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Graffiti found at new skate park

John Colson

Police are puzzling over a series of graffiti “tags” painted at the new skateboard park in Aspen and asking for anyone with information to contact the Aspen Police Department.

According to APD Officer Rob Fabrocini, the vandalism at the park occurred sometime Monday night, when an unknown number of people scrawled a number of words on the pavement at the new park.

Workers at the park, who are still laying down the surface, said they left at around 5:30 p.m. on Monday evening and came back at around 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning to begin work.



The painted words and figures were on the side wall of one of the bowls at the park, as well as on the inside walls of a nearby Porta-Potty. It was dry by the time it was discovered, but the workmen were able to scrub nearly all of it off.

One of the workmen said he noticed a man on a mountain bike riding by on Tuesday morning, and that the cyclist “stopped right there [pointing at the nearby bike path] and looked right at this wall, where the graffiti was.”




When the workman called out, he said, the cyclist rode away, but stopped once more a short way down the bike path and again looked directly at the spot where the paint had been.

“I thought, maybe that’s the guy,” the workman said. “They like to see their work.”

Among the words and symbols scrawled on the pavement was the word, “DEFT” and the letters, “N” and “M,” leading investigators to wonder if the culprit might be a visitor from out of town, possibly from the state of New Mexico.

Fabrocini said he will be investigating the case and asked that anyone who hears anything about the vandalism contact the police as quickly as possible.

“As a skateboarder myself, I’m disappointed in this,” said Fabrocini, hoping that the incident is not repeated.

“We’re hoping to bring professionals into this park and all sorts of people,” he continued. “It’s going to look terrible for the skateboarders of this town if it’s full of graffiti.”