ROTTERDAM — Police are investigating how a flag pole bearing an LGBTQ Pride flag came to be bent over and knocked to the ground Thursday night outside the Rotterdam Community Center.
In a news release, the Rev. Dustin Longmire, the pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church, described the damage as a “likely incident of hatred in our local community.”
Longmire said a staffer arrived at the center on Curry Road Friday morning to prepare for a children’s balance bike event and the distribution of fresh produce for 130 people when they noticed the “intentional act of vandalism.” The center’s Pride flag pole had been bent to the ground and broken with the Pride flag laying nearby, Longmire said…