After coming home Friday to graffiti spray painted on their South Side home, Aldo and Debbie Rowe awoke Saturday to a barrage of phone calls from well-wishers offering to help clean up the mess.
"I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't expect that many," Aldo Rowe said. "It was awesome, I was very pleasantly surprised. The community here is awesome."
The graffiti - two swastikas in brown spray paint and the words "f-- you" in gold - were painted on the Jackson Street home sometime Friday afternoon. Debbie Rowe said Friday there were no indications the family was targeted for racial or other graffiti. Aldo is a tall, dark-skinned man who was raised in Panama. Debbie is of Native American descent. They have two sons.
Billings Police Sgt. J.R. Chapman said Saturday there were no suspects in the incident. Because no witnesses have come forward and the Rowes don't know of anyone who would vandalize their home, a culprit may be difficult to find. Chapman said crime analysts will examine the graffiti to see whether they can match it with similar incidents.
The Rowes estimated that they received more than 60 calls Saturday from friends and strangers - not one of them negative. Someone even left a bouquet of flowers at the house, Debbie said.
"We went out for just an hour and a half and when we came back, we had 33 messages. ... I couldn't keep up with all the phone calls and call everyone back," she said.
About 15 to 20 people helped with the cleanup, and the Rowes said they had to turn dozens more away.
"I pretty much kept it limited because I knew so many people wanted to help, and it was just a small amount of cleanup," Aldo said.
He also did not want to blow the incident out of proportion, he said.
"It isn't as bad as other people have had. I don't really want to explode it into something big. I wasn't hurt. My kids are OK. The house is fine," he said.
The Rowes say they aren't angry that the incident occurred, but they want the culprits to be apprehended and learn from their actions.
"They need to be educated. If you're going to make a statement, at least can you do it right?" Debbie said, referring to the fact that the swastikas were drawn backward.
"I would've been more distracted, more angered, more violated if it was
an actual episode of somebody of a hate crime. ... I feel that the kids who were
vandalizing were trying to be graffiti artists aren't very smart and they need
to be aware that others are watching you, too," Aldo said.