Sports club receives help from anti-graffiti ‘superhero’

PENTICTON – Graffiti vandalism is no match for a Penticton Facebook group that seems to prefer the anonymity typical of a comic book superhero.

Earlier this week, Penticton Pinnacles Football Club executive were paid a visit by a "person unknown" who offered to clean up some graffiti on the football club’s property – for free.

“We’ve had issues with graffiti. It’s gotten worse the last one or two years,” said PFC Executive Director and Head Coach, Ezra Cremers.

“A gentleman offered to fix our graffiti for free. I thought, nothing’s free, but they insisted they would," he said. “They explained to me if you don’t cover it up right away, it just encourages more, and it seems we are a target now.”

Graffiti on a couple of steel storage containers was cleaned up with primer by the gentleman on Jan. 22.

Cremers said, as a non-profit society, the football club didn’t have the funds to constantly clean graffiti.

Neither Cremers nor PFC Executive Administrator Keri Afonso could say for sure if the gentleman was from the Penticton Facebook group “Penticton Graffiti Task Force” but a Facebook notice posted by Kyle Bachmann, an administrator of the group, stated there would be a clean up of graffiti at the Adidas Sportsplex on Jan. 22.

“If it was them, to have a group like this in the city is very refreshing,” Cremers said.

“They were very proactive, and it was free. We were delighted,” said Afonso.

Penticton Councillor Judy Sentes brought up the issue of graffiti vandalism with Penticton RCMP Superintendent Kevin Hewco during the Jan. 22 regular regional district board meeting. He suggested the problem harkened back to the parents, who should be aware if their kids have spray paint, and questioning that possession.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.