Is this really vandalism?

From WorldNetDaily...

Rachel Kijewski, 22, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., is due in court this afternoon, as she faces one count of criminal mischief punishable by up to 60 days in jail.

According to the Stuart News, police stopped the Florida Atlantic University student as she was writing "Color fades and so does hatred" on the sidewalk of the Roosevelt Bridge June 20 in preparation for a demonstration.

Kijewski is a member of Project Awareness, a group that staged counterprotests to weekly anti-amnesty immigration events on the bridge throughout the summer.

But what she was writing on the sidewalk with was chalk. As soon as it rains the message is gone. Vandalism refers to the permanent marking of buildings, doesn't it?

I don't agree with her message and actually find it offensive to assume those who oppose illegal immigration are racists, but I can't see punishing her for using such a temporary means of communicating her message. Maybe if they told everyone they can write what they want in chalk (within the boundaries of decency) they'd have less of the real kind of vandalism.

I worked at a college once that had a terrible time trying to keep people from marking up the bathrooms. I tried and experiment I noticed being done is a gas station somewhere. I placed a large poster board in the bathroom stall with the message, "Place graffiti here. Keep it clean."

That semester not one person wrote anything on the walls, but the poster board was filled with some very creative stuff. Sometimes people simply want an outlet, and if one is provided, the problem is solved.

Posted by Danny Carlton at August 14, 2007 7:06 AM