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'We are Sikh': Medford family feels sting of questions By SARAH LEMON A Medford man has decided that the price of wearing a turban is too high. Since coming to the Rogue Valley about a year ago, Gurdial Singh Sarkaria always fielded questions about his red Sikh's turban from patrons of his convenience store on the corner of Stewart Avenue and Lozier Lane. After Sept. 11, more asked if he were Muslim. After the store's windows were smashed early Friday morning, Sarkaria retired his turban. For Sarkaria and his wife, Harbhajan Kaur Sarkaria, the increasing questions about whether the couple is from Pakistan or Afghanistan, were frustrating. "We are Sikh; we are from India," said Harbhajan. The 45-year-old woman with a diamond nose stud and graying black hair pulled into a low bun, was tearful recounting to each curious customer the damage done to the couple's store. One offered her cash, which she refused. The couple and their teenage son and daughter moved to Medford after spending 12 years in the Los Angeles area because they wanted to live somewhere with less crime, said Gurdial. After visiting this green valley twice, Gurdial decided to buy the store on Lozier and another small space in Phoenix, which he leases out, he explained in halting English. About six months ago, the Lozier store's exterior was egged twice, and the Sarkarias caught some young men shoplifting beer. At 3:30 a.m. Friday, the family was confronted with the most severe damage yet to their property. Several large cracks slanted down one plate-glass window. Another had a two-inch hole. The third - closest to the door - was a network of fine fissures. The door itself was shattered. Yet nothing was stolen. Police told the Sarkarias that vandals were at work on other buildings outside the city limits. Windows were smashed out of the Westhills Country Store on Hanley Road, the Naval Reserve Center on Ross Lane, and a daycare center on South Stage Road, according to police records. Officers could not be reached to comment on the cases Friday. The Sarkarias said they aren't sure if the crime was racially motivated. But Gurdial now wears his long hair under a smaller head wrap concealed beneath a black baseball cap. He said he doesn't feel too bad about giving up the turban because he's the only Sikh the family has seen in the Rogue Valley. If more move here and build a temple, he said, he again may don the religious head covering. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.