Scott Swanson
A late-night graffiti job temporarily ruined Sweet Home’s most recent mural last week, but some quick action by members of the local Mural Committee got things straightened out.
Someone tagged the mural sometime on June 12 with an anti-establishment message, “No 1984,” and a giant “X” over the painting of former officer Bill Davis in a 1980s-vintage Sweet Home police unit painted on the side of the building at 1206 Main St. Someone came back later in the week and added more – a peace sign and some off-color comments on the bare wall to the right of the mural.
According to Sweet Home Police Department spokeswoman Gina Riley, Sgt. Jeff Lynn was dispatched to the first tagging on June 12 at 7 p.m.
Larry Kangas paints over graffiti on a mural of a Sweet Home police unit on the side of the building at 1206 Main St. Thursday, June 13.
According to police, a CenturyLink employee reported graffiti on the CenturyLink building, 1208 10th Ave. A spray paint can was located at that site and seized as evidence.
On his way to that call is when he saw that graffiti had been applied to the police car mural. Lynn did not locate anything of evidentiary value in the area of the mural, she said.
The paint used on the mural was black. The paint at CenturyLink was white.
“It’s hard to say if they’re related,” Sweet Home Police Sgt. Jason Van Eck said, and the graffiti at CenturyLink wasn’t legible.
Muralist Larry Kangas said this isn’t the first of his murals that has been defaced. A “big one” in Seattle got a similar tag job and he had to fix that one too.
He said he “cancelled everything” and headed down to Sweet Home from Beaverton when he heard about the graffiti job.
He said passers-by were honking and giving him thumbs-ups as he repainted parts of the mural Wednesday.
“It isn’t until something is gone or modified in the community that they appreciate it,” he said.
“Hopefully, I can make this look good again. Maybe it will end up better.
“It takes so many layers to hide something like that (graffiti),” he said as he lathered cream-colored paint over the black streaks.
Bill Nyara, chair of the Sweet Home Active Revitalization Effort (SHARE) Murals Committee, said a reward fund is being collected that will be offered to try to apprehend the culprit. As of Monday, the reward amount was over $200.
Anyone who is interested in contributing can contact him at (541) 401-9559 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Anyone interested in collecting should contact police at (541) 367-5181.
The $3,000 mural was completed May 14 by Kangas, of Beaverton, who has painted other murals in Sweet Home.
Kangas actually painted the original mural over the winter on material called Pellon. That approach enabled him to take his time and not have to rush the job, Nyara said.
The mural was attached to the wall with adhesive and gel.
“He can do it at his leisure, regardless of weather,” he said. “The Pellon material, after the gel is applied, actually supports the wall. It provides an outside coating on the concrete block wall.”
Nyara said it cost $400 to get the damage repaired. Kangas worked Wednesday, June 13, to repair the damage and make some changes to the painting, adding a title: “1911-2011 – A Century of Service” to the upper left-hand corner, and making Davis look a little friendlier.
“Bill was not smiling and waving in the first one,” Nyara said.
He said he has gotten mainly positive reactions from local residents to the mural, though he and others were disappointed that they couldn’t locate a historically accurate photo of an older police car.
“The Mural Committee tried for three months to get a photo,” he said. Committee members came up empty after asking at City Hall and the Police Department, working the word-of-mouth angle, announcing their quest in The New Era and searching through old newspapers.
“The retired officer in the car provided the oldest photo,” Nyara said. “A gentleman in Albany had to provide a full-length depiction of the car. Those were the only two responses we got.
“I would have liked to have a 50-year-old car.”
The mural was supposed to get a final, protective clear coat called Monocam, which was applied last week after Kangas made his repairs. It will make cleaning the mural easier, Kangas and Nyara said.
Also, Nyara said, the bare wall around the mural will be painted soon.