Ready to fight the graffiti

Some of the unfinished houses all over Lehigh have been the target of kids with spray cans leaving graffiti. But now a group of students from East Lee County High School say they have had enough of it and their teachers agree.

Last week, a group of around 50 students, all members of the National Honor Society, gathered at the corner of Jaguar Blvd. and Oakridge Ave. One of their teachers, Tom Busatta, who teaches reading and coaches soccer, gathered students around one side of the house where graffiti had been left by what appeared to be kids who may be gang members.

“The bad thing about these wanna be gang members is they can’t even spell,” Busatta said, as he handed out paint rollers and paint brushes to the kids ready

to tackle the job and cover the graffiti.

Pointing to one side of the house, Busatta pointed to the areas where the students would start painting.

Preparing the paint job

“Let’s draw a box here,” he said. “We got paint donated to us by Home Depot on Colonial Blvd. so we’re going to put it to good use, right?”

And the students responded with loud shouts of “yeah, let’s go.”

Busatta said the site was chosen because it is on one of the main roads – Jaguar Blvd. – to East Lee County High School on Thomas Sherwin Ave, near

Milwaukee Blvd., and is visible to lots of students and others who travel that route.

“Our principal, Ron Davis, comes this way and when we suggested that these kids wanted to use community service hours to paint over the graffiti. Mr. Davis was very supportive and said he was proud of the students who wanted to get rid of

Starting with the yellow paint

the graffiti.

Busatta, originally from the Bronx in New York City, said the “wanna be” gang kids who vandalize homes all over Lehigh with their spray cans, couldn’t even spell the correct name of the gang they claim to be members of.

The students laughed.

Felix Hernandez, a senior at the school, said he thought “these kids who do the graffiti have nothing more to do.”

“They don’t have any kind of life to be doing this kind of stuff,” he said.

Students step up to the plate to take their turn painting over graffiti

Tina Preston, the school’s librarian, came along to accompany the students.

“They’re doing a great job here,” she said. “These community hours will go a long way for these students who all are planning to go to college.”

Alejandra Dzib, a sophomore, says she is planning to go to college and study criminology to help battle this type of vandalism.

“These kids in the community have nothing better to do. These homes are nice houses and it would be great to see them finished with good people moving into the neighborhoods,” she said.

There is a for sale sign in front of the half-built house and the real estate agent, Porter Davis, said he appreciated what the kids are doing.

Teacher Tom Busatta overseeing paint job.

Busatta said the house went into foreclosure and it went through the system and is owned by some bank far away from Florida, somewhere in he Midwest.

“It took a lot of time finding the banks that owned this property. We had to get permission from them to come onto the land and get rid of the graffiti,”

Busatta said.

“They were glad we were interested enough in doing something like this.”

Julie Wainilko, a junior, said the graffiti was “degrading to the community.”

“These kids who do this type of vandalism are usually drop-outs with nowhere to go in their lives. They end up in trouble … this kind of stuff won’t get

them anywhere. They have no future.”

“Their spelling is funny, isn’t it,” Busatta said to his students as they began painting.

“They think they’re members of the Cribs and they can’t even spell Cribs correctly. Here on the wall it’s spelled ‘Cribes’ – that shows you what type of kids they are. Across the side of the house were the words: “East Cribes

Kill.”

Someone, more likely a neighbor in the sparse area of Lehigh, had taken some gray paint and tried to cover the words, but they still could be seen from the street.

But when the kids finished after about two hours, the side of the house was yellow and gray and there was no evidence of graffiti. National Honor Society students are those that maintain a high GPA during

their high school career. Most attend college and graduate with good marks, Busatta said.

He said he has talked to Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott and he congratulated the students and said it was fine with him if they wanted to cover up graffiti on other homes in Lehigh.

“That’s our goal right now. That is how we are going to spend some of our time. This is our community and I think the kids at East Lee County High School want to show that not all kids are bad kids. They want an attractive community because this is where most of them live.”

Graffiti is defined as vandalism and those who spray paint other people’s properties can be arrested and charged with a serious crime.

The Sheriff’s Office has asked the public in the past that they should report signs of graffiti whenever they see it. Usually the Sheriff’s Office will find

a way to paint over the graffiti as soon as it is reported.