Graffiti Marks the Passing of a ‘Restless and Bored’ Teen-Ager

Linda Sanders looked at a picture of her late son’s artwork, scrawled on an underpass in Irvine, and wept.

“He lived high and fast,” she said. “But on the other side, he was also very loving.”

Timothy John Sanders, 19, of Laguna Beach was also restless and bored, his friends said. He wrote his nickname, Sandman, and drew pictures all over Orange County to try to get rid of that boredom and to show off his artistic skill.

In the early-morning hours of Aug. 2, Sanders and three members of Bored to Death, a punk-rock band that he had joined three months earlier, were driving east on Crown Valley Parkway in Laguna Niguel on the way to a dance club. Friends said that only Sanders was sober enough to drive.

When the car skidded over a puddle left by a sprinkler system, Sanders lost control and the car overturned. It slid off the street and rolled over several times as it sent down a hill. Sanders, who was thrown out, died instantly. His passengers, John Scrivner, 17; Mark Tauriello, 17, and Steve Stearns, 20, had minor injuries.

A few months before his death, Sanders had written his nickname and “Corruption,” the name of his former band, in black paint on the whitewash that covered graffiti on the underpass off West Yale Loop and San Diego Creek near Woodbridge High School in Irvine.

Plea Bordered in Box

After his death, friends wrote a message next to Sanders’ work, imploring people to let it remain in his memory. The plea is bordered in a box, etched in black marker.

“Tim was a good artist . . . such a talented guy,” said Steve Stearns, the drummer for Bored to Death. “He did a lot of graffiti. He just liked to show off his work all over Orange County.”

Sometimes, Stearns said, police would chase Sanders when they caught him drawing. But that rarely stopped him.

Sanders, who had attended Woodbridge High, wanted to go to art school and take credits at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, his mother said. In the meantime, he delivered for a grocery store and sold his drawings to a punk-rock magazine, Flip Side.

“He had a lot of ideas . . . he just never had the chance to pursue them,” Linda Sanders said.

Kim Grummett, Sanders’ girlfriend for two years, kept a collection of his work, mostly sketches of punk-rock groups. He drew caricatures, skulls and bones and musical instruments. He also painted T-shirts and leather jackets. But some of his artwork for his girlfriend included delicate rainbows and a heart inscribed, “I Love You.”

Children’s Book

One time, Sanders helped Grummett write and illustrate a children’s book for her English class. “I kept bothering him for weeks to help me. Then he just drew it and I ended up with an ‘A’ in the class,” Grummett said.

Sanders also played bass guitar and wrote songs for Bored to Death.

It’s easy to get bored in south Orange County when you’re young, Stearns said. The friends formed their band because they had nothing to do one day. Ironically, Sanders joined the band after guitarist Steve Guys, 18, was killed in another car accident.

“We live in an area where there is nothing for teen-agers to do but drink beer,” Stearns said. “Everything is so spread out. There’s no life here, nothing but rolling hills. Whenever we go someplace, we need a car and then it would take a while to get some place decent.”

Marilyn Tauriello, 16, of Laguna Niguel, a founder of a group for teen-age alcoholics, understands.

Acute Problem

“The problem is really acute. These kids have nothing to do here, so they have to make their own activities. Some formed their own bands, some turn to drinking, pills or they run away,” said Tauriello, whose group meets at St. Timothy Roman Catholic Church in Laguna Niguel.

Sanders turned to the band and became its cheerleader, cajoling them to practice as much as possible.

“He was always talking about the band going to the top and getting popular. He was hyperactive like that, always encouraging us,” Stearns said.

Sanders wanted to be famous, Grummett said. “Everyone wants to be ‘it.’ Tim would make the band practice and practice. He would keep saying, ‘One more time, one more time,’ ” Grummett said.

Guitarist John Scrivner said Sanders was almost like a brother. “I think about him every day. When the accident happened, I didn’t know how to react, I was speechless. I couldn’t understand it then and I still don’t now. It’s just so hard to even talk about him.”

Sanders’ mother said her son “always saw things differently. Like other kids his age, he found many things discouraging in life. But he tried to do what he wanted to do.”