City workers frustrated at constant sidewalk vandals

     Vandals impeded Milledgeville’s attempts to fix cracked sidewalks by carving graffiti into the wet concrete.
     The City of Milledgeville is in the process of replacing sidewalks that are cracked and uneven to make the city a nicer place for residents.
     Workers went home after a full day of pouring concrete on S. Wayne Street on Jan. 15 and returned the next morning to find graffiti covering the sidewalks which they then had to re-pour.
     The second incident occurred on Jan. 24 at the corner of W. Montgomery and N. Clarke streets. The vandals came while workers were on their lunch break and carved graffiti into the freshly poured concrete.
     According to Jack Graham, Milledgeville City marshal, one worker was paid overtime to stay and make sure the vandals did not return. Despite their efforts, the workers returned the next morning to find more graffiti on the sidewalks.
     It was a necessity that the sidewalks all be re-done, which involves re-wetting the cement and re-dressing the sidewalk. This process is labor intensive and was completely unnecessary but for the graffiti.
     “Some of the graffiti was inappropriate language. It would be really embarrassing for the area residents and our visitors to have seen, and that’s why we had to redo the sidewalk,” Graham said.
     Dr. Harshbarger, dean of students, and Dave Groseclose, director of Public Safety, are both suspicious that students may have been involved. The act seemed like a prank to Harshbarger because of the initials and dirty words that were drawn. According to Graham, sorority and fraternity symbols as well as nick names were also drawn onto the sidewalks. The location of the graffiti, which is on campus and close to the library, is another reason that Harshbarger suspected students’ involvement.
     Harshbarger sent out an e-mail to all GCSU students to make sure everybody was aware of the situation and to try and make completing the rest of the sidewalks an easier task for the workers.
     “We are patrolling to keep an eye on things, but there is no active investigation going on,” Groseclose said.
     Anybody seen vandalizing in the area is subject to arrest and students seen vandalizing will be charged under the GCSU Honor Code which could lead to expulsion from the university.
     There was some debate over whether or not to continue fixing sidewalks in the area, but it has been decided that the project will continue.
     “Our efforts to make Milledgeville a nicer place to live will continue. We want the kids to know it’s their community too,” Graham said.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 8 2008. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry