Graffiti drawing time behind bars
11/22/2006
By DONN ESMONDE
METH went down Monday. He went down hard, he went down meekly - without the
smirk that was once plastered on his face - he went down with a message.
The message is simple: If you deface buildings, damage neighborhoods and kick
communities in the gut, you will pay.
METH is the graffiti ID, or "tag," of Eric Osborne, a 23-year-old Buffalo State
student who made a name for himself all over town. His METH tag - spray-painted
on as many as 100 stores, bridge overpasses and vacant buildings - is as common
as Fuccillo bus ads, only more obnoxious. It is also, obviously, illegal.
Osborne and other hard-core vandals have done hundreds of thousands of dollars
of property damage. What used to be a city crime has spread to the Amhersts and
the Orchard Parks. It is the high price we pay for their low-rent rebellion.
Crime met punishment Monday. Osborne - who pleaded guilty to a felony for some
of the METH damage - was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Any idea that graffiti is
fun and games officially ended when cops slapped the cuffs on the kid. The lean,
fair-haired lad with the ready-for-Disney face became the poster boy for
arrested development.
The message, to Osborne and other chronic vandals: The law no longer looks the
other way. Property damage of five or six figures is hardly a harmless prank.
Graffiti plastered on mailboxes, storefronts and houses sends a message that a
neighborhood is going downhill. Perception becomes reality. Store owners lose
business. Homeowners see the value of their biggest investment plunge. Real
people get hurt. That is why the Forever Elmwood neighborhood group posted a
$1,000 reward for information on graffiti crimes.
Pam Beal tracks the public scribblings of Osborne and other familiar names about
town - HERT, ATAK, MERK. She and others pushed prosecutors to press the case and
urged the judge to bring down the hammer. Beal knows the real names behind
familiar tags. She knows that the cell door will soon slam on others.
Beal, head of the local anti-graffiti task force, says Osborne's jail time sends
a message to criminals armed with Sharpies and spray cans. Although gang-bangers
mark turf with graffiti, most tagging isn't gang-related.
"I think," she said, "that the message will be heard."
It will be heard, by some teen pranksters and cheap-thrill seekers. For
hard-core types, older guys who see rebellion in a can of spray paint, the
lesson is harder to learn. The learning curve is steep for antisocial types
raising a single-finger salute to society.
Mark Buffington recently got six months in the slammer for spray-painting the
historic Gates Circle fountain. Buffington is 32 years old.
"For them, it's like a psychodrama," Beal said. "I don't think that anything
short of getting caught and sentenced will make them stop."
It is too bad. Osborne and other taggers have talent and smarts. He figured out
how to spray his METH tag atop buildings 80 feet high. The colors, shadings and
letter design of some tags would pass anybody's graphic arts audition. If only,
as Superman said of Lex Luther, he'd use his powers for good.
"I feel sad for [Osborne]," Beal said. "He's obviously an intelligent guy with
talent. But he directed it the wrong way."
The city could use more good public art - from building murals to sidewalk
creations. Civic-sanctioned art doesn't carry the rebellious thrill of
after-dark tagging. But it keeps you out of jail.
"The only difference between art and vandalism," Beal said, "is permission."
It is something for Osborne to think about, over the next 90 days.
e-mail: desmonde@buffnews.com