ELLSWORTH, Maine — A recent string of graffiti has Ellsworth police reaching out to the public for help nabbing the mystery vandal.
A spray-painted diamond — sometimes accompanied by words or initials but often alone — has popped up on streets, walls and private property throughout the city. On Monday, employees at Allen’s Blueberry Freezer on Main Street discovered the symbol emblazoned five-feet-tall on the side of one of their fuel trucks.
Detective Dotty Small with the Ellsworth Police Department said she first noticed the graffiti on side streets and mailboxes throughout town two weeks ago. The diamond, as well as other tags, has appeared at the Downeast Scenic Railroad, on a dumpster behind Rite-Aid, at Goodwill and at a city garage.
Small estimates the damage has cost each victim hundreds of dollars.
Recurrent graffiti symbols are often an individual or a gang’s way of claiming turf, Small said, and the diamond symbol has started showing up on top of other graffiti — a common sign of disrespect in graffiti circles. Still, she’s not convinced a turf war is imminent in Ellsworth.
“I don’t know at this point what it is,” she said Tuesday. “I’m kind of hoping someone will tell me.”
While most cities deal with graffiti occasionally, police Lt. Harold Page said this level of vandal activity is not common in Ellsworth.
“We don’t have a lot of this,” he said Tuesday. “We have had a few cases of it recently, but it’s not common around here.”
In late summer of 2010, Small said, three young boys were found guilty of tagging across town, including on school property, after the department distributed photos of the graffiti and asked for tips.
“Somebody called in and they knew whose tag it was,” she said. “[It was] three juveniles and they were all charged and worked to clean it up.”
The department is hoping to have the same luck again, and has posted photos of the tag on its Facebook page, seeking tips on the culprit. Aggravated vandalism can be a Class C crime, Small said, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Anyone with information about the graffiti call the police department at 667-2168, or the anonymous line at 669-6114.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
These are not “Artists”. They are petty criminals.
Agreed. Defacing the property of others is not artistic. It is the work of punks.
If you google the image, it has appeared all over the world. I have not found in depth reporting on it, but is might possibly (I repeat, Might Possibly) be part of the awareness campaign surrounding harsh and unfair working conditions in the diamond mines. Idealists sometimes (I repeat, Sometimes) live in their ideal world where rules don’t apply to them. In my humble opinion, Ellsworth should look into having a sanctioned tagging wall. This activity is not going to go away. Just sayin’.
“Sanctioned tagging wall???” How about following these simple steps:
1. Get A Job – Earn A Paycheck
2. Buy your OWN piece of property
3. Spraypaint whatever nonsense you want on your OWN property
– Just Sayin
Get a job? Why would they want to do that? It is too easy to NOT work any more. They can deface property and complain about those of us who work who don’t want to take care of them.
I don’t care to hire trouble makers.. workers comp is not fond of them either… you hire them.
A sanctioned tagging wall? The rationale that, “well, they are going to do it anyway, we might as well give them a nice spot do it” is scary.
Hey, people are going to do bath salts anyway, why not just give them a nice hotel on the edge of town to do it in?
Your’re entitled to an opinion, even if it is ridiculous. LOL!
Other cities and towns have implemented sanctioned tagging walls, and in most cases has proven to be a positive response to a negative element. Redirecting how young people express themselves from illegal and destructive ways can transform lives for the better. I’ve seen it work.
Amen……let’s give the kids a positive place to hang out and express themselves artisitically. The people that dont understand this concept are going to be voting for Romney and will tell you that they aren’t racist because they “have friends that are black.”…..narrow-minded.
How about this…. These thugs…..errrrrr I mean kids can come to my house and mow my lawn. I’ll give them a fair wage. They can then go to Home Depot and buy a sheet of OSB. With that they will have 64 square feet of spray paintable property that they own (if they are smart enough to use both sides).
They can be artistic, express themselves, and learn the value of a buck…. That’s how Romney voters think…
You mean WORK for something. Nah, just have the government (read: you, me and every other taxpayer) GIVE it to them.
Gee, how did we ever get by, um, “expressing” ourselves 25-30 years ago without defacing somebody’s property. How about some actual PARENTING that teaches these presumably kids to have respect for the property of others. Does that make me a racist too?
Blood diamond hmmm…very good theory…. graffiti wall also a good idea.
I like it.
maybe the offenders will see your post and track you down. They can do the same to your house/apartment/car, etc.
One would think that these children that are doing this take this talent and use it in resourceful ways and things and legal ways and things.. instead of “Tagging” everything in site.. it is like a dog peeing on it’s territory! What is the point?? Geez..
Is that old Secretary of State Bill Diamond still around?
hey, that’s the symbol for the “bejeweled blitz” game…
Seeing how this recently became a problem, maybe it’s some jerk here for the summer?
I had a similar thought when reading the story.
Perhaps, but unlikely. Take a look at Bangor in the alleyways on dumpsters and public signs all over town. The same “tag”. The Bangor PD have a file and know who many of them are but without witnesses its hard to convict. These folks appeared enmasse about 3-4 years ago and are still out doing it.
Hey we can send you more punks from Bangor if you want them.. PUNKS, PUNKS, PUNKS, PUNKS, PUNKS,. worthless peices of crap that will never amount to anything, yet the soft left will indoctrinate people into believing it’s art. just wait.
….
It is art, just not fine art. Although they are vandals, they are artist just the same. Es est es.
No they are vandals, plain and simple. People like you are facilitators.
Just some Gang Bangers setting up turf to sell their drugs. The independent locals won’t like it very much.