GRAFFITI mars schoolhouse's aged facade

... schoolhouses. Nashoba Publishing / Suzanne Boswell, From left, the schoolhouse before and then after the graffiti was removed.

By Pierre Comtois

Such is the case with an historic, but somewhat neglected, structure located at the heavily wooded intersection of Shattuck and Harbor streets in a neighborhood close behind the North Middlesex Regional High School.

There, nestled in a clearing and hugging close to the roadside, is a small brick building that has seen much better days since 1844, when it was first constructed as one of the town's system of neighborhood schoolhouses.

Unfortunately, the long-abandoned structure, though still in use as a storehouse, has an air of abandonment about it and, conveniently screened from the view of residents by thick woodland, has drawn the attention of vandals who have chosen to make its brick walls and boarded up windows the palette upon which to express themselves in hard to remove spray paint.

"I've been an officer for 15 years and can say that this is a common problem," Pepperell Detective William Greathead said as he stood across the street from the building last Saturday morning.

Greathead said that the graffiti problem at the former school was brought to his attention by neighbors when they noticed that the problem seemed to have grown worse lately.

"There was a time about 7-8 years ago when the graffiti was a real nuisance, but there was a period when if finally stopped," said Townsend resident Laurence Bagley, who has owned the former school building with his brother, John, for the last 20 years. "But recently, it's started up again. I think it's kids from the high school."

Greathead agreed with Bagley's suspicions.

"It's kids from the high school all right, but it's copycat stuff," said the detective, pointing out that some of the graffiti represented common gang markings called tags.

The ugly layers of graffiti that had been spray painted on the old school building had clearly been done at different times over the past few weeks and covered the red brick flank of the building that faced the street. Foul phrases and crude drawings of kingly crowns not only adorned the side of the school, but spilled out onto the surface of Shattuck and Harbor streets as well.

Despite the gang-related tags obvious among the layers of graffiti, Middlesex County Sheriff James DiPaola also was skeptical of the presence of gang-related activity in Pepperell, suggesting that young people, influenced by the symbols they see in rap music videos and CD packaging, sometimes are spurred into copying them as genuine gang members do in large cities.

"Nevertheless, the presence of such graffiti in a community is an early warning signal for those interested in preserving the quality of life in a neighborhood," DiPaola said, adding that putting a stop to such activity can prevent a more serious deterioration of local community life down the road. "For that reason, it's important to remove such graffiti as soon as possible."

And also to catch the culprits, if at all possible, and Greathead said he is working on that as well, having found evidence that had been left behind at the scene of the crime.