A Central Middle School facility has been vandalized.
A storage building near the school’s football field has been defaced with spray-painted symbols similar to those sprayed on the Bartholomew County Public Library and the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce buildings. Library and chamber officials believe that these acts of vandalism may have occurred around Dec. 8 or 9.
“We think it was tied to the same event,” said Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. Director of Operations Brett Boezeman. There are no cameras near the affected building.
Moving forward, BCSC will communicate with the Columbus Police Department, and the grounds crew is working to remove the paint.
“Sometimes it’s easier to remove than other times, and this is one that’s a little more difficult,” said Boezeman. “So they’re trying some different products now to get it removed.”
He said that Central has been hit by vandalism before. Some of the school’s sidewalks and track were tagged as part of an extensive spray-painting spree discovered in late March 2020. Spray paint was discovered on homes, buildings, vehicles, schools, churches and other spaces.
Three 16-year-old juveniles were detained after images of them were discovered on cameras in the downtown area, one of the teens carrying a spray-paint can and another attempting to open a vehicle door.
The chamber building and the library’s Large Arch sculpture were also defaced at that time.
Library director Jason Hatton said he hasn’t heard any news about who may have vandalized the library this time.
“It definitely sounds like they were making rounds in the downtown area,” he noted.
Hatton added that he’s grateful to S&W Contracting, who reached out to the library and offered to clean off the spray paint for free after hearing about the situation. While the library’s facilities staff had been able to get some of the marks to fade, they hadn’t been able to entirely remove the paint. Now, thanks to S&W, the building’s exterior seems to be paint-free, said Hatton.
