Vandal struck at Cottage Gardens, a Church Street, Damariscotta business, wrote ethnic slurs and broke electronic equipment and display cases during the night of Dec. 10-11.
Russell Barden, the owner of Cottage Gardens, discovered the scene upon arriving at the store Dec. 11. Barden believes the perpetrators gained entrance through a rear door.
The vandals cut computer wires, phone lines, a microwave cord and emptied three or four bottles of liquid fertilizer around the shop. “They broke things of value. They did not take anything of value,” Olivia Atherton, a Cottage Gardens employee, said.
The vandals also wrote ethnic slurs and other obscenities on a door, a counter and display cases for flowers and candy.
“I don’t think this is racially motivated,” Detective Richard Alexander of the Damariscotta Police Department said. “I just think a couple of teenagers came in here and did as much damage as they possibly could.”
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Damariscotta Police Department at the scene, using a canine team to search the surrounding area.
A Damariscotta Police Department patrol and another witness observed “some people in the area last night,” Alexander said. The department will follow up, Alexander said, but no description of the individuals was available.
According to Atherton, one phone line is intact and the business hopes to “try to get a computer up and running by Monday” to handle online orders.
Anyone with information about the vandalism is encouraged to contact the Damariscotta Police Department at 563-1909.
