No one has the
right to deface
other’s property

LATELY, LOTS of high
schools have been van-
dalized by gangs and
youths.

> By Katie Nichols “a
> ZAP! Contributor «

Although schools are vandalized
every day by students who draw
on desks, walls and lockers, the
things recently done to schools
have taken more work, time and
money to clean up.

While many people were
shocked by this and others were
ambivalent, the vandalism has af-
fected all of us.

Many of us can't understand
why people damage things on
purpose. Maybe. they want to

- leave their mark on the world, or
they just feel like expressing
themselves through an art form

’ that everyone can see.

Although some graffiti artists
actually do nice work, vandals
simply | deface and destroy another
person’s property. This can cost

. ‘the owner hundreds of dollars in
‘repairs. Some people think that if

it looks nice, leave it.

o T.F., 16: ‘I think that if the

spray painting is done in good

taste, it should stay because it.

adds color to the school.’’

As an example, Sutherland was
vandalized last year, and the
drawing is still there because there
is nothing offensive about it. But
even if you think that it. looks
nice, it doesn’t give you the right
to destroy other people’s property.

For those people who want to
leave their mark on the werld, you

are going about it the wrong way...

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That | NEWS |

Be

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SOME TEENS have turned to vandalism as

a way of expressing themselves, while

others think that writing grafitti on schools

or damaging property is wasted energy.

What do you think? Have you ever thought

about writing grafitti or doing damage to_
someone's property? Do you think vandals

have any point?

ron photo :

VANDAIS HIT Sutherland secondary school recently. Many students believe this was a waste of time and effort of their part because.
it was cleaned up quickly after it happened and made no real statement. ,

like “Go Girls!,’”” ‘““CMP”
several vulgar phrases.

I was surprised that someone
would even bother to do this and I
was even more surprised that
while the teachers and _ parents
were shocked and furious, hardly
any of the students cared.

The majority of the students
couldn’t understand why someone

and

4& They feel that vandalism is the only
way that they can make people notice

them. 99

If you want to leave your mark,
make it positive. Why don’t you
do something in your community
to make things better?

Other people vandalize things:

because they are lashing out at
someone or something. They feel
that vandalism is the only way
that they can make people notice
them.

What motivated the vandalism
done to Sutherland secondary
school recently? The front of the
schoo] :was covered with phrases

would waste the amount of time it
took to spray paint the school.

o M.S., 16: “I was sort of in-
sulted. Now people might think
that I go to a bad school. Other
than that, I think those people
{the vandals) wasted their time. It
makes them look stupid.”’

@ A.S., 15: ‘“‘When [I saw it, |
laughed. It iooks really dumb.”’

@ M.B., 17: ‘‘T think that it looks
like a bunch of immature, il-
literate kids took spray paint and
wrete every bad word that they

could think of on the school.”’

o D.M.,, 16: ‘They should have
used better colors.”

@ R.L., 16: “Don’t students feel
anything for their school? As far
as I’m concerned, | take it as a
personal violation. After all, it is
my school!’’

By Monday, it had all been
cleaned up. Nothing was left, so it
was soon forgotten.

So why do people do it? That i is
a question you should ask the
vandals,

They might have done it
because at the time they thought
that it would be a cool thing to
do. Maybe they had something
against the school. It might have
also been a gang of youths who
had nothing better to do.

Perhaps, if people thought
about the consequences of their
actions before they went out and
damaged other people’s property,
there might be less vandalism. Of
course, there will always be the
people who don’t care about the
hurt they inflict on their victims.

Katie Nichols is 16 years old,
and a Grade I! student at
Sutherland secondary school. She
likes sports, including volleyball,
basketball, ringette, skiing, and
swimming. Katie would like to
have a career in the media or film
industry.

Photo submitted

CHRIS MARTIN stars in the ‘‘Tough Cries” episode of
Madison, a new teen drama series being shot on the North
Shore.

WHERE’S WALDO™ Martin Hanford
Licensed hy Copyrights. All Rights Reacived.