Painting party removes graffiti
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 years, 9 months AGO
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Peninsula Elementary students volunteered to paint over graffiti Friday on a building near the school.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | July 22, 2018 8:36 PM
MOSES LAKE — The first coat of paint wasn’t quite enough. Vandals left graffiti on a building in front of Peninsula Elementary, and while the letters were covered over, it was still possible to read it.
So the crew went back at it. “We don’t want to know what those jerks wrote,” one said.
Peninsula principal Sydney Richins saw the graffiti on her way to work one morning. She took pictures, went around the building and found more, and didn’t like it.
“My first thing is, how can we fix this?” she said.
After thinking it over she approached the building’s owners with a proposal. Richins thought she could get together a crew – of uncertain size but a crew – to paint over the damage, if the owner could supply the paint.
Owner Eric Skaug already had the paint. He too hadn’t liked what he saw, and planned to fix it. He liked Richins’ idea, and gave permission.
The word went out over Peninsula’s social media, inviting kids and parents to a painting party early Friday morning. “How can this bad thing bring out the good in others?” Richins said.
She didn’t know how many kids and parents to expect, especially at 8:30 on a summer Friday morning. But the project attracted about 25 people.
Peninsula students came with their parents, and with older brothers and sisters. Fueled with doughnuts and juice they tackled the damage.
Painting over the actual writing didn’t take long, but the paint on the building was a little weathered and the colors didn’t quite match, and the writing was still faintly visible. So the crew poured more paint, refilled the rollers and started painting over the space between the writing.
The crew attracted the attention of the neighborhood. “Right on,” yelled a man driving by. “Right on.”
Skaug gave the credit to Richins, for coming up with the idea to turn it into a community project. “All I had to do was bring some paint and some tools.” The crew was bigger than he expected, he said, and it’s a good thing to see kids taking pride and ownership in their neighborhood. When kids are involved in their town there are fewer incidents like the graffiti, he said.
Richins said Skaug deserved the credit, power-washing the building to remove debris and allowing the kids to work on the project.
She praised the kids for taking a negative situation and turning it into something positive.
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Quincy man sentenced in controlled substance homicide
EPHRATA — A Quincy man was sentenced to two years in prison in connection after he pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter Tuesday. Abraham Florez Velazquez pleaded guilty and was sentenced in connection with the December 2024 death of Ariel Armas Flores, 27, Quincy. “An autopsy concluded Armas died from an overdose of fentanyl that investigators say was furnished by Florez,” said Kyle Foreman, public information officer for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, in a media release. In a separate interview, Foreman said that Florez was charged with a controlled substance homicide. Those are cases where the victim dies from using controlled substances furnished by the defendant.
Cause of Mattawa-area fire still under investigation
MATTAWA — The cause of a fire that destroyed a Mattawa-area wine production facility Tuesday is still being determined. “I’d say it’s still under investigation at this time,” said Derek Beach, deputy fire marshal for Grant County, Wednesday. Fire crews were briefly called back to Central Washington Wine Production Group facility and tasting room Wednesday. The fire that destroyed the facility about three miles north of Mattawa was originally reported at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Crews were on the scene for most of Tuesday evening.
Scam victim hopes to keep others from falling victim
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake woman lost thousands of dollars to a scammer earlier this week, a story that Kyle Foreman, public information officer for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, said was all too familiar. “The scammer’s career is based on the fact they’re very, very good at convincing people they’re legitimate,” Foreman said. “The contacts are meant to be convincing.” The victim declined to give her name, but said the scammers had what seemed like legitimate answers to the questions she asked. She was concerned that other people would become victims of the same scam. She also wanted people to know what it took to protect herself after she became aware of the scam.