Painting vandals hit school two times

Vandals have targeted North Warren Regional High School twice this month, with the most recent incident involving spray-painting several surveillance cameras and then painting graffiti throughout the exterior of the Blairstown building, police said yesterday.

That attack occurred sometime during the night of Aug. 14 or early Aug. 15, said Blairstown police Sgt. Stephen Losey.

"There was a considerable amount of damage. Just about every wall and window was spray-painted," said Losey.

The graffiti included swastikas, anarchy symbols and obscenities, said school board president Bruce Hanelt.

"It looked like World War III broke out. It was a mess," said Hanelt, adding that the drawings have been removed from the Route 94 school, which is attended by ninth- through 12th-graders from Blairstown, Frelinghuysen, Hardwick and Knowlton townships.

The first incident was reported just a week earlier, on Aug. 8, and led to the arrests of two students from Blairstown, Kevin Simonsen, 18, and an unidentified 15-year-old, Losey said.

Simonsen and the 15-year-old were both charged with criminal mischief and theft, said Losey. They were accused of breaking into the press box at the football field, taking public-address equipment from the building, vandalizing a concession stand and spraying fire-extinguisher foam on two construction vehicles.

The construction vehicles were being used by volunteers who are building a new parking lot at the school, said Hanelt.

Losey said police have stepped up patrols at school while they are on duty, but he noted that the police are a part-time force that operates only from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. After 10 p.m., State Police troopers patrol the township, he said.

The vandalism took place at the same time that the school, under a new superintendent, was making strides toward changing its image.

"We're doing a lot of positive things at the school and something like this puts us on our heels," said Hanelt. "We're trying to change the whole culture of the school."

Anyone with information about the vandalism was asked to call police at (908) 362-7668.