Firms 'tagged' with graffiti

When Nick Bradley, owner of the Ridge Racquet Club in Grass Valley, came into work Friday, he noticed "a small section of graffiti" on the side of his building at 2401 Ridge Road.

Bradley's business was one of at least seven in the southern end of Grass Valley that reported to police that their buildings had "been tagged." The other businesses included the International House of Pancakes, the Golden Empire Market, the Pet Mine, Carl's Jr. and Arby's.


The graffiti was minor and mostly consisted of stenciled prints of images, such as a plane dropping bombs, a flying monkey with a club, and the words "MOSH TIME," which appeared most frequently on the windows, sides, and fronts of the businesses that were hit.

Bradley said that the stenciled images on the racquet club building were "like a skull ... the others were like a Chinese character."

The graffiti damage was insignificant enough that several of the businesses just used extra paint to cover up the words and stenciled images.


"I just painted over them," Bradley said.

Jason Pensold, a clerk at the Golden Empire Market at 105 W. Empire St., said that by the time he got to work today, "he didn't notice anything." The stenciled "MOSH TIME" had already been removed.

Pensold said that the taggers must have struck sometime after 11 p.m. Thursday and before 6 a.m. Friday, because those are the only hours when no one is working at the market.

Grass Valley Police Capt. Greg Hart said that while this is not the first time the city has seen graffiti, it does not happen often and definitely not on this scale.

"It has been a few years since we have seen this much," Hart said.

Hart said that the police are still investigating the reports and do not yet have any suspects. Anybody who may have seen suspicious activity in the area Thursday night is urged to call the Grass Valley police at 477-4600.