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# There is nothing amateur about vandalism
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/there-is-nothing-amateur-about-vandalism-editor/
- Published: 2004-06-26T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:37:53.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Ocean Park, #archive-import

*By Martin Gould Santa Monica*

I must protest at the use of language on the front age of your June 24 issue concerning the vandalism of the “Whale of a Mural” on Ocean Park Boulevard.

First, you call those responsible for this criminal act “amateur graffiti artists” then you compound it by talking about “skilled members of the graffiti-art community.” Would you ever describe thieves as “skilled members of the shoplifting career community?” How about attempted murderers as “amateur life-terminators?” I didn’t think so.

Ocean Park and Sunset Park – and I am sure other parts of Santa Monica – have been attacked by petty acts of this scribbling on private and public property for some months now. I urge you to send a photographer down to walk the streets and alleys and take a look. He or she will find curbs, lampposts, utility poles, road signs, walls, garage doors, even trees that have been damaged not by skilled (or unskilled) members of the graffiti-art community but by criminals.

Let’s stop minimizing this wanton and pointless act, pretending it is a harmless prank. It is not. It is outright vandalism and should be treated as such.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 26, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/062604.pdf?ref=smdp.com)