The destroyed electric signs were just one of the many acts of vandalism caused to these Seymour businesses. (The Herald/Joe King)

Adding to the recent upswing in area crime, businesses operating out of Seymour Business Park were vandalized this weekend.

Electric signs were smashed, mailboxes were jarred loose, and vulgar and racist words were spray painted on a window of a church.

“We don’t know much about what happened yet,” said Detective Johnny Bohanan of Sevier County Sheriff’s Department. “They had to have used a metal pipe, a pole or a crowbar to reach the signs up there.”

Bohanan said he spoke with the owner of the property and neither concluded the vandalism was a hate crime.

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