THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 19, 1995 TAG: 9505190693
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Using organic paint and a little creativity, teenagers are working to camouflage unsightly and sometimes obscene graffiti that was sprayed on more than 100 trees in a newly developed waterfront city park.
Just months before the grand opening of the Elizabeth River Nature and Canoe Trail in Kempsville, vandals splashed orange, red, blue and black paint on grand old pines, oaks and maples along the newly developed nature trails.
The vandals, who have not been caught, painted words, obscenities and designs on tree trunks in the 30-acre natural area off Challedon Drive in Carolanne Farm. Some were ``tagged'' with the culprits' signatures.
``I couldn't imagine that someone would want to make trees look ugly, especially in such a pretty spot like that,'' said 13-year-old Justin Bernick, who's helping disguise the graffiti.
But after a few Saturday morning painting parties, most of the noxious graffiti has been skillfully covered over and blended with the natural colors of the bark using brown, gray and reddish hues of paint.
When city officials first discovered the vandalism, they knew they faced a challenge.
``It's not like graffiti on fences or walls or other non-living things,'' said H. Clayton Bernick III, administrator of the city's Environmental Management Center. ``You can't go in there and sandblast or even use chemical removers.''
Bernick researched the problem and found that municipalities in other states have covered graffiti on trees by painting over it in large blocks of a single color.
``We thought we could do better than that since this is a natural area,'' Bernick said. ``Big white rectangles on the side of trees detract from the whole idea of what we're trying to accomplish there.
``We had to find a way to make it less obvious.''
Bernick employed the help of about 50 middle school and high school students from environmental clubs to paint the trees. The students already had been planting trees and shrubs, spreading mulch on trails and picking up litter in preparation for the grand opening of the park June 3.
``I'm really quite annoyed that anyone would take any free time they have to go and wreck something that they know has just been fixed up,'' said Donald Christman, a junior at Kempsville High School. ``This is in our district, and we take a lot of pride in keeping this area clean.''
The park is one of the first projects in the Virginia Beach Outdoors Plan, which emphasizes natural areas and passive exercise. The city has developed nearly a mile of nature trails, a canoe launch and a two-mile canoe trail along the Elizabeth River through a $15,000 Coastal Zone Management grant. The city matched it with $12,500, and $2,500 in in-kind services.
Many community groups pitched in to help, including the surrounding civic leagues and scout troops as well as students. A National Guard unit from Camp Pendleton built the retaining wall and canoe launch.
The city has stepped up its efforts during the past year to crack down on the proliferation of graffiti, even creating a Graffiti Hotline, which arranges for graffiti to be removed from private property for free. It is removed by a city employee, assisted by two nonviolent inmates as part of the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Work Release Program.
Virginia Beach has learned from larger cities around the country that the best way to combat graffiti is to clean it off before anyone sees it. Law officers say that graffiti taggers get a warped sense of celebrity and empowerment from seeing their work in public places. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/Staff
Justin Bernick, 13, paints over grafitti at the Elizabeth River
Nature and Canoe Trail in Kempsville.
Graphic
HOW TO HELP
Volunteers are needed to do some final sprucing up of the new
park on Saturday morning. To volunteer, call 427-4621. Citizens can
report graffiti by calling the hot line at 427-3580, Ext. 704.
Anyone catching vandals defacing property should call the police at
911.
by CNB