Derogatory graffiti found on Atlantic Beach bench

At 9:30 a.m. on Friday morning, a Cedarhurst resident was walking along the Atlantic Beach boardwalk when she spotted graffiti on a bench that said, “Damn Orthodox Jews, you killed our schools.”

“By the time I finished walking the boardwalk, it was already being scrubbed away,” she said. “But this is something that should definitely be made public because it’s disgusting and offensive.”

Atlantic Beach Mayor Stephen Mahler said a cleaning crew from the village would remove the graffiti. “We’ve never had that before, especially considering the amount of people who use [the boardwalk],” he said. “For the most part, people respect the boardwalk so it’s probably kids that did it. What can you do, those things will happen.”