BANGOR – Vandals painted blue graffiti on road signs, homes and even a church on the city’s east side sometime between Thursday evening and Friday morning in behavior city police said was more excessive than the usual prank.

“It’s not unusual for us to get one call [of vandalism], but someone went a little overboard,” Bangor police Sgt. Jim Owens said Friday afternoon.

The most offensive words read, “Atheists 4 ever bitch,” and were painted on the front of the River City Wesleyan Church at 144 Center St.

The church’s pastor, the Rev. Stephen Sinclair, could not be reached for comment Friday, but Thom Harnett, assistant attorney general for civil rights education and enforcement, said Friday that the Maine Civil Rights Act protects all religions from hate crimes.

Whether his office investigates the incident would depend on the perpetrators’ motive for spray-painting that specific message on the church, he said.

Although the incident had not been reported to his office, he said that it could be something “we would look at very seriously.”

“We don’t want to see any bias-motivated acts against any institution,” Hartnett said.

The section of graffiti at the church had been painted over by late Friday morning. Only a vague blue outline could be seen underneath the fresh white coat.

The church shares a building with Sunrize Hair Dezignz, but the building is owned by Webber Energy Fuels. For years, 144 Center St. was occupied by a Salvation Army thrift store.

The Salvation Army’s administrative offices on nearby French Street also were targeted by vandalism.

“It was just painting,” a Salvation Army representative said Friday. “You had to use your imagination to figure out what it was.”

“It’s not really nice for people to do that,” she continued, “but what are you going to do?”

A little farther up French Street, a slightly obscene message was written on the porch of someone’s home. The graffiti continued to parts of Cumberland Street and Valley Avenue, as well, Owens said.

Owens downplayed any connection between the graffiti as a hate crime and admitted his department has little evidence to go on.

“Most criminal mischief cases you have to catch someone in the act or have someone else turn them in,” he said.

“Unless someone comes in with blue hands,” he joked.

BDN reporter Judy Harrison contributed to this story.