Bold if not creative, one culprit surprised city cops by tagging a wall across the street from the police station.
LEWISTON – In some cities, it’s known as the newspaper of the streets. Locally, it’s known as a big, ugly nuisance and police want it to stop.
Fresh incidents of graffiti have appeared around Lewiston. Police say the culprits are as bold as they are creative.
Sometime over the weekend, a graffiti artist spray-painted handiwork on a Spruce Street wall, directly across from the police station.
“That one really caught my eye,” said police Lt. Paul Harmon. “They did it right outside our compound.”
By the end of the day Monday, that graffiti had been removed from the wall of Country Kitchen. But other traces of new artwork could be found in different locations around the downtown area.
On the lower level of the new parking garage along Park Street, bright, red spray paint adorned a cement wall.
It appeared to be three characters in quotation marks with a scribble underneath. What it says or what it means has not been determined.
“It looks like more than someone just playing around,” Harmon said.
The same symbol was also found on the Ash Street side of the Financial Institutions Services Corp. building, only written in blue.
Police said they have no reason to believe the graffiti is related to gang activity. The problem with spray painting on buildings here is one they have contended with many times in the past.
“It comes and goes,” Harmon said. “If it continues, all of a sudden you have a big, ugly wall and someone has to pay to clean it.”
Typically, removing spray paint from brick or cement requires professional cleaning, with high-powered sprayers or sand-blasting.
Police in Auburn Monday said they were not aware of any recent graffiti in that city.
“It hasn’t been too bad around here that I recall,” said Lt. Paul Labarre. “It’s a hit or miss kind of thing. We’ll see it pop up here and there and then nothing.”
In Lewiston, police were asking business owners, parents and all residents to keep their eyes open for anyone who might be stocking up on spray-paint for illicit purposes.
If a group of children are in a store late at night buying several colors of spray paint, said Harmon, “they’re probably not getting ready to paint a car.”
mlaflamme@sunjournal.com
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