Vulgar messages scrawled on car during family’s Mt. Bachelor visit

(Update: adding comments from Mt. Bachelor, two vandalism victims)

Two cars vandalized at the mountain over the past two weekends

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- On Saturday, 11-year Bend resident Natalie Raymond took her children up to Mt. Bachelor for a fun day on the slopes. What was supposed to be a special family experience turned into a disturbing one, after they became targets of outrage.

"I just don't know why someone would be that angry or that disrespectful to someone else's property," Raymond told NewsChannel 21 Tuesday, still in shock about what happened

The day started out wonderfully -- it was her 5-year-old's first time ever hopping on a snowboard.

When it was over, Raymond and her family returned to their car in the Sunrise parking lot. However, they were greeted with vulgar messages written all over it.

"Someone was upset that we parked too close to them,” Raymond said. “I was able to get my kids out of the car, get them ready and had plenty of space to do that. So really no justification for it."

There were multiple curse words carved into the side of her car. It was “a lot of aggression for something so minor,” as Raymond put it – and quite an alarming site for the mother of two young children.

"We’re pulling up with profanity written all over the side of our car, it's pretty embarrassing for a 12-year-old,” Raymond said.

Raymond showed NewsChannel 21 the profanity has been removed by now, but part of the message still remains, even after driving in the rain and going through a car wash. That’s because the words were written where the car had red road cinders on it.

This is at least the second incident of vandalism over the past two weekends at the mountain.

Carla Falcone, who lives in northwest Bend, said someone left her a smaller, yet unwelcome surprise on her car, parked in the West Village lot.

"Over the wheel well is the little creative 'mountain range' (scratched into the paint) that trails off,” Falcone showed NewsChannel 21.

“No signature, though," she jokingly added.

Falcone did not file a report with the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, but said she was surprised to see what had happened.

"Bachelor is a place to escape the real world and to enjoy and have fun and relax, so it just doesn't seem to fit,” Falcone said.

Raymond, though, did speak with law enforcement Tuesday. One deputy told NewsChannel 21 Raymond's is the only reported incident to happen at the mountain this season. So this is a rare occurrence, but one they will look into.

Mt. Bachelor released this statement to NewsChannel 21 late Tuesday afternoon:

“We expect that all guests in resort be safe, be respectful, and do not commit crimes when in resort. Vandalism is not an issue we have experienced this season, and any guest who witnesses such acts should contact the Mt. Bachelor Public Safety team or an employee with a radio who can call Public Safety to location to gather information. 

I did connect with our Base Operations team and Public Safety team today and they were not aware of this incident until the DCSO called midday inquiring if Mt. Bachelor had cameras at the incident location, which we did not.”