LIBERTY Bridge gets another graffiti makeover

The latest graffiti lasted only until Friday morning.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- About a dozen high school students put down their pencils and notebooks and grabbed paintbrushes to erase graffiti along the main road to the school.
In September, more than 60 community volunteers, including high school students, completed a beautification project at the Shady Road campus that includes the elementary, middle and high schools.
Included in the project was covering the graffiti on the Shady Road bridge and the bridge pillars on Sampson Road that support another bridge.
The students painted the bridge and pillars in maroon and gold, the school colors, and with leopard paw prints.
Vandalized: Between Thursday night and Friday morning, someone painted "Girard" and the letter "G" in different spots on the maroon and gold paint. The two high school football teams faced off Friday night at the Liberty stadium.
The latest graffiti was short-lived.
"About a dozen or so high school students painted over everything," said June Smallwood, township parks and special projects director who helped organize the project. "It's basically back to normal."
The repair work happened Friday morning.
The students saw the work on their way to school that morning.
"Of course they were upset because they put a lot of work into it," said Jody Nudell, an art teacher at the school who was involved with the project.
The students wanted to go cover the graffiti as quickly as they could, she said.
"It's all covered over and it looks great," Smallwood said. "It's a prideful project right now."
No surprise: The graffiti didn't really come as a surprise, according to both Smallwood and Nudell.
One reason the project included the bridge was because it was a sort of tradition for Liberty students to write their names on the bridge.
"We thought when they got it all done and saw all of the work it took, they'd take pride in it," Smallwood said.
The damage was estimated at $500, according to a police report.
A witness who reported the damage to Youngstown police followed one juvenile to a house in Youngstown and called police.
Youngstown police referred the information to Liberty. No one has been charged.