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Graffiti
‘It’s one individual’: Salmon Arm says anti-Muslim graffiti not representative of wider community
SALMON ARM – Police believe a case of racist graffiti in Salmon Arm is an…
Graffiti vandalism suspect caught by Kamloops police
KAMLOOPS – A man accused of spraying a Kamloops restaurant with graffiti is cooling his heels in the RCMP lockup. Police say the man was arrested near the restaurant in the city’s downtown New Year’s Eve morning, Dec. 31. The accused had a bail hearing before a Judicial Justice of the Peace at the RCMP...
Anti-Harper graffiti continues in Kamloops despite Conservative election loss
KAMLOOPS - The election was over more than two weeks ago but taggers in Kamloops either haven't heard or just want to make sure their delayed political message, while sometimes misspelled, is still heard. Anti-Harper graffiti was around before the election started, but according to Graffiti Task Force director Ronnie Bouvier, the tagging has increased...
Task Force signs deal with Canada Post for graffiti clean-up
KAMLOOPS — There are plans to have every graffiti covered mailbox in Kamloops clean before the end of September after Canada Post signed a three-year agreement with the city’s Graffiti Task Force. Ronnie Bouvier with the Task Force says the agreement came after a communication failure between the city, Canada Post’s Ottawa office and the...
Graffiti tagging hits all time high in Kamloops
KAMLOOPS - The amount of graffiti tags being cleaned up on a daily basis in Kamloops is roughly equivalent to the entire outside of two 1,000-square-foot homes, including the roofs. While crews were even out regularly cleaning graffiti-covered surfaces during the winter months this year, the Graffiti Task Force has had to increase the number...
City moves ahead with graffiti management strategy
PENTICTON - The city’s desire to take action against graffiti was firmed up at the March 16 meeting of council with approval of a graffiti management policy. A Graffiti Management Strategy was introduced at a Committee of the Whole meeting on Feb. 2., with key elements in the strategy involving enforcement and education, reporting and...
City ups the bounty for graffiti vandals
KELOWNA - Taggers beware! The City of Kelowna and Crimestoppers have just upped the bounty on spray-paint vandalism. Previously, a would-be whistle-blower could only count on a reward of up to $500. The new initiative promises the full $500 as soon as an arrest is made. “Cleaning up graffiti comes with a price tag and...
Profanity spray painted on North Glenmore Elementary
KELOWNA - Police are looking for possible witnesses after "profanity and vulgarity" was spray painted on a school in North Glenmore last month. The incident was reported Feb. 14, 2015 at 8 a.m. at North Glenmore Elementary school. An investigator on the case doesn't think the graffiti was created by an artist but believes it...
How you can help catch the people vandalizing a Kamloops daycare
KAMLOOPS – The next time you pass by Puddle Jumpers on York Avenue, bring your camera; you could help catch whoever has been tagging the daycare almost every weekend for the last two years. “We need the community’s help to identify (the vandals),” Ronnie Bouvier of the Kamloops Graffiti Task Force says. “People know who...
UPDATE: Who has been tagging Sun Peaks?
SUN PEAKS - The Sun Peaks community is trying to figure out who is damaging their village after more than two dozen signs, posts and electrical boxes were tagged since the beginning of February. With more than 100 incidents of tagging reported already this month - many of which were reported Feb. 12 - rural...
STAHN: Community needs to step up to stop tagging
There’s urban art, known as graffiti to many, and then there’s tagging—the ugly scribbles, words and obscene pictures that end up on our buildings, on murals and even in tot lots. This has been a growing issue throughout the region and in the past year has hit some pretty low lows. Penises drawn on playground...
Graffiti still a growing problem in Kamloops
‘WE’RE NOT GETTING URBAN ART, JUST SCRIBBLES’ KAMLOOPS - The graffiti removed by the local task force in 2014 could have covered nearly two and a half Canadian football fields, and that was before taking into account tagging on more than 630 utility boxes as well. How does the Graffiti Task Force know it was...
City takes a stand in graffiti war
PENTICTON - Penticton council is joining the war against graffiti in the city. The Penticton Graffiti Task Force made a presentation to Penticton council’s Committee of the Whole on Monday, Feb. 2, urging the city to join in a campaign to clean up graffiti in the downtown core. The task force asked the city for...
Vandals spray paint car, garage door in Glenrosa
WEST KELOWNA - Someone is tagging personal property with spray paint in the Glenrosa neighbourhood of West Kelowna. The latest incident happened last night, Jan. 28, in the 3200-block of McMahon Road, a few blocks from Glenrosa Elementary School, according to a post on Facebook. A Subaru Forrester and garage door were spray painted with pink...
Taggers no match for this trio
PENTICTON - When three locals saw tag vandalism spray-painted across the Penticton Legion, they rolled up their sleeves and went to work. Barbara Coburn-Jaager and Ivo Jaager were basking in the glowing aftermath of a job well done Thursday, the day after their successful graffiti clean up effort. The two were assisted in the clean up...
This week has gotten much better for the Penticton Legion
PENTICTON - Volunteers and patrons found something unexpected on the outer walls of the local legion Wednesday afternoon—no more graffiti. Earlier in the week, possibly Saturday night, vandals made their scribbles on the Martin Street home of the Penticton branch of the Royal Canadian Legion—huge blue and green tags. Legion vice-president Ivo Jaager says it...
Iconic Vernon mural hit by vandals
VERNON - It’s an iconic mural many have stopped to gaze at over the past 15 years, but Monday, something else was turning heads. The mural, which depicts a locomotive traveling over a trestle bridge, was vandalized with a series of obscene words, printed at the bottom of this article with viewer discretion advised. Michelle...
HELSTON: Tag, you’re it Vernon
Vernon has a pretty distinct flavour when it comes to street wall art, but a new trend is adding some diversity—wanted or unwanted—to the scene. If you didn’t know, the vast majority of the city’s downtown murals were designed and painted by one extremely talented, motivated and prolific artist. You have her to thank when...
Action required to remove mark left by tagging and graffiti in Vernon
VERNON - The amount of unwanted graffiti and tags is multiplying around Vernon, and it’s going to have some unpleasant consequences unless the community takes action. Rachael Zubick, the coordinator at the community policing office in Vernon says it’s not a new problem, though it’s the worst it’s been in recent years. Safety Ambassadors recorded...
IN PHOTOS: Street art of downtown Penticton
PENTICTON - There are a handful of ways to deal with the city's tagging problem, and city officials are looking into them and will hopefully have a decision sooner rather than later as to how the problem can be fixed. In the meantime, here are some photos from around downtown Penticton of murals, graffiti and...
Council looks at options to end the city’s tagging problem
PENTICTON - An end to tagging in downtown Penticton may be just around the corner, so long as council can agree on a feasible and effective plan to eradicate the vandalism. City Council was presented Monday with several solutions to the tagging problem that received a lot of attention in the spring. Already there are...
Businesses stuck with graffiti cleanup
PENTICTON - Downtown business owners have a mess to clean up because of a recent spike in graffiti in the city. The tags were scribbled all over Penticton, on buildings and most commonly in alleys over the past week. RCMP say tags appear to have a distinct style, possibly created by the same person, according...
Graffiti destroying city parks, art and daycares
KAMLOOPS - It’s in our parks, on our signs and even adorning every last piece of art in Riverside Park, not to mention the number of fences and retaining walls recently hit with by graffiti. Ronnie Bouvier, the executive director of the Graffiti Task Force, is outraged by the recent change in the graffiti scene....