Graffiti increasing around the city
By Nick Worner, News Staff Reporter
Monday, March 12, 2007
MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon police arrested two men suspected of painting graffiti this morning.

According to the police report, Brandon Blake and Alan Dejulius Jr., both 23 of Mount Vernon, were arrested for possession of criminal tools. Police allegedly found the pair to be in possession of several cans of spray paint.

According to the report, police responded to a complaint of vandalism at the Duke & Duchess Shoppe on Coshocton Avenue and found graffiti in the area with the words “Lucky,” “CPC” and “Omega.”

Similar graffiti was also found at the East End Laundry on Coshocton Avenue in spray paint and marker writing.

Mount Vernon News Video
Police found the pair walking near Marita Drive and stopped them. A search of their backpacks allegedly turned up cans of spray paint, markers, gloves and a scanner.

According to the report, the suspects were also identified on surveillance video from the Coshocton Avenue area.Mount Vernon Police Chief Mike Merrilees said the problem is far from epidemic, but graffiti has increased in Mount Vernon, due in large part to an increase in the number of abandoned or infrequently used buildings in the area.

“In the last six months to a year we have experienced more graffiti,” said Merrilees. “I think areas of the city that are a little more run-down tend to experience more of these problems.

“For example, we never had much of a problem when Big Bear was in business,” he said, “but now it’s basically an abandoned building. Overall, it seems like there’s not as much traffic where this is happening. This isn’t something that takes just a few minutes, they are out there for awhile.”

Some graffiti consists of little more than obscene phrases or basic doodles. Other areas show off large, complicated works, often promoting certain cliques or “painting crews.”

In some larger cities, graffiti often goes hand in hand with gang activity, but Merrilees questioned the connection of vandalism in Mount Vernon to street gang activity.

“Occasionally we get people who are trying to act like they are in a gang or starting a gang but it’s usually just kids,” he said.

Merrilees added that although the vandalism is childish and illegal, it isn’t completely devoid of artistic merit.

“I’ve seen some graffiti that shows some real artistic talent, but it also shows a lot of disrespect to other people’s property,” he said. “I don’t want to make it seem like it’s all just an artistic gesture; many of these people are just vandals. They know it’s wrong and they do it anyway.”

In Fredericktown, Police Chief Jerry Day said graffiti sometimes flares up, although there have not been many incidents lately.

“We had some trouble with graffiti a few years ago, but overall things haven’t been bad,” said Day, explaining that police often suspect graduating seniors or high school students of painting graffiti, mostly related to their school, their peers or their graduating class. “As it gets closer to graduation time we sometimes see some graffiti around town.”

The Mount Vernon school system uses a novel concept to cut down on this type of school -related graffiti.

Parked in front of the building is a large “spirit rock” — a boulder, covered in nearly a decade’s worth of painted graffiti.

Students are free to unleash their spray cans and paint brushes on the rock, so long as the graffiti is not obscene or offensive.

“It came here several years ago,” said High School Principal Kathy Kassler, referring to the rock. “It was a donation from a senior class; I think one of the families had the rock on their farm.

“The kids are allowed to come paint it and decorate it. Sometimes we have to edit the work, but we’ve probably only had to do that four or five times since I’ve been here,” she added. “The work may last a day, it may last an hour, but I think some of the kids get a kick out of coming in under the cover of darkness to paint the rock.”

Kassler said the students understand their work is temporary, but the creative outlet has cut down on vandalism incidents at the school.

“It’s an alternative to vandalism,” she said. “I think the spray painting on the building has definitely gone down.”

Merrilees praised the idea of offering a creative outlet to artistic teenagers, but pointed out that being obscene and offensive, or at the very least rebellious, is the express goal of many graffiti vandals, whether they have artistic talent or not.

“I think those types of things can cut down on vandalism, but there will always be a group who does it just for the thrill of doing something wrong and looking brave in front of their friends,” he said. “They don’t deserve sympathy because there aren’t more places to do this legitimately.”

Merrilees said the city police department takes graffiti complaints seriously and that vandals run a very real risk of being prosecuted if they are caught. However, the nature of the crime means that often, police are dependent on citizen complaints to catch vandals in the act.

“Many times we have three to five officers working the entire city,” he said. “We rely on citizens to be our eyes and ears for things like this.”