REEDSBURG, Wis. -- People in Reedsburg said homecoming pranks have gotten worse in recent years, and now police are investigating an incident of vandalism that included racial slurs.

Residents said there's a homecoming tradition in Reedsburg that has high school students convinced it's acceptable to throw toilet paper in the trees.

"The way I feel about it is, kids are more than welcome to come throw toilet paper about the house, in the trees and stuff; it's all part of homecoming," said resident Bart Anderson.

But for the last several years, Anderson said he's seen the pranksters become vandals.

"They wrote horrible things. They write filthy stuff all over. I've had to take a couple mornings off a couple years in a row to wash all the stuff off; it's just filthy stuff," Anderson said.

He said the offensive messages were written about his high-school-aged daughter.

"One week a year we have a living nightmare around this house. I don't know if we need to hire security," Anderson said.

But Anderson said what he is most angry about isn't something that happened to him but up the street, to a family that had the n-word and other racist remarks written all over their driveway and cars in shaving cream and syrup.

"You hear about it every year, and you know someone is either going to get hurt or property is going to get majorly damaged," said Laura Van Cleave, a victim of vandalism.

Van Cleave's sons are bi-racial. She spent Tuesday cleaning up the mess while trying to figure out why it happened.

"(I asked), 'Do you have any idea who could have done this?' And he said, 'Mom, no, I have no idea why somebody would have done this to us,'" Van Cleave said.

Police Chief Tim Becker said he is committed to finding those responsible for the vandalism.

"We're taking it very seriously and want to find out who these guys are," Becker said.

Students at the high school said they are disgusted by the incident.

"It sucks, because it just shows how low people are in our school. Whoever did that, I think they should get in serious trouble," said Lea Berg, a junior at Reedsburg High School.

And residents like Anderson said they've had enough.

"If that's what it's going to come to, let's stop homecoming," he said.

Van Cleave said one of her sons was so shaken up by the vandalism that he didn't go to school Tuesday.

It's the family's second brush with hate in Reedsburg. Several years ago, a rival team wrote similar words on the school's fields when Van Cleave's oldest son was athlete, and the only African-American student in school.

Police said they're hoping someone at the school will talk and help with the investigation. They said their school resource officer and investigators are working on the case.