home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- GRAFFITY
- çedf,888,0f0,aaf,f8f,ff0,fff
- ¾Graffity
- ²--------
- ¹A graffiti artist who became a hero to
- his teenage followers, but America's
- most brazen vandal to his elders was
- sentenced to a year in prison and
- ordered to do 1,560 hours of community
- service cleaning up his handiwork.
-
- Daniel Ramos, 18, was also forbidden
- by a Los Angeles court to possess
- spray paint or felt-tip markers, and
- he may be forced to pay for some of
- the damage he caused. Ramos, who
- painted under the nickname "Chaka", is
- described as the most prolific
- graffiti artist in the United States.
- He sprayed 10,000 Southern Pacific
- railcars, walls, traffic lights and
- free ways during an extended binge,
- causing damage put at up to $500,000.
- His signature was a familiar sight
- around Los Angeles and he acquired a
- keen following among younger graffiti
- artists, who considered him the
- maestro.
-
- The skill of the graffiti artist lies
- as much in his ability to avoid
- capture, and in selecting dangerous
- sites, as in his artistic prowess.
- Ramos's luck ran out when he was
- arrested while decorating a traffic
- light. As he was handcuffed, he
- shouted: "I am the famous Chaka". He
- derived the nickname from an urchin in
- a 1970s children's television series,
- "Land of the Lost". Ramos did not
- contest 10 counts of vandalism, and
- was excused 38 other charges after
- ¶çedf,888,0f0,,aaf,f8f,ff0,fff¹plea bargaining. Under Los Angeles
- probation laws he will serve only 155
- days of his sentence, and having
- already spent that long in jail on
- remand he is likely released. Mr
- James Hahn, the Los Angeles city
- attorney, said: "Ramos concentrated a
- lot of effort on vandalising railroad
- cars, apparently because they are
- mobile and carried his tag (signature)
- throughout the Southern Pacific
- Railroad network. The extent of his
- property damage made this the worst
- case of graffiti vandalism we have
- heard of anywhere in the nation".
-
- Mr Robert Sandoval, Los Angeles
- Municipal Court Commissioner,
- scheduled a hearing for next year to
- determine the extent of the vandalism
- and to assess whether Ramos is capable
- of paying compensation. Mr Lioyd
- Handler, Ramos's lawyer, said his
- client acknowledged that his days as
- "the famous Chaka" were at an end.
-
- Plugster/Defiance
- Ç02