By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

THE Island SK8 Society has joined the “War on Graffiti” campaign and has been busy repainting and cleaning vandalized walls at some establishments in Susupe over the weekend.
Laurie Peterka, co-chairwoman for the Rotary Club of Saipan’s skatepark park project committee and special advisor to the Island SK8 Society, said they decided to give back to the community by supporting the project.
“We can combat this graffiti problem by continuously refusing to allow it to linger. If we nip the problem in the bud, then it cannot continue to grow,” Peterka said.
“After seeing the reports of graffiti in the newspaper and on television over the past couple of weeks, our group decided that we wanted to do our part in giving back to the community. We voted and agreed that painting is something that we could all participate in doing,” Peterka added.
The group gathered on Saturday, April 14, and painted over the graffiti at the Joeten Shopping Center and at the 4H Building in Susupe.
The paint and supplies were donated by Joeten and CMS.
Some 25 volunteer skaters met at the 4H Building and proceeded to the Joeten Shopping Center.
The group started working at 9 a.m. and were done at 2 p.m.
The Island SK8 Society is a non-profit group organized two months ago by adult skaters.
The goal of the group is to build a safe park for children skaters on Saipan.