References to the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazi Party along with the words “Shoot N......” were smeared on the phone box and adjacent footpath.

Graffiti vandalism previously sprayed on the Darling Street Mini Mart’s wall suggests a paint war between two rival South Dubbo gangs.

Shop owners Julie and Wayne Beresford believe the vandalism is directly related to the phone box attracting people to the area.

“If the phone box wasn’t there, people wouldn’t meet there,” Mrs Beresford said.

“It’s gotten to the stage that

we don’t know what to expect when we arrive to work first thing on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

“What annoys us about this latest graffiti is that it is only going to attract retaliation and more bad incidents to the area.

“No business wants a phone box out the front - put it somewhere else.”

Mr Beresford said drinking and partying occurred outside the front of the shop every weekend.

“The phone box is always being vandalised and it must have cost Telstra a lot of money over the years to keep it running,” he said. “I have a five and an eight-year-old who don’t need to see this crap.

“It needs to be cleaned up.”

The incident occurred on Friday night, but neither Dubbo City Council nor Dubbo Police had been made aware of it when the Daily Liberal contacted them yesterday.

Customers told Mrs Beresford that similar graffiti also occurred in Fitzroy and Mitchell streets at the weekend.

Council parks and landcare operations manager Murray Wood said graffiti of this offensive nature on footpaths would normally be cleaned up straight away.

“We can’t be everywhere at once so we need people to let us know of offensive graffiti so we can get people onto it straight away,” Mr Wood said.

“We would rather get too many phone calls than none.”

Orana Local Area Command duty officer Matt Goodwin was similarly concerned that

the incident had not been reported. He said there was an unusual rise in malicious damage offences throughout Dubbo on the weekend.

“There was some alcohol-related damage in the CBD and an unusual increase in random malicious damage in residential areas - not just in the one spot,” Inspector Goodwin said.

“We don’t always get reports from victims, which is troubling.

“There was not a distinctive pattern in the incidents but police are looking into the nature of damage at specific places.”

bill.north@ruralpress.com