Resident wants schools to act on graffiti issue BY MICHAEL ACKER Staff Writer SAYREVILLE - Tired of seeing graffiti around town, borough resident Barbara Kilcomons is hoping school officials will step up efforts to prevent what she believes is the work of teenage students. "What upsets me around the community is the increase of graffiti being done by young students," Kilcomons said during the Board of Education's Jan. 16 meeting. Graffiti is frequently found on both public and private properties in the borough, she noted. Recently, police reported graffiti on a trailer parked at North Carolina Furnitureland, Main Street, found at 1:55 a.m. Jan. 9. Another recent graffiti scene was the Knights of Columbus building on Washington Road. Last month, patrolmen Brian Braile and Jason Mader arrested three 13-year-old boys, all of Sayreville, on criminal mischief charges. They are accused of spray-painting several properties in the area of Green Valley Way near the intersection of Main Street and Washington Road at 7:16 p.m. Dec. 17. "The town is an eyesore," Kilcomons said at the meeting, "and the graffiti does not help." Juveniles who spray walls, trucks and properties around the borough grow bolder every day, Kilcomons said. Graffiti writers are beginning to mark, or "tag," private residences in addition to commercial and public properties, she noted. One private property vandalized recently is on Canal Street, where unknown suspects spray-painted graffiti on a white fence facing Memorial Drive sometime after 7 a.m. Dec. 16. Another incident occurred in June when a van parked outside a residence on Eulner Street was marked with a swastika and various expletives. Kilcomons noted that a lot of graffiti is seen on main corridors in town like Washington Road and Bordentown Avenue. "Aesthetically, I feel like we live in the city or in the ghetto," Kilcomons said. "... It is rampant in the community and it is probably being done by students." Board of Education President Michael Macagnone said the school district does not tolerate vandalism, noting for example the arrest of juveniles for spray-painting buses. "They were caught and prosecuted," Macagnone said. School resource officers (SROs), police officers who work in the schools, talk to children about the risks involved with such activity, Macagnone added. "The SROs go into classes and talk about drugs, graffiti, crime," Macagnone said. SROs are notified of any graffiti found on school property, and they determine whether the marking is related to a gang, Macagnone said. He added that he believes in the approach taken by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani to attack the small problems so that the big ones never happen. Kilcomons asked that the district be proactive about graffiti, adding that police should make the repercussions of such actions clear to students. "They seem to be very talented individuals," Kilcomons said of graffiti writers. "I wish their talents could be funneled in a positive way."