Published: October 02, 2008 05:06 pm         

Reward

Homeowner sets worthy example

Congratulations to Wilbur Bingaman.

Bingaman is a Logansport resident who has had the misfortune of being hit by vandals twice in recent months. First, someone spray painted one whole side of his van, which was parked right in front of his house. Then, one morning this week, he awoke to find graffiti on his garage.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Bingaman got mad.

He called the newspaper and said he was going to head right out and start cleaning the green spray paint off the garage. He was following the advice of experts that graffiti victims eradicate these acts of vandalism as quickly as possible.

The experts say leaving these marks in place simply encourages the vandals, perhaps inspiring them to come back and add more. The victim’s best bet is to wipe them out almost before the vandals have a chance to admire their work.

Thus Bingaman’s first reaction is one every graffiti victim would do well to follow.

His second might be a bit more difficult to copy. Bingaman put up $1,000 of his own money as a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the culprit.

Of course, that reaction might be preferable to another option Bingaman briefly considered. He admits that he called the prosecutor’s office to ask whether he could take matters into his own hands.

“If I catch them, can I club them?” he asked.

He understands that he can’t, of course, but we understand the sentiment.

Folks like Bingaman are proud of their homes and of their neighborhoods. They work hard to make a Logansport a nice place to call home and raise a family.

And they’re just plain ticked off that someone is out ruining their hard work with a can of spray paint.

The good news is that police are taking these crimes seriously. They’ve spent hundreds of hours patrolling neighborhoods, and they’ve already arrested a number of adolescents — some for curfew violations and others for acts of vandalism.

Sadly, those efforts have not yet eradicated graffiti from the local landscape.

Still, we encourage police to continue their efforts, and we applaud Bingaman for setting an example the rest of us can follow.



Have a tip?

Anyone with information on graffiti cases is asked to call Cass County Crime Stoppers at (574) 722-STOP. Tips can be left anonymously and may lead to a reward of up to $1,000.