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Fort Collins church forgives man who vandalized building

FORT COLLINS – A Fort Collins church says it will not pursue criminal charges against a man who admitted to vandalizing the building in a confession to a minister.

The Coloradoan reports the man threw a rock through a window of an auxiliary building at the Foothills Unitarian Church Saturday night, leaving a hole in the inside wall.

Church leaders had feared that the act was an angry political message until a man came to the church Sunday and admitted to throwing the rock.

The church’s senior minister, the Rev. Gretchen Haley, says the man is a recovering alcoholic who said he had relapse on the night he vandalized the church.

In a letter to the congregation, the man said he was willing to pay for the damage and do whatever he could to make amends.