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Cleburne residents Michael Alcala, left, 12, and Marcus Mendez, 13, paint over graffiti under the Wardville Street bridge. They and five of their friends volunteered to help the city with graffiti removal Tuesday. Matt Smith/Times-Review
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Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
Teens paint to beautify Cleburne
Seven Cleburne teenagers pitched in Tuesday to do their part to clean up the city by painting graffiti-covered bridges. They managed to complete three and plan to return next Tuesday to take on more.
“I’m so impressed by how hard they worked and how much they got done,” said Teresa Richardson, Cleburne health official. “And they had fun doing it. I was talking to one of the street department workers while the kids were painting and saying how great it is to be young and realize helping out doesn’t feel like work.”
More impressive, Richardson said, is that although the teens did not suggest the idea, they jumped at the opportunity to help when they discovered the problem.
Several neighborhood teens visited the Cleburne Fire Department’s central office, which also houses Richardson’s office, two weeks ago to report trash in nearby Buffalo Creek. Richardson walked to the creek with them to investigate and in doing so made an offhand comment about all the graffiti covering the underside of the Wardville Street bridge.
“We just got to talking about it and right away they said they would [paint over the graffiti] and wanted to help.” Richardson said.
Richardson, who also serves on the Keep Cleburne Beautiful committee, took them up on the offer. She told the teens she’d buy pizza if they helped out. The Cleburne street department supplied paint and rollers for the project, which was carried out under the direction of Keep Cleburne Beautiful. KCB, a city organization, works to improve the city’s appearance, Richardson said, with graffiti abatement among its goals.
Not sure if anyone would show up Tuesday, Richardson said she was pleased to see seven of the teens arrive ready to eat and go to work.
“They finished bridges on Wardville and Willingham and most of one on Chambers Street,” Richardson said. “Next Tuesday, they plan to finish Chambers and move on to Harrell and Westhill.”
Three of the seven, working under the Wardville Street bridge, said they were having fun.
“No, we just wanted to help out,” said Marcus Mendez, 13, when asked if the free pizza influenced his decision to join in.
The Cleburne Firefighters Association intends to reward those who return this Tuesday with tickets to the Shrine Circus.
“Anytime kids help out in a positive way instead of being the ones who created the graffiti, we certainly want to show our support,” said Paul Allen, Cleburne firefighter and president of the local firefighters association.
Cleburne Councilman Bob Force also expressed admiration for the teens’ good deed.
“I think it’s wonderful on the part of the kids and the firefighters,” Force said. “We certainly need to work toward beautifying our city and we need more people like them. Maybe their example will inspire others to help out and clean up our community.”
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