The vandals first struck just before 11 PM on the night of August 4, using red spray paint to deface the sidewalk at the corner of Nyac Avenue and Franklin Place, as well as a commemorative sign paying tribute to Lynn Sabia, the former principal of Pelham Middle School. A police report indicated that red spray paint had also been sprayed on a stop sign at the corner of Corlies and Boulevard.
Then, a week later, what appeared to be the same individuals returned to the intersection. It was 2:40 AM, and this time the perpetrators used white spray paint to deface the pavement, sidewalk, and a telephone pole. They sprayed red paint on the Lynn Sabia Way sign, according to a report filed by the Village of Pelham Police Department on the incident.
According to the first police report, a school official was able to identify the perpetrators as two “Caucasian youths on bikes” by reviewing camera footage of the incident. According to the report of the second incident, security camera footage shows two individuals on bikes riding southbound on Wolfs Lane shortly after the time of the incident. They cross Colonial Avenue and ride into Pelham Manor, the report stated.
Sabia retired in June after serving as principal of the middle school for many years. School Superintendent Cheryl Champ teared up slightly during a tribute to her at a Board of Education meeting in June.
Champ informed parents of the incidents in an email on Tuesday.
“Over the past week, there have been two separate instances in which vulgar and offensive graffiti was spray-painted in the vicinity of Nyac Avenue and Franklin Place near the middle/high school,” she wrote. “I strongly condemn these, and any acts of vandalism.”
“In both incidents, Pelham Police were immediately contacted and we are collaborating with them to investigate. Additionally, the graffiti is in the process of being removed.
“Please know that anyone found to be responsible will be referred to the police and if they are a student, will face additional consequences under the District’s Code of Conduct. We take these matters extremely seriously and ask for the community’s partnership in reinforcing a message that this behavior will not be tolerated.”
Separately, residents in the neighborhood of Siwanoy Elementary School found offensive graffiti last week spray-painted in white on the gravel path leading up to the school. Images of the graffiti sent to the Pelham Examiner included what appeared to be an obscene drawing as well as a racial slur.