Here's one example of the damage done to area structures. --Rayma Silvers/Herald-Tribune

Unfortunately, none of the business owners affected were given the option of picking out the designs and colors they would have liked to have seen displayed on the backsides of their buildings.

According to the Fort Scott Police Department, individuals in the local area painted graffiti on buildings along Main and National from Wall Street to First Street. The K and K Auto Parts building and the Bootjack building also received gang-related markings on the same night. As of press time, there were no known suspects for the incident. However, business owners are hopeful the offenders will be caught and disciplined.

Terry Davenport, Ruddicks Furniture, 117 S. National, said this is not the first time his building has sustained graffiti damage. Adding that having to repaint his building everytime someone vandalizes it is getting expensive.

"We're tired of it," Davenport said. "It seems like they do it every two or three weeks."

Davenport said the local police department wasted no time beginning its investigation into the markings on his building. He hopes this will help local law enforcement find the artists who committed the crime.

The Scottish Rite Temple's Executive Secretary Terry Claar described his annoyance with the graffiti incident.

"It's a shame these young people who want to be artists can't find something better to paint on other than buildings," Claar said. "It's a nuisance and it's expensive. It takes a lot of work to get it off."

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John Keating, from K and K Auto Parts, 534 S. National, said if the offenders are apprehended, making them responsible for cleaning the graffiti off of the buildings might teach them a lesson.

"Maybe in the long run they'll get caught. If the court system works, they'll have to do many hours of community service," Keating said.

Keating added he may install a motion light behind his building, hoping the added light will distract the youth from targeting his building again.

According to the National Alliance of Gang Investigator's Association, www.nagia.org, usually graffiti is drawn either by gang members or taggers, also known as graffiti writers. Various tools can be used to create graffiti, such as spray paint and wide-tipped markers. Sometimes graffiti is even scratched or etched into glass with sharp objects, the Web site said.

Local police did not reference any gang relationship to the graffiti, however, several of the markings were of the word "Crip," the name of a nationally known gang. According to the United States Department of Justice, the Crips street gang is one of the largest in the nation with 30,000 to 35,000 members.

The gang is believed to have originated in Los Angeles, Calif. in 1969 by 16-year-old Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams.