McComb police have made an arrest in a series of Post-it note defacements on city property and are still investigating graffiti images scattered throughout the Depot District, said Detective Shannon Sullivan.
“They are painting on buildings in the downtown Depot District,” Sullivan said. “(The city) does not have a designated area for graffiti and it makes our downtown look like it isn’t being kept up.”
Lt. John Hart said the “Post-it note bandit” was using a spray adhesive on the back of the Post-it notes found throughout town, making them difficult for property owners to remove.
Police have been finding the Post-it notes stuck to windows, signs and buildings from the Depot District, up and down Delaware Avenue, in Kroger’s parking lot and in the McComb High School area, Sullivan said.
Saturday around midnight, Hart saw a dark colored SUV Nissan driving carelessly near the Depot Pavilion, Sullivan said. When Hart approached the vehicle he noticed handwriting on the windows, on Post-it notes on the dashboard and scattered throughout the interior matching the series of Post-it notes defacing property.
Three people were in the vehicle that Hart stopped — a 16-year-old white female, a 19-year-old white male, and a 19-year-old white female, Clansey Hinson.
Hart said Hinson, of 4046 Martin Road, Summit, was driving. She was charged with misdemeanor malicious mischief.
“We are not sure at this time if she is connected to any of the graffiti,” Sullivan said. “The graffiti is still being investigated.”
Sullivan said police don’t think the graffiti is gang-related.
The vandal or vandals are believed to climb on rooftops to create their “tags.”
Sullivan said some of the tags date to September 2008, but the Mario Brothers emblem and the stencil paintings are recent.
Between North Front Street at Maryland Avenue, on the old hospital facing east, there is a black Dolphin. At the parking garage on North Front Street, there is a yellow box with a question mark in the center, similar to an object found in a Mario Brothers video game. There is also a stenciled painting of a face.
The word, “KOER,” which Sullivan said police understand is a style of graffiti.
Other graffiti tags can be found downtown on South Front Street at McComb Electric Supply Co., on the east side of Lott Furniture in florescent pink writing, the north side of the old Enterprise-Journal building on North Broadway, and the east side of the old McColgan Hotel.
Writing and blue hearts were painted on the columns of the historic IC “overhead” bridge.
“They are leaving Graffiti where it is not wanted,” Sullivan said. “It’s an eyesore for tourists, visitors and citizens of McComb.”
