Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 28

4C DETROIT FREE PRESSTUESDAY. MAY 2. 1978 curmmoHiim STORES PwcnifitioK, iVew ForA: City spends $1 million to $3 million a year to clean its 6,300 subway cars of spray-paint graffiti. J. Use FREE PRESS want ads SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER? Get together at Arthur Murray's and learn To: cTfQlQI fife; The only way To move.

Makes you feel so good Most graffiti writing takes the form of coded signatures In swirling letters and flashy colors. MICHIGAN MEDICAL" ABORTIONS FREE Pregnancy Testing MAMEDM TE RESULTS Lew coil high quality care NO AGE LIMIT Approved Area Clinic 522-7272 American Mirth Control 8oclty Makes you look so great You 'II be full of energy and rhythm when you learn the Hustle: THE DIPS-THE SPINS-TIIE SMOOTH BRAKES THE FANCY TURNS THE JAZZY FOOTWORK. Subway graffiti: 'Art' is a major headache a TV v. JIM NEW STUDENT OFFER 'A Hr. Lessons 00 LOSE WATER BLOAT WITH 0DRINIL NATURE'S WAY New 0DRINH can help you lose excess weight due to excess water retention during the pre-menstrual cycle ODRINIL-a gentle diuretic compound-contains natural herbs in a tablet that is elfective and fast acting ODRINIL-the 'Natural" water pill-is guaranteed to help you lose that uncomfortable water bloat and temporary weight gam or your money will be refunded ODRINIL is sold with this guarantee by $10 FRANCHISE0 DANCE SCHOOLS for only (adults only) It PERRY Drug Stoma WARREN 28829 Hoover (Just S.

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(Cor. Outer Drive) In the Village Plaza 565-6200 Use FREE PRESS want ads Most graffiti writing takes the form of coded signatures in swirling letters and flashy colors which are glazed over the metallic gray of the subway cars with spray-can paints. Police say that the paints used are almost always stolen. Graffiti writing takes place In the late hours of the night in subway storage yards. During the day the writers hang out in "writer's corner," stationed along subway stops, where the youths trade signatures, talk about their latest raids, and watch for their signatures to pass by.

"When you talk to a graffiti writer, his eyes are always focused on the moving train, looking for his signatures," said Sgt. Norman Wasserman of the squad. Graffiti writers are a crafty group, often outwitting the police. During the 1976 bicentennial celebration, a group of writers eluded a police stake-out late one night, by using walkie-talkies, and managed to cover 10 subway cars from top to bottom with bicentennial art work. Apparently volume is more important than quality to the writers.

One of the all-time kings of graffiti writers was a youth who called himself who managed to cover every square inch of a subway car with signatures. GRAFFITI WRITING MAY range from a violation up to a felony, depending on the extent of damage done. The problem, according to Garelik and members of the graffiti squad, comes after the arrest. Because the great majority 90 percent of graffiti writers are minors, they are taken to Family Court, where the case load is so heavy that relatively minor crimes, such as graffiti writing, must be ignored. Most offenders are simply given a stern warning, sent home and usually arrested again within a short time.

For a while, offenders were sent out to the subway yards and assigned to clean off the cars, but that form of punishment apparently did more harm than good. "The kids would enjoy it," Silberfarb said. "They liked the idea of getting together with their friends, sharing their experiences, pooling their knowledge, and planning their next graffiti raid. It actually worsened the problem." What causes graffiti writers to be such persistent, dedicated craftsmen in their chosen field of criminal activity? According to the experts, plastering one's name all over the subway is a way of establishing one's identity "The big thing with graffiti is recognition," said detective Morris Bitchatchi, head of the graffiti squad. "If a kid writes his name on a car at 205th Street, his name will travel all the way out to Coney Island and back, and that's a big thing to him." By ELAINE WARREN Free Press Special Writer NEW YORK Graffiti may be art to some, but to New York's Transit Authority, it's a major headache, ranking with subway muggings and stalled trains in the subterranean tunnels.

Graffiti remains a persistent and costly problem for New York. The city spends $1 million to $3 million a year to clean its 6,300 subway cars of spray-paint graffiti. "Very few people have understood the problem of graffiti," said Sanford Garelik, head of the Transit Police. "It's been romanticized a great deal and has been tremendously distorted." Garelik specifically objects to art books that have celebrated graffiti as "street art" and groups of artists that have encouraged graffiti writing. GRAFFITI WRITING can create real problems.

Covered up windows encourage crime within the subway cars and often block the view of the engineer. Furthermore, passengers cannot see where to get off. Overall, graffiti contributes to fear in the subways, authorities believe. "It just adds to the perception of crime in the subways," said Ed Silberfarb, a Transit Police spokesman. "People have the feeling that if the Transit Police can't police the subways to keep graffiti off, then how can they keep other crime off?" Graffiti-writing, largely the province of 11- to 16-year-olds, frequently leads to more serious criminal activity, Garelik said.

Among 750 youths arrested for defacing the subways in the early 1970's, 29 percent went on to commit felonies and 1 1 percent subsequently committed misdemeanors, according to a 1973 Transit Authority study. GRAFFITI WRITING MAY BE out of hand, but not because the police aren't doing anything about it, they claim. There are an estimated 1,500 graffiti writers in the city, and the number of arrests each year for the past three years has equalled that number. In 1975, the Police Department organized a special graffiti squad of 10 men who infiltrated various graffiti gangs and became intimate with their tactics. According to the graffiti squad, graffiti writing among New York's urban youth has evolved into a highly developed subculture.

Like the youth gangs of the '50s, they travel and work in groups and abide by their own code of ethics. "They generally don't use pornography," said Garelik, "and they don't write over someone else's work, unless they go to war with them war meaning a battle to see who becomes king of the line, who has the most writing." X4 4 4 i Warning labels belong on hair dyes? eft Associated Press If you wanted to tell the government how you feel about warning labels on hair dyes, time is almost up. The deadline for commenting on the proposal to require warning labels is May 8. containers and warning posters placed in beauty salons. If you want to comment on this plan, write to the Hearing Clerk (HFC-20), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, 20857.

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