Graffiti.

It's been going on since the days of the pharaohs and the time of the caesars.

Of course, if someone got caught writing "Ramases licks his sphinx" or "Caesar takes it up the Rubicon," chances are the penalties would be far greater than what happens to contemporary vandals.

One of my favorite stories I published when I was managing editor of the News-Star and Booster newspapers involved a Chicago police graffiti sting.

The cops staked out a nice virgin wall for an entire evening and, one by one, arrested 25 or 30 miscreants ranging in age from juveniles to adults well into their 30s and 40s who just couldn't resist symbolically lifting a leg and peeing on somebody else's property.

The cops gave us a list of those 17 and older who'd been arrested and I ran the list on the front page under the headline: Do You See Any of Your Neighbors' Names Here? I expected to get complaints from the folks whose names appeared in the paper, but nobody called or wrote.

That's when I realized that these punks probably creamed their shorts over the publicity.

The losing battle over graffiti is being fought here in Jefferson Park, just as it is elsewhere in the city of Chicago.

This desecration isn't confined to urban areas, even. During a recent train trip on Amtrak's Southwest Chief, I saw graffiti spray-painted on walls and viaducts all over the place. They've even tagged rocks out in the middle of nowhere. 

PHOTOS -- Top: Pedestrian tunnel and steps leading from North Milwaukee Avenue to the Metra platform. Middle: Graffiti on door of unoccupied retail space just north of Nadig Newspapers. Bottom: Back door of Jefferson Park's CVS drugstore.

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