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...

¥®O

That | NEWS |

Be

al

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.