I Have an Alibi

Church Angered Over Altered Sign

from The Intelligencer

Members of a church congregation in Warwick are voicing outrage over what they say is a "disturbing" phrase that appeared on a roadside message board outside the church on Route 263 Thursday.

The message - "God hates you" - was the work of vandals who found a way either to break or to pick locks on the sign before manipulating the letters of a phrase posted by church staff.

"It's very disturbing to us," Steve Spoerle, president of the Redeemer Lutheran Church council, said Thursday. "People are upset. We've received numerous calls of concern."

Church officials heard from several callers, some of whom questioned whether it was the work of someone from the church.

The church sign wasn't the only one vandalized in Warwick this week. Police Chief Joseph Costello said a township message board at Route 263 and Meyer way was changed Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

The original sign, which was advertising Warwick Day as "Good, old-fashioned fun," was changed to read "Good, old gay fun."