Sandblasting too damaging to remove graffiti from overpass
By Jayson Larson

The Love Bandit has struck again, even if his or her work will be wiped out in the near future.

Around the weekend of Valentine's Day, someone spray-painted red hearts at various locations across the city. Among the most notable is the overpass at State Highway 19 north and the loop, where the phrase "I (heart) U" was painted twice.

Since then, someone used red spray-paint to scrawl the message, "I (heart) Jamie." Contractors for the Texas Department of Transportation on Monday tried unsuccessfully to sandblast away the latest graffiti, but maintenance supervisor Tony Buford said the method was damaging the concrete surface.

Since sandblasting won't work, Buford said the graffiti will have to be painted over. That's a task he said workers will take up as soon as possible, although he noted road projects would take priority.

"We don't want to leave it up there too long, though, because it encourages other graffiti," Buford said.

The graffiti is frustrating for those who spend long hours attempting to beautify the city, including Keep Athens Beautiful Executive Director Carol Morton.

"This is somebody intentionally doing this, and it's hard to stop," she said.

Last summer, KAB received a $75,000 Governor's Community Achievement Award, of which part of the proceeds will go toward cleaning up graffiti in the city. Among the projects will be painting over the State Highway 31 train trestle which has been vandalized by graffiti. A KAB volunteer painted over the graffiti as a temporary measure in the fall when visitors were pouring in to watch out-of-town football teams play at Bruce Field during the playoffs.

Additionally, Morton said KAB on April 5 will help present a program to Athens school children in hopes of educating them about how graffiti is wrong and illegal. She said students will be able to enter a poster contest in conjunction with the program.

As for the other graffiti around town, such as the hearts that have been painted on private property, there doesn't seem to be much the city can do. City Administrator Pam Burton said it is unlikely such graffiti -- most of which has remained since being painted -- falls under the city's public nuisance code, meaning the city does not have the authority to force property owners to get rid of or paint over the graffiti.
If caught the person or persons responsible for putting the graffiti on the buildings and state property can be hit with charges ranging from a Class C misdemeanor to a felony depending on how much it costs to clean up the mess they left behind.