Cedar Falls Mayor Daniel Laudick has issued a statement condemning recent incidents of hate speech. In July several sites along the city’s trails and public infrastructure were spray-painted with swastikas and homophobic slurs and in August the same man who left racist flyers at Latino owned businesses in Hampton left similar flyers on shelves and in a book written in Spanish at the Cedar Falls Library. That man, 38 year old Daniel Embree, has been charged with 2nd and 3rd degree Harassment and Trespass With Intent to Commit a Hate Crime. Now Mayor Laudick has made his position clear, stating that those messages have no place in his city. He says that while disagreements may arise as well as disputes and differing points of view, which he sees as a vital part of living in America, it should not devolve into threats of violence and hate. He has asked his constituents to not get caught up in the “us-vs-them” rhetoric as we grow nearer to what he describes as a particularly divisive national election.
