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Arcanum family says its under racial attack
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Matthew Dillon and his 14-year-old son Andre and their family found the message 'Get Out Niggers' painted on the side of their Arcanum home Wednesday Dec. 17. The family believes the message is the culmination of a series of racial incidents that happenned to Andre at school.ARCANUM — The Dillon family awoke Wednesday, Dec. 17, to find a racial epithet scrawled in large red letters across the outside of their home.
The vandalism is the latest in a series of incidents stemming from a confrontation between Andre Dillon, 14, and some upperclassmen Dec. 1 at Arcanum-Butler High School, said Dillon's father, Matt Dillon
"It's almost degrading. You'd think we'd be past this," said Andre Dillon, who is biracial.
Federal authorities are reviewing the incidents.
"We haven't made a determination whether we're going to mount an investigation," said Michael Brooks, a spokesman for the FBI in Cincinnati.
On Wednesday, Andre Dillon and his two sisters stayed home from school, which was closed due to bad weather. However, their parents — fearing for their children's safety — said they plan on keeping them home while searching for a new place to live.
"I'm terrified. I've never been around anything like this," said Andre's mother, Nicole Dillon.
School officials couldn't be reached for comment.
The Dillons — and friends who provided written statements — say Andre was assaulted and called a racial epithet by an Arcanum-Butler senior in the high school cafeteria Dec. 1.
The family also says a group of high school boys later stood in their yard and made threatening statements. Racist statements were also written in black marker on the family's car.
Matt Dillon said he told Arcanum police about the vandalism and that officers came to the house and took photos of the car. A clerk at Arcanum City Hall said she could not provide copies of any reports without permission of police Chief Dan Light, who was unavailable Wednesday.
Dillon has pleaded not guilty in Darke County Municipal Court to assaulting one of the boys who he claims assaulted his son in the Arcanum-Butler High School cafeteria. Dillon also was charged with menacing this boy and others sitting in the school cafeteria. The alleged assault took place Dec. 13, while the alleged menacing occurred the day before.
Matt Dillon said he made no threatening statements after seeing the boys in the cafeteria and never hit the teen after spotting him while picking up his son at Greenville High School.
Dillon, 39, was charged and arrested based on statements from the alleged victims and witnesses, according to police reports. Dillon said he'd also been barred from school grounds.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2261 or lbudd@DaytonDailyNews.com.
