School Officials Hope Fence Will Stop Rash Of Bike Thefts

To a thief, the Garry Middle School bike rack is as tempting as a $20 bill on a sidewalk.

No windows over look the rack, and students at the school in northeast Spokane often leave their bikes unlocked.

After five bike thefts this year, school officials are installing a 160-foot fence around the bike rack for a cost of $5,000.

“We think the best security would be to have the fence,” said assistant principal Charlene Milota, the newly appointed head of discipline and security.

But the district already took measures to stop bike thieves, installing a closed-circuit security camera and a sign saying the camera is in operation.

So when thieves hit the school last week, the crime was broadcast into the school office.

But no one was watching the monitor and no VCR was hooked up to the camera. As fast as the thieves could clip one student’s braided cable lock and take her new Diamond Back bike, they were gone.

There are no suspects.

School VCRs are used in classes, said Milota. “We can’t have someone watching the monitor all day,” she said. “It’s not a real good camera.”

The school district security office recommended installing a rack instead of hooking up a VCR, Milota said, and she took their advice. “They’re the experts,” she said.

School security officer Dick Shaw did not return calls.

Milota said she checks the rack during lunch, making sure all bikes are locked. But the building’s windowless face is an enticing target.

Other schools keep bikes locked in more visible places, such as between wings of classrooms.

Some parents have complained to the school after their children lost bikes. Shelley Kyle bought his daughter a $220 BMX bike last month, only to have it stolen from Garry’s rack.

The unrecorded crime baffles him. “I offered to buy a blank tape,” he said.

He posted signs in his neighborhood asking for information about the stolen bike and filed a police report, but he’s heard nothing.

“She won’t be riding any bike to school again,” said Kyle.

Graffiti hits school, office, church

A rash of sophomoric graffiti in northwest Spokane is frustrating everyone except paint salesmen.

Less than a month after police ended a $15,000 spree, “taggers” hit Salk Middle School, a nearby Mormon church and a dentist office.

Spokane police officer Sue Mann said the graffiti is “messy” and likely the work of wanna-be gang members. “Usually there’s a bunch of numbers that signal things to gangs,” said Mann. “These ones, they don’t know what they’re doing.”

But they are causing a mess for graffiti victims. Dr. William Peterson’s office at Alberta and Francis was vandalized two weeks ago with graffiti, costing him $500.

Sunday night, vandals struck again, spraying Peterson’s walls. Damage is estimated at $4,000, Peterson said.

Peterson said he’s been a victim of more crime in 10 months at his North Side clinic than in 22 years on the South Hill.

A wall at the Mormon church at 2112 W. Francis was also painted Sunday, as were several walls at Salk Middle School. School officials quickly repainted, but a tarp was draped over the church wall Tuesday night.

“It’s not common to have it as thick as it’s been,” she said.

Mann has several likely suspects. “Peppy” and “Risk” signed their names to the work, and Mann says she likely knows the real names behind the monikers.

“They’re all kids,” she said. “They say, ‘I do it because I can.’ They don’t understand what it means for everyone else.”

, DataTimes