Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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November 14, 2009

Volunteers come together to rid area of unsightly graffiti

By GREG JORDAN

PRINCETON — Sounds of traffic passing overhead roared through concrete and steel Saturday as volunteers covered graffiti and worked to better the looks of a Princeton area community.

Community Connections, members of the Drug Free All Stars and the West Virginia Blazers worked to paint over graffiti sprayed on the Interstate 77 bridges near the intersection of Eads Mill Road and Route 20 at Melrose Square.

“We’re getting it cleaned up, but it isn’t easy,” said Greg Puckett of Community Connections. “That paint has sand in it. It’s a special concrete paint.”

Volunteers were hoping to cover an eyesore for the community around Melrose Square and for the people who drive the roads there, Puckett said.

“Graffiti isn’t a culturally accepted art form and certainly not for our underpasses and overpasses,” he said.

Volunteers with gritty paint clinging to their hands and clothes took a break from painting the bridge pylons as traffic went by.

“It’s really thick paint,” Chris Nichols of the West Virginia Blazers remarked. “The hardest spots are the black paint, so it’s a good thing that the paint’s thick.”

One goal is to change the site’s physical appearance and help change mind sets, he said.

Little of the graffiti seen at the bridges was gang related. The majority involved little hearts and the word “love,” said Jordan Carter of the Blazers.

“I’ve seen a lot of little hearts. So and so loves so and so,” he said.

Lowe’s donated supplies, and the West Virginia Turnpike Authority and the West Virginia Department of Highways helped with the project.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

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