When Porter County property owners finally got their tax bills, they called -- and complained. Loudly.

When the size and look of the paper changed a few weeks ago, my phone rang almost constantly for a week. I heard every type of comment you can imagine.

Before the vote on Porter County withdrawing from the Regional Development Authority, the newsroom got phone calls, e-mails, faxes and in-person visits.

But several incidents of racial vandalism reported in the past couple of months failed to make my phone ring at all.

Blacks mostly, but whites, too, and now other ethnic groups, are being targeted by vandalism and outright threats. See the front page for what happened over the weekend.

We may never know who committed these acts or why. But how has the community responded?

Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas, Valparaiso University's Ivan Bodensteiner and Valparaiso Community Schools Superintendent Michael Benway had a press conference April 3 to denounce the acts.

It was what I expected would be the first step toward the community tackling this issue head on.

Said Costas at the news conference: "Today I'm calling on all citizens to speak out against acts of intolerance and injustice and to embrace the values of tolerance respect and dignity for every person."

We're still waiting to hear from the first resident, club, civic organization, church or business to heed the mayor's call.

The opinions are those of the writer. He can be reached at john.scheibel@nwi.com or (219) 548-4358.