News

Inmates clean up water plant grafitti

By Andrea Holbrook
Staff Writer
Published: July 10, 2009

The water coming out may be clean, but at least one neighbor thought the outside of the treatment plant off Essex Avenue needed cleansing.

That neighbor complained about grafitti on the walls of the plant and called the Gloucester Police Department, which in turned called in the Essex County Sheriff's Anti-Graffiti Crew to clean up the tags left by vandals.

The crew, three or four Essex County inmates supervised by correctional officer, were at the plant yesterday to wash the walls, after receiving permission to do so from Mark Cole, operations manager for public properties at Gloucester's Department of Public Works, according to Sheriff's Department spokesman Paul Fleming Jr.

"The neighbor didn't want to see it get worse,'' Fleming said.

Using a spraying machine that blasts graffiti from surfaces using pressurized water and baking soda, the crew cleaned the plant.

"Sheriff Cousins sees this as a real success story" Fleming said of the anti-graffiti crew. The inmates work on paying their debt to society, and the machine is environmentally friendly. He's proud of that," Fleming said.

Fleming says the crews come in and do their job free of charge to the towns when called by police and public works departments.

Andrea Holbrook may be reached at aholbrook@gloucestertimes.com.