Graffiti buster Ted Bickford doesn't believe the spray copped at the Tuncurry Skatepark on Saturday night, September 5 was the work of locals.
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Ted learned of the vandalism on Sunday morning after he was informed of the incident by local kids.
"They were really upset that someone had done this to their skatepark," Ted said.
It took Ted and his daughter Bronwyn Bickford more than four hours to clean the red paint from the popular park.
"It was a hell of a mess," Ted said.
"Most of it was obscenities and not just tagging.
"I have not copped this type of language and obscene drawings for a long time; I was shocked.
"It took me back a bit."
Ted said the graffiti was one of the worst he had encountered in the 25 years he had been cleaning public spaces around the Great Lakes.
The disappointment for the young users was amplified even further after being told the park would be temporarily closed during the cleaning process due the to use of some chemicals.
He said the kids understood the situation, and said they didn't want graffiti at their park.
Ted believed the work was that of an outsider, primarily because of the unconditional pride the many young users have for the park and the towns they live in.
That pride has been instilled through Ted's continued education programs and encouragement.
He believes a mutual respect approach is the best way to deter kids from spraying graffiti and so he usually does not call the police.
Ted believed it was important to clean the area of graffiti as quickly as possible to demonstrate to vandals their actions were pointless.
However, photographs from this latest incident will be shown to the police.
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