LOCAL : Rooney to Aid Victims of Vandals

Entertainer Mickey Rooney offered today to pay for the repainting of a black couple’s Agoura Hills home, which was vandalized last month by intruders who painted red swastikas and racial epithets on the walls.

It was the second time in two years that vandals had broken into the home of the Szebelski L. Freeman, 68, and his wife Matilda, 69.

In addition to spray-painting the walls, the vandals slashed chairs and curtains, destroyed photographs and appliances, overturned an aquarium and placed the fish in a bowl filled with manure, causing about $30,000 worth of damage.

In a statement released by his publicist today, Rooney offered to pay for the cleanup.

“It sickens me to see people like the Freemans suffering this way. We fought World War II to wipe swastikas off the face of the Earth. I think everyone has to do his or her share to see that hate crimes are wiped out as well.”