Swastikas found on signs in Mt. Pleasant borough, surrounding communities

Mt. Pleasant borough police are investigating numerous swastika symbols spray painted on signs around town over the last few days, said Mayor Diane Bailey.

Authorities are asking that residents and business owners leave the symbols associated with antisemitism or of Nazism alone while they try to figure out who is behind them.

“That symbol reflects hate, to me,” Bailey said. “People are … so upset about it because of the temperature in this country, in this world. And now, to bring it to a small community.”

The symbols have appeared in the community of 4,250 in the last few days, defacing business signs and street signs with black spray paint. They’ve also been spotted in neighboring rural Mt. Pleasant Township, where about 10,000 people live, over the past week or so, according to Supervisor Duane Hutter.

Areas of the township affected include Norvelt, Hecla and Bridgeport.

Mt. Pleasant Borough attorney Marvin Snyder said he was shocked Wednesday morning to see the symbol spray-painted on the sign for his law offices at West Smithfield and North Diamond streets. Feet away, a speed limit sign also was vandalized with swastikas. He saw four or five symbols on his drive to work.

“It puts a chill down your spine,” he said.

Snyder plans to notify clients who might be visiting the office about the vandalism. He said he will leave the symbol on the business sign for a time as a warning to the community, “to show that there’s a presence of something here.”

Bailey said she was appalled and disgusted upon first hearing about the vandalism Tuesday morning from a business owner. Most of the traffic signs that were defaced are in alleys. Residents in some areas cleaned signs in their neighborhoods.

They’ll eventually be either cleaned by the borough or replaced.

“They didn’t touch anything that somebody might come past and see them (painting) … most of them were in the alleyways,” Bailey said.

Mt. Pleasant Township saw similar vandalism on traffic signs.

“We’re going to try to clean them,” Hutter said.

It was unclear if state police were investigating swastikas in the township.

Bailey said she also heard about racial messages being spray painted around the area. She’s disappointed by the vandalism in the small community and it’s heartbreaking to her to know that someone out there has feelings of hate toward others.

“It doesn’t belong in this community, it doesn’t belong in any community across the United States or any country, truthfully,” she said. “I hope that the perpetrators … realize how much damage they’ve done not just to property but to people’s feeling of well-being.”

The borough was the site of a controversial Halloween parade entry in October 2024 that appeared to depict then-Vice President Kamala Harris handcuffed and leashed to the back of a golf cart. The float drew outrage from bystanders and the Pittsburgh branch of the NAACP, which denounced it as a symbol of racism and hatred.

Mt. Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department, which organized the parade, issued a public apology, calling it a “first-come, first-served event” for which they typically only provide safety and traffic control. The statement said the department planned to review its planning processes to prevent a repeat of the situation.

The parade participants were never identified by authorities.