Graffiti shocks neighbors in Stetson Hills

This was how Marla Hicks reacted when she spotted property damage directly across the street from her home on Hotspur Drive.
"I have no words for it. It's devastating. It's destruction of property and it has to stop!
Hicks has lived on this street for eleven years. She says she's extremely troubled by a recent rash of spray painting. "They don't understand who is ever doing this how expensive it is to fix."

Thursday night vandals struck a garage and two cars. Neighbors have no idea who did it or why, but say it's not the first time. Last week a nearby garage was vandalized.

According to Hicks, "I was called by friends who had a garage down the street painted with the words 'we hate you.'" Police say damage like this runs in cycles and is very hard to track down. With 111 thousand people to patrol and only five detectives, property damage caused by spray paint can't be a top police priority.

Explains Sgt. Dale Fox, "so we need neighbors to watch out for each other because we can't be everywhere." And that's exactly what neighbors plan to do. Because they want this street to stay a welcome place to live.

Adds Hicks, "I like my neighbors, I don't want anything to happen to this street, I love it.
What they did over there - it's disheartening. It's terrible."
Posted By: Susan Davies (Updated: 9/14/2007 5:36:12 PM)