Remember the absurdity of the Grand Rapids graffiti crackdown?

The Grand Rapids Press

EAST GRAND RAPIDS — A tip from an East Grand Rapids High School student helped law enforcement track down two people accused of vandalizing parts of Gaslight Village.

The pair — a 21-year-old Grandville man and 20-year-old Walker woman — agreed to turn themselves in and were scheduled to be arraigned this week. They are charged with defacing public property and unlawful public posting, misdemeanors punishable by a $500 fine and up to 90 days in jail.

The pair caused more than $1,000 worth of damage to street signs, utility boxes, newspaper stands and restrooms at John Collins Park, said Officer Ryan Holmes, of the East Grand Rapids Public Safety Department.

Holmes said the student’s tip led to the Walker woman’s Xanga Web site. A search of her home turned up property from the other vandal, Holmes said.

The pair were involved in “tagging,” an activity popular among high school and college-age people, who pick targets to mark and then often display the work on a Web site, police said.

The Grandville man signs his graffiti as “Rank,” and the Walker woman signs hers “Nos,” according to reports.

The Grand Rapids Press

Two vandals face charges for allegedly defacing Gaslight Village property. A 20-year-old Walker woman, who signs her graffiti “Nos,” and a 21-year-old Grandville man who signs his work,”Rank,” are expected to be arraigned on misdemeanor charges next week. They targeted street signs, utility boxes, newspaper stands and public restrooms in Gaslight Village over a three-month period, according to East Grand Rapids Public Safety school-community liaison Officer Ryan Holmes. The two are also suspected of defacing property in Eastown and on some Grand Rapids overpasses.

One of the bloggers over at g-rad.org has an interesting story up about how they were stopped by a Grand Rapids Police Department officer and questioned about whether or not they were taking pictures of graffiti. According to the account, the officer justified his actions by stating that he was concerned about “graffiti and terrorism.”

The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS — Two Byron Center teens were charged with tagging downtown businesses and streets after an off-duty sergeant heard the vandals at work.

It was just before 5:30 a.m. Jan. 15, and Sgt. Elliott Bargas was walking, a block from the police station, when the sound of a car alarm and odd squeaking caught his attention.

The squeaking was the sound of purple and black magic markers on an electrical box at the corner of Louis Street and Ionia Avenue SW.

The sergeant gave chase for two blocks and called for more officers, who nabbed the teens.

Once he got to work, the curious Bargas headed south toward the initial sound of the car alarm and saw extensive graffiti on 15 buildings and marks on the United Way sign downtown.

Two 17-year-olds were arraigned before Chief District Judge Ben Logan, charged with malicious destruction of property.

“It was tagging, not a gang-type graffiti,” the sergeant said.

As police brought the teens to jail, an arresting officer told the kids they shouldn’t have done it one block from the police department and in front of an off-duty officer.

“We didn’t know he was a cop, otherwise we wouldn’t have done it,” one said, according to the police report.

The Grand Rapids Press

At the start of a CIty Commission meeting, Mayor George Heartwell had a warning for graffiti artists who might be watching on cable TV. “You tag us, we’re going to tag you harder. We will find you, and it won’t be to recognize you as an artist,” he said. Heartwell was reacting to the recent arrests of two men. The mayor as legendary tough-guy crime-buster Eliot Ness? Commissioner Rick Tormala likened him to the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. “Shoot to kill,” Tormala said, referring to Daley and the 1968 riots. The look on Heartwell’s face showed he didn’t appreciate the comparison.

By Theresa D. Mcclellan / The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS — Police say they got lucky when a witness allegedly spotted Timothy Maddox, 22, and Matthew Wyatt, 27, taking turns tagging a building at 13 McDonell St. SW with spray paint.

The Grand Rapids men — the oldest graffiti suspects nabbed in the city — reportedly left their marks on downtown buildings just for fun. But for authorities, the paint is malicious destruction of property, a maximum five-year felony.

“I know they have no record, but we’re recommending jail time, 90 days in jail plus restitution,” said Grand Rapids police Lt. Ralph Mason.

Wyatt waived his preliminary exam in Grand Rapids District Court Tuesday and was ordered to stand trial in Kent County Circuit Court.

Maddox pleaded guilty Tuesday to a lesser charge, destruction of property, which is a misdemeanor. He and his attorney, Larry Willey, declined to comment.

Both suspects remain free on bond.

“They were doing their name and a little design. They are the oldest we’ve arrested for graffiti,” said Todd Tofferi, an administrative analyst for the city’s streets and sanitation.

Most graffiti people — Tofferi refuses to call them artists — are between 18 and 30 years old.

“The thing is, some of these people do have some talent. Not these guys. But some have talent, and they could do something with it,” Tofferi said.

The duo allegedly used the tag of “tank,” which Tofferi said the city has been erasing for at least five years, although police do not know how long the two suspects allegedly have been defacing buildings.

Tofferi said the city has spent $60,000 cleaning up neighborhood graffiti in the past year.

He said the taggers allegedly hit several businesses on Commerce and Ionia avenues, including a new building at Oaks Street and Ionia.

“This is crazy. They need to get a life,” Mason said.

“What are you doing, two grown men drawing on walls?”

Police want others to know that leaving their mark on buildings could have them doing serious time.

Assistant Kent County Prosecutor John Crozier said authorities are looking at restitution.

“I guess they’re going to have to get jobs like the rest of us,” Crozier said.

By Ken Kolker / The Grand Rapids Press

On a brick wall outside Henry Paideia Academy, and on many other buildings around Grand Rapids, the battle lines are drawn with cans of spray paint.

It’s Meek vs. Ren.

To each other and their friends, they are known as prolific street artists, or writers.

To police who want to catch them, and business owners who spend thousands of dollars cleaning up after them, they are known as “taggers” or blight-causing vandals. They are not members of street gangs.

A Grand Rapids police officer who specializes in tagging said the taggers known as “Meek” and “Ren” have made the biggest marks in the city since the vandalism started in earnest last summer.

It appears they are competitors, with distinctive signatures and cartoon-like characters, who have commanded a following of at least 20 other taggers, said Community Police Officer Thomas Gootjes. They often hit the same buildings or highway supports, sometimes crossing out the other’s work.

Gootjes said police are working on leads to identify Meek and Ren. They are trying to determine whether their widespread work has turned them into leaders of two distinctive but loose-knit groups of taggers, he said. The five teens arrested by police Feb. 11 and Feb. 12 outside of a graffiti-covered building at 920 Cherry St. SE were members of the Notorious Bomb Crew, or NBC, Gootjes said.

He said the five — two adult students from Grand Rapids Christian High School, two 16-year-olds from East Grand Rapids High School and a 16-year-old from Byron Center High School — didn’t all necessarily know each other.

Police have identified the two adults as Dylan Hettinga, 17, and Benjamin Witte, 18. Family members for both refused comment.

Police would not release the juveniles’ names because they are minors, and juvenile court officials said they had not appeared in court. All five are charged or face charges of illegal entry, a misdemeanor.

Those involved call themselves “punkers.” They listen to punk rock and hang out at coffee shops, where they sometimes plan their tagging. They are a mixture of suburbanites and city dwellers. Some are high-schoolers, some are in college. Some could be artists.

“Given the right places, I think it would be art,” Gootjes said on Thursday as police led reporters on a tour of some of the graffiti, including at Henry Paidiea Academy, at Henry Avenue and Wealthy Street SE. It appears three or four taggers hit the school, including Meek and Ren.

The taggers have proliferated along the Wealthy Street SE corridor, from Eastown to the South Division area, he said. They have hit to the north in downtown, and along Plainfield Avenue NE, and south to Franklin Street SE. Some, including Meek, have struck as far away as Muskegon, he said.

They have their own Web site, where they post their artwork. The Web site, featuring “Grand Rapids Graffiti and Street Art,” went online in summer 2003 “as a way of documenting graffiti art in Grand Rapids,” the site states.

“We consider it outrageous that blank walls are considered better than walls covered in art, so we aim to document what we see so that it at least remains on display somewhere,” the site states.

Gootjes said the taggers usually work at night, then return to their urban canvasses to take photos, which they post on the Web site.

The city is taking the taggers seriously because of the damage they cause — not only to buildings and public property, but to the city’s image, said Lt. Ralph Mason. Visitors might think the graffiti is gang-related, he said.

Police said they hope publicity will lead parents, friends, even art teachers to turn in suspects.

Anyone with information is asked to call Silent Observer at 774-2345.

By Morgan Jarema / The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS — A recent outbreak of graffiti in the city is being blamed on high school students from Byron Center, Grand Rapids Christian and East Grand Rapids, police said.

“While we’re working hard to redevelop this neighborhood, those from higher economic neighborhoods are imposing the blight, and that’s a tragedy,” said Guy Bazzani, whose commercial building at 920 Cherry St. SE was the site of five arrests last weekend.

“They’re robbing the soul of this community,” he said.

Dylan Hettinga, 17, and Benjamin Witte, 18, both Grand Rapids residents, were charged Wednesday with entering without permission, a 90-day misdemeanor. They were arrested Feb. 11.

Separately, three 16-year-olds were arrested on Feb. 12, also at 920 Cherry, and face identical charges, Lt. Ralph Mason said. Police have not released their names before they appear in juvenile court.

There also are others involved, Mason said. The suspects told police that areas to be “tagged” are determined by a group of graffiti artists from the suburbs.

“We know it’s not just these five, there’s no question,” Mason said.

Todd Tofferi, of the Streets and Sanitation Department, said the city does not have a budget for graffiti cleanup, but “we probably spend at least $40,000 a year.”

“You have at least a dozen or so taggers who want to put their artwork wherever they feel like it,” he said. “Until recently, it’s mostly been under overpasses and in alleys, but some of these individuals have gotten more bold and do a whole sweep in one area.”

He said the city is working on an ordinance that would require community service and possibly electronic tethers for people who are caught.

Angie Dow, chairwoman of the graphic design program at Kendall College of Art &Design, stopped class Wednesday to talk to students about the vandalism.

Dow said graffiti artists might choose to avoid legitimate places to display their art or they do it out of rebellion.

“Is it considered talent? Resoundingly yes,” Dow said. ” If it’s on private property, that’s vandalism.”

Bazzani, who is working to renovate his Cherry Street building for the Inner City Christian Federation, said about $5,000 has been spent to increase security because of vandalism. Cleanup could cost “tens of thousands.”