Reward offered in Tahoe vandalism case

The Anti-Defamation League has posted a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandal or vandals responsible for defacing a South Lake Tahoe synagogue.

A snowplow driver discovered swastikas, an SS symbol and the text "Die Jew" on Temple Bat Yam on the morning of Dec. 7, before the first night of Chanukah.

Several other swastikas were discovered that day on road signs or on the street in and about South Lake Tahoe.

The vandalism was the first incidence of anti-Semitism in the Reform congregation's 22-year history, and it has spurred the creation of a Tahoe-area interfaith council.

Police and the FBI are investigating the graffiti as a possible felony hate crime.

Meanwhile, not far away in Reno, Jewish complaints led a German teacher at a middle school to remove a Nazi flag he had hung in the class as part of a lesson on Germany in the 1930s. Jews and others objected to Michael MacDonald leaving the flag on display for more than a week.