posted March 12, 2008 10:20 PM              

A weekend rally for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama was supposed
to leave a hopeful tone in Longview, Texas.

Instead, it left a sour note as vandals spray-painted racial slurs outside the campaign headquarters.

"I don't even know why anyone would do this except ignorance you know, total ignorance, " said installation technician Lonzell Johnson.

It was a sight that "Towles Phone Center" technicians never wanted to see. The phrase "a racist" was spray painted on the hood and the sides of two of their company vans.

"I saw it, It hurt my feelings. You know what I'm saying? Off the top, it hurt my feelings. That they would even, you know what I'm saying, take it to that level, to spray paint my family's businesses," said Johnson.

Not only was the writing on the vans, but spray painted on the wall of the front part of the building.

The building is the home of owner, Eddie Towles phone center and the Obama campaign headquarters, and where superstar actor, Samuel L. Jackson spoke only hours before the vandals hit.

"I am not a racist I take this personally," Towles explained. ""Now, I can not take my vans out with my technicians and service the good people of Longview and take care of businesses that I have done for 20 years."

"This is a person that has not had the kind of care and training that any child
is born today should have from the very beginning," said Obama supporter Mae Towles.

Despite the degrading racial remarks, owner, Eddie Towles said it won't stop his support for Obama and his good works he tries to do for the Longview community.

"They can destroy my building; They can destroy my vans. But they'll never be
able to destroy my spirit," Eddie Towles said.