This article has been updated to include comment from Faye Wilson, coordinator for the Athens County Republican Party headquarters.
When volunteers arrived Tuesday morning at the Athens County Republican Party headquarters on West Union Street, they were greeted by a message.
On one side of the building, "Racism Lives Here" was spray painted in capitalized, underlined black letters. As volunteers walked around the building, they found another message facing an adjacent apartment complex: "Fascism Lives Here," also written in black spray paint.
Faye Wilson is the coordinator for the headquarters and was the one who discovered the graffiti when she opened the building at 9 a.m.
"She took a picture and sent it to me," Athens County Republican Party Chair Pete Couladis said. "So I came down and saw the graffiti, and then called the police."
The vandalism occurred sometime between the office's closing on Monday evening and this morning, Couladis said.
"Why deface property in such a juvenile way?" Wilson said later. "We all have the right to ... have differing opinions."
The Athens Police Department officer who responded to the call was unavailable for comment.
Couladis said he might leave the graffiti uncovered for a few days.
"We're going to leave it so people can look at it and see what this community has become," Couladis said. "Eventually we'll do something about it."
