Sweet Home police apparently interrupted and then arrested a 20-year-old man early Friday morning in connection with graffiti that allegedly was applied to a mural that depicted a police officer near the corner of Main Street and 12th Avenue.
Daniel Paul Goughner was arrested for third-degree criminal mischief.
The mural depicts a police officer waving from the window of a patrol car.
“An officer on patrol observed a male standing near the corner of the structure,” said Police Chief Jeff Lynn. As the officer drove past, the subject ran south across Main Street.
Officers located the subject on 12th Avenue near Long Street, Lynn said, and he admitted to damaging the mural. The officer seized a couple of cans of spray paint.
“I’ve been working on it today,” said Bill Nyara, a member of the murals committee. The mural was painted by the late Larry Kangas. Just after he finished the mural, it had been defaced. Kangas returned to repair the mural and then covered it in an anti-graffiti compound.
Nyara said the committee can order another substance that will work with the anti-graffiti compound to remove the spray paint.