VOLUNTEERS, sheriff's anti-graffiti unit blast paint off ...

By Pierre Comtois. The unit has a machine that blasts paint with a high-powered stream of fine sand, removing graffiti from buildings quickly and efficiently.

The unit has a machine that blasts paint with a high-powered stream of fine sand, removing graffiti from buildings quickly and efficiently.

Unfortunately, although the unit has been performing the free service for towns from Ashby to Malden for years, Middlesex Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Mark Lawhorne said it was unable to help in the schoolhouse case because it was a privately owned structure.

Laurence Bagley, who owns the building with his brother, John, said that he had once offered the building to the town's Historical Society, but for reasons he did not know, he was turned down.

Recognizing the historic significance of the 150-year-old schoolhouse, which John Bagley said still retains the raised platform inside where teachers used to stand before their classes, Greathead still wondered if anything could be done to help.

As it turned out, there was.

Lawhorne said that so long as volunteers could be found to operate the graffiti-removal unit and pay for the sand-blasting supplies, the vehicle's services could still be offered. Accordingly, volunteers were found among corrections officers belonging to the Middlesex Department Sheriff's Association who appeared last Saturday morning in navy blue jump suits to do the work that is usually performed by low-risk inmates from the Billerica House of Corrections.

"We have eight crews a week working all over doing odd jobs for cities and towns," explained Kieran Lennon, director of the community work program at the Billerica House of Corrections. "The inmates really like it because the work gives them a sense of contributing back to society and also allows them the opportunity to get used to a regular work day again."

Also present last Saturday was Engine #5 and a contingent of volunteers from the town's own Fire Department to supply the water needed to operate the sand-blasting equipment.

"It's a good cause," explained volunteer firefighter Tim Morine, whose time on one of the most beautiful morning's of the season could have otherwise been spent getting in some good fishing. "We're helping to make Pepperell a better place to live."

Fire Chief Costa Bozicas said all he had to do was place a few telephone calls before he had all the volunteers he needed.

"This is the kind of interdepartmental cooperation we like to see," DiPaola said. "We want to build a partnership between ourselves and local police and fire departments to better address community issues."

"I'm just very grateful for all the help we've received on this," said John Bagley as he watched the ugly paint literally melt off the side of his building. "This has been a great example of public spiritedness."