Video: Coffee shop targeted by possible eco-vandals

Larger screen

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – A popular coffee shop has become the target of possible eco-vandalism after someone did thousands of dollars in damage over the weekend.

"The Woods Coffee" opened last year in an old building in a city park that overlooks Bellingham Bay.

"It used to be the boiler room for the log mill that surrounded this entire area," said owner Wes Herman.

Early Saturday morning, Herman got a call from police that vandals had smashed out his store windows.

"They used rocks on the plate glass and then a hammer or some device on the tempered glass," said Herman.

Inside, thousands of dollars in shattered glass covered the floor. While it's still unclear just who these vandals are, they did leave behind a calling card. Stenciled in red paint on two surviving windows was the phrase "Facsism (sic) begins with the sale of public space" – an apparent reference to the store being located in a public park. The same message was sprayed on a nearby boardwalk.

"They think that we shouldn't be here and so they want to make their voice known," said Herman.

Customers say the message is laughable, especially when you consider the vandals misspelled the word fascism.

"It speaks to me maybe of someone who doesn't have enough to do," said customer Kathie Blackburn.

While the store waits for new windows, police are looking at surveillance pictures that show two men and a woman. Herman believes they may be the same people his cameras caught during a previous break-in attempt.

Anyone with information should call Bellingham Police.