A view of Tamanowas Rock in Washington. Photo from Geocaching.com

Someone vandalized a sacred rock on property owned by the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe of Washington.

Someone spray-painted “I ♥ Miranda” on the 43-million-year-old Tamanowas Rock sometime last month. The tribe is going to try and remove the graffiti without damaging the sacred site.

“It's an incredibly important site for us,” Anette Nesse, the tribe's chief operating officer, told The Peninsula Daily News. “That's why we worked so hard to acquire it.”

The tribe purchased 66 acres around Tamanowas in November 2004. The rock itself was acquired last December from the Jefferson Land Trust.

Tamanowas means “spirit power" in the Klallam language. It's been used as a site for ceremonies and prayers for tens of thousands of years.

Get the Story:
Native Americans' sacred Tamanowas Rock desecrated with an 'I ♥' tag (The Peninsula Daily News 8/3)
Tribe reports damage at Tamanowas Rock (The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader 7/30)