Edmond Town Hall Graffiti Cleaned;

Repainting Work Remains

By Andrew Gorosko

The use of potent industrial solvents coupled with considerable elbow grease has reduced the level of damage apparent within sections of Edmond Town Hall, where a vandal or vandals recently extensively spray-painted graffiti.

Workmen from JP Maguire Associates, Inc, toiled on Monday and Tuesday to scrub away the extensive paint damage from within an addition on the north side of the building at 45 Main Street. Three of four levels in a stairwell there had been defaced with graffiti.

The building addition housing an elevator and stairwell opened for use in the spring of 2006. The addition was built at a cost of more than $1.5 million. It is designed to improve handicapped access to the 77-year-old building.

The workmen also cleaned graffiti from the gymnasium and two rest rooms.

Police are investigating the vandalism spree that occurred on the night of Friday, July 20, while the building was open to the public and theatergoers were watching the suspense feature film Disturbia. The crime constitutes first-degree criminal mischief, which is a felony.

Tom Mahoney, the administrator for Edmond Town Hall, said this week the bill for the cleanup work is $1,896.

About half of the area that was defaced by graffiti will now need to be repainted, Mr Mahoney said. Those areas include doors, woodwork trim, and window frames, he said. Town hall staffers will do the repainting, he said.

The Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers plans to offer a reward in connection with solving the crime of who vandalized the building, Mr Mahoney said, adding that the managers also will be discussing the vandalism problem and the steps that should be taken to prevent such problems from occurring again.

Mr Mahoney said that in the past there have been sporadic cases of the building’s exterior being vandalized, but not on the large scale of the damage that was done to the building’s interior on July 20.

In that incident, the vandal or vandals found some cans of white spray paint inside the building. They then spray-painted the lowest-level brass outer doors of the building’s new elevator, as well as adjacent external elevator controls. Also, spray paint was used to deface rubberized matting, hand railings, walls, windows, doors, and a heat register. A fire alarm also was spray-painted.

The damage consisted of various random white lines and markings, plus some words and initials, police said. These include, “Jim,” “Donna,” “Jim Loves Donna,” “AR,” and “DO.”

Police ask that anyone who knows who vandalized the building to contact Officer Andrew Stinson at 426-5841 or 270-8888.