Vandals hit Bordewich-Bray addition

Officials are looking for ways to clean graffiti off of the addition to Bordewich-Bray Elementary School after it was vandalized Wednesday night.

"It's so frustrating that there's a segment of our population that doesn't appreciate what goes into building a new building," said Mike Mitchell, director of operations for the Carson City School District. "It's funded through the taxpayers money. It's disheartening."

Workers returned to the construction site Thursday morning to find black and yellow spray paint on the wall of the south side of the addition.

Mitchell said he wasn't sure how much it would cost to clean up, depending on the solution needed to remove it.

"We're not sure how we're going to do it yet," Mitchell said. "It's on our new brick and we're very afraid that in the process of removing the paint, we'll discolor the brick."

Construction supervisors tested different types of chemicals on an extra brick to determine which would best remove the graffiti without damaging the brick.

The vandalism was the latest in a string of graffiti to hit Carson City, including incidents at Seeliger Elementary School and the softball fields at Carson High School.

"There's been a lot of it since last Friday night, not just at the schools but all over town," said Chief Deputy Steve Schuette. "We've got detectives working it and our school deputies working it."

Schuette said detectives have determined two different groups are responsible for the tagging. One is believed to be gang-related while the other may be a tagging crew, a group of teenagers who get together to vandalize with graffiti.

"We're not sure if it's just a coincidence that there's been a surge by the two different groups or if there's some competition going on," Schuette said.

Mitchell said he expects the clean-up on Bordewich-Bray to be complete by Monday and does not anticipate a delay in construction.

The addition will replace five modular buildings destroyed after they were discovered to be infested with toxic mold.

Schuette said there will be extra patrols out this weekend to try to deter any additional graffiti.

Anyone with information about the vandalism or the groups responsible should call Carson City Sheriff's Department detectives at 887-2020 ext. 1400.

Contact Teri Vance at tvance@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-1272.