Free Republic

ANAHEIM – For the second time in about a week a person in Orange County has been viciously attacked after reportedly confronting a group of taggers. On Sunday night, a man was chased, beaten and stabbed by a group of taggers, which he had confronted in an attempt to keep them from vandalizing a vacant building in Anaheim, police said. Anaheim police responded to reports of a stabbing around 9:30 p.m. in the 2600 block of West Lincoln Avenue. The man, in his 40s, had confronted multiple people who were spray painting graffiti on a wall of the unoccupied building...

Earlier this month Andrew Sullivan, a well-known writer, once in the center, now on the left, nominated me for what is apparently his lowest badge of distinction for defending citizens who shoot to wound graffiti vandals, or "taggers," while committing their vandalism. Under the heading, "Malkin Award Nominee," Sullivan provides a quote from my radio show:

Among the paintings, glassware and photographs always found at the Uptown Art Fair are about a dozen young people sitting at a long table with markers and several sheets paper. They sit side-by-side inside Calhoun Square drawing letters and names in their own personal way. "You can really put yourself out there, show yourself in your art," said 16-year-old Nina Boswell, "It's wild, you know, and just out there everywhere. I'm kind of a wild person." She goes by the name "Milli 9" as a graffiti artist, a medium that sometimes gets a bad name when it's associated with the...

LAPD Senior Lead Officer Gabriel Ahedo believes that the city's installation of lunch-box-sized security cameras over the last six years has discouraged graffiti and illegal dumping. One location, Cohasset Street and Radford Avenue in North Hollywood, saw a sharp decrease in graffiti thanks to the camera, which plays a recorded warning -- "Stop! It is illegal to vandalize this area. . . . Leave now" -- in addition to taking photographs triggered by a motion detector, Ahedo said. "It's made the area a lot safer and seems to deter taggers," he said. City officials eager to show their support for...

Anthony Uranga's spray paint can rattles ... A friend films with a handheld camera while Uranga paints crisp curves ... Hidden in the mural's snarling lines is the name he's been tagging since he was 13, since before he dropped out of high school in Texas, honed his graffiti style in California ... The name: Damet (pronounced "damn it"). As in, "Damet, why did I get caught?" Or, "Damet, this painting looks dope!" He has never been to Chicago before today: March 26, 2004. Two of his three companions are strangers ... He's been working for about 25 minutes...About seven...

Last year, the City of Los Angeles removed more than 27 million square feet of graffiti, enough to squirt a 1-foot-wide swath of Rust-Oleum from Hollywood Boulevard to Fifth Avenue in New York City, then double back to State Street in Chicago. Against the backdrop of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s big, bold quality-of-life initiatives — he’s gonna win the gang war, he’s gonna plant 1 million trees, he’s gonna reform the public schools, he’s gonna solve the traffic snarl — City Hall is locked in an old battle just to slow down thousands of teenage and young-adult tagger vandals who create...

NORTH HILLS - In a sign that the San Fernando Valley's surge in gang violence could be drawing in younger members, police said they arrested a 15-year-old triggerman and his 14-year-old accomplice Wednesday after a drive-by shooting that seriously injured a 12-year-old and two of his teenage friends. The two suspected gang members are accused of attacking three boys who police said belong to a graffiti, or tagging, crew. A third suspect in Tuesday's North Hills drive-by shooting remains at large. "These are not established gang members. These are junior high and high school students who are taking out a...

On Avalon Street in a neighborhood here, Victoria Villicano was known as a devoted mother who was often seen behind the wheel of her sport utility vehicle, driving her two teenage sons to stores and sporting events. But Los Angeles Police Department detectives claim the 42-year-old also drove a five-member tagging crew, including her two children, around several L.A. neighborhoods, stopping long enough for the group to jump out and vandalize. Authorities said they believe the crew is responsible for spray-painting about 100 sites along Sunset Boulevard, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage. Their alleged reign came to...

It's a case of "Tag, you're it!" Graffiti vandals, or taggers as they're known, are in the spotlight of law enforcement in Los Angeles County. Now is the time to keep up the pressure and shine the light even brighter. Graffiti costs taxpayers, business owners and even homeowners millions of dollars each year. But even worse than that is the look that it gives to a community - it's like a big sign that says, "Lowlifes, gang members and all manner of criminals welcome here!" Studies indicate crime goes up after graffiti comes in. Graffiti is how gang members mark...

Vandals spray-painted gang-related messages across an area of Georgetown overnight, leaving an elementary school, a community center, a park and close to a dozen other buildings damaged. Residents woke this morning to find royal blue graffiti, most reading "Crips 4 life" or "Crips" in reference to the notorious gang, on buildings from East 14th Street to East 19th Street in the neighborhood surrounding San Jose Park south of U.S. 29. Portions of the walls of Annie Purl Elementary School, the Getsemani Community Center and buildings at the playground in the park were spray-painted. Some of the messages were as large...