From the Fargo Forum - By Wendy Reuer
HANKINSON, N.D. – St. John’s Lutheran Church of Belford Township parishioners were preparing to host sunrise Easter service. But instead of enjoying breakfast at the church, they were speedily cleaning up broken glass and debris in the chapel, basement and storage room.
Vandals are suspected of using a bat to break six windows in the church overnight Saturday.
The incident was reported to the Richland County Sheriff’s Office at 5:47 a.m. Sunday. The more than 100-year-old church is located about four miles north of Hankinson.
The Rev. Adam Moline said the bottoms of four large stained-glass windows in the chapel were destroyed, as well as a basement window and sacristy window. A sacristy is a room for keeping church vestments and furnishings.
The stained glass was not ruined, but due to the age of the church and window size, the bottom windows must be custom-ordered, Moline said. The windows were updated in 2006.
Sheriff Larry Leshovsky estimated the damages to be about $12,000.
Despite finding the damage just before Easter services, worship continued for the congregation of about 60.
“Easter, for us, is our most important holiday. It’s our victory over sin, death and the grave, and a little bit of broken glass wasn’t going to stop us,” Moline said.
In a news release, Leshovsky said it appears vandals used a bat. The sheriff’s office also received several complaints of mailbox vandalism in the same area.
Moline said there is no history of vandalism at the church.
“We don’t know who would do this. We’ve had no threats. We haven’t had anybody we know of that is mad at us for anything,” he said.
Anyone with information about any of the incidents is asked to call the Richland County Sheriff’s Office at (701) 642-7711.
This article can be found at: http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/317372/
Also see the News Reports below (not the one that appeared on TV, but still helpful.)
