Cousins charged with felonies in Holy Hill vandalism (older one expresses no regrets)

West Bend - Two cousins were charged with a felony crime each on Friday in the desecration of Holy Hill and, according to authorities, the older of the two admitted what he did but had no regrets.

Tyler B. Groth, 21, of Neosho and David J. Groth, 17, of Hartford each face up to 3 1/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted of criminal damage to religious property.

Tyler Groth told investigators that he and his cousin used red spray paint in a spree of vandalism at Holy Hill on Tuesday, according to a criminal complaint. The investigators then asked Groth, according to Washington County Sheriff Brian Rahn, "Do you feel sorry for what you did?"

"No," the sheriff quoted Groth as saying. "It was just something I did. I just wanted to have some fun."

Tyler Groth was arrested on the Holy Hill grounds on Wednesday, as he and his cousin showed four friends the vandalism from the night before, according to a deputy's report. David Groth ran off that night but was arrested Friday morning, hiding behind a bed in a friend's home in Richfield, Rahn said. David Groth has been charged as an adult.

Unlike his older cousin, David Groth refused to speak to investigators, according to Rahn. No physical evidence has been recovered, he said.

Asked why he committed the vandalism, Tyler Groth said in an interview broadcast on WTMJ-TV (Channel 4): "I'm a punk. It's what I do."

Tuesday's date was 6-6-06. In the Bible, the New Testament's Book of Revelation says triple sixes are the mark of the Antichrist.

According to the criminal complaint, Tyler Groth said he and his cousin decided to spray paint walls, statues and other parts of Holy Hill because it was "Satan's birthday."

Tyler Groth told investigators that he painted "Hail Satin," a misspelling of Satan, and a devil's face in different places and that he sprayed paint on a statue of Jesus, according to the complaint. Tyler Groth said David Groth painted "I'm glad they killed Jesus" and "Hell Will Rule" in various places on the property, the complaint says.

Repair work continues

Father Cyril Guise, director of the shrine - formally known as the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians - said in an interview that no estimate of the amount of damage had been made but that a contractor's crew of about five had been working steadily since Wednesday.

Guise said worshippers handed him donations to help pay for the repairs after Mass on Friday, as many others had done for the past three days. He called the vandalism "obscene," a description echoed by Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who announced Friday he would say a Mass of Reparation at Holy Hill at 4:30 p.m. today.

The cousins made their initial appearance on the charges in Washington County Circuit Court Friday. They told Judge Patrick Faragher that they understood the charges but made no other comments.

District Attorney Todd Martens asked the judge to set bail for both, saying the vandalism was "an affront to the faith of tens of thousands of Washington County residents." But public defender Paul Czisny argued that "this is not a day to punish."

Faragher said he would release Tyler Groth on a signature bond while the case is pending. He said the vandalism is a "very terrible thing" but comparable to "tagging" or graffiti, and "not an assault on the Catholic Church." He also noted that Tyler Groth, who lives with his parents and works at a siding company, had no prior record.

Faragher set $1,000 cash bail for David Groth, a Hartford Union High School student who lives with his parents and is not employed.

Rahn said the Holy Hill vandalism appeared to be a prank rather than part of any occult activity. He said he thinks the cousins returned with friends to Holy Hill on the day after the vandalism to show off.

Let the healing begin!

You may send a donation to help clean up the site to:

Holy Hill National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians
1525 Carmel Road
Hubertus, WI 53033

Special Mass helps Holy Hill heal from graffiti attack
By JAMES A. CARLSON
Associated Press Writer
http://www.jsonline.com

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A special Mass Saturday helped worshippers recover from the outrage at seeing one of Wisconsin's best-known religious shrines desecrated with spray-painted graffiti, much of it signs of the devil, to mark the date 6-6-06, the shrine director said.

"The initial emotion was anger, but there has to be a sense of peacefulness and forgiveness that overrides the anger," the Rev. Cyril Guise said in a telephone interview Saturday evening from Holy Hill.

"The anger is a human reaction," he said. "The response that comes is a sense of forgiveness and mercy."

Two cousins face charges in the vandalism discovered Wednesday morning at the hilltop sanctuary near Erin in Washington County, about 25 miles northwest of Milwaukee.

Painted in red were such things as a pitchfork, the words "Hell on Earth" and "666" - a number some believe refers to the "Mark of the Beast," or a person or entity controlled by the Antichrist.

Milwaukee Roman Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan told those who packed the church for the Mass of reparation that God would restore the uplifting spirit of Holy Hill - and that good has come from evil as the congregation unites, Guise said.

By Saturday, most of the red-painted graffiti that marked walls, doors and statues had been cleaned off after days of work to remove it.

"We still have a lot of work to do on the statues to restore them to their true beauty," Guise said.

The desecrated areas included four or five of the stations of the cross portraying Christ and his passion, he said.

Donations were being taken Saturday to help pay for the cleaning.

"We've had small checks, large checks - I don't know how much," Guise said. "We're going to respond to every penny that was sent to us, to thank them."

Guise said there probably were about 1,000 people from miles around at the Mass.

The archbishop ended with a homily, and "when he finished, the church exploded in applause," Guise said.

"It was a very, very grateful group of people," he said.

The church welcomes pilgrims of all faiths to visit the shrine, enjoy the view of the surrounding countryside, reflect and pray.

Guise said the state estimates that 250,000 to 300,000 people visit Holy Hill each year.

He said he focused on the shrine's meaning when he spoke at the end of Saturday's service.

"I said Holy Hill in spite of all the evil that was done is a beacon of hope, and all of the evil that was perpetrated here could not extinguish that light," he said.

Charged in Washington County Circuit Court Friday with criminal damage to property were Tyler Groth, 21, of Neosho and his cousin, David Groth, 17, of Hartford. They are expected to be back in court Wednesday.

Holy Hill, a U.S. and state registered landmark, includes the church, shrine and a monastery.

"It would and should be in that case, and it should and hopefully will be in this case. Hate crime statutes are pretty much moot in cases of murder or assault, where the penalties should be severe regardless of the motivation. But painting swastikas on a synagogue -- or an inept "Hail Satin" on a church -- is simply not the same crime as painting "Billy luvs Suzie" on a highway overpass, even if the physical act is the same."

Point well taken.....I truly wish we had jurists who possessed the same common sense or were unwilling to pander to political correctness.

EODGUY

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