Don’t Glorify the Taggers

When you write about criminal activities like tagging and do it in such a way as to glorify such behavior, you do a tremendous disservice to the public. Don’t you have any responsible editors?

Lines such as “As the Saturday night sun dipped low like an orange graffiti stain” make these negligent criminals feel like heroes performing perverted rites of passage.

After I bought my paper at a stand outside the restaurant where I was about to have dinner (and before I had opened it), I was approached by a teen-ager who asked if he could have just the Metro section when I was done.

I soon found out why. These were probably his homies, or maybe even it was him you made a celebrity with your flowery prose.

These taggers are infringing on the rights of everyone who sees their filth on public or private signs, walls, buildings etc.

It’s not enough that Epic’s mom detests what he does. How about she has to pay for it? Then maybe somehow she would keep him from destroying other people’s property.

The whole city is being trashed by these kids who are basically out of control, and we’re picking up the tab for their outlaw behavior. What is The Times doing? Making them the envy of their peers.

I only hope you’ve printed enough about them that the police can make more arrests.

BRIAN MALOUF

Thousand Oaks