there was no pattern that he could see to why some houses were hit and some were not. While there are McCain-Palin signs in some residents' yards, those houses were not always the ones chosen.

"It seemed very random," Britton said. "We couldn't tell what got hit for what rea-son." However, he said he noticed damage was only done to houses on streets with easy access in and out of the neighborhood.

Streets in the neighborhood where the vandalism occurred were Glenkirk Road, Clubhouse Road, Sterling Pointe Road, Narrow Branch Court, Tenbrook Drive and Royal Sidney Drive. Additionally, the United Pentecostal Church on Glenkirk Road was also hit, Hernandez said.

Holtzlag said that McCain signs have been repeatedly stolen from yards in Virginia Oaks in recent weeks but noth-ing was done about it except to replace the signs. He sees the spray painting as an escalation of the attempts to in-timidate residents.

Holtzlag also said that with Halloween and the usual pranks associated with it coming on the heels of the vandalism, his community will be on alert for trouble. "We'll be ready this time," he said.

Vandals also struck the nearby Virginia Gateway shopping center off U.S. 29, spray-painting outside Giant, Target, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Burger King and Best Buy with similar sentiments, Hernandez said.

The vandalism comes a little more than a week before the Nov. 4 presidential election pitting Democrat Barack Obama against Republican McCain. Traditionally Republican-leaning Virginia is considered a battleground state this year.

Last weekend, McCain rallied in Prince William County.

Police encourage anyone with information about the vandalism to call their anonymous tip line: 1-866-411-TIPS. Anyone providing information that leads to an arrest can earn up to $1,000.

Staff writer Aileen Streng can be reached at 703-878-8010. Communities editor Kari Pugh contributed to this story.