Wall Lake, IA - Residents want swastikas off water tower ASAP

Wall Lake, IA - Some residents are criticizing city officials why several swastikas scrawled on a Wall Lake water tower have not been removed in a month's time.

The swastikas showed up several weeks ago, and city officials are promising the swastikas will be removed next month during the tower's scheduled renovation, but enough residents are concerned about race-related incidents in Wall City that several people showed up at a meeting to "vent their frustration,'' Wall Lake City Councilman Vic Johnson said.

Wall Lake, which has less than 900 residents, is in an area of northwest Iowa where the minority and immigrant population has recently grown.

City Clerk Sharon Faber said a city employee recently tried to remove the graffiti, but only succeeded in fading it.
Wall Lake Mayor Ed Reiter said the swastikas will be removed when the water tower is repainted in September. He said even though he opposes the meaning behind the swastikas, it's important to save city time and money.
"It would take a couple of hours to paint over them," he said. The mayor said he counted three swastikas on the tower.