Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the fire damage to the Irwin Block building, and the graffiti on the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce building at the far left, in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Dec. 9, 2022.
The Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, 440 Fifth St., was vandalized after being fenced off due to damage from a Dec. 3 fire at its neighboring building.
Graffiti, similar to the style recently found on the Bartholomew County Public Library’s exterior, has been sprayed at the back of the chamber building near the service door. Chamber President Cindy Frey spotted the vandalism Friday night when she was walking past the building, which is surrounded by chain link fence.
“What’s clear is someone got inside the fence, maybe Thursday night, which is not a very smart thing to do, because it’s dangerous back there,” she said. “… Nobody should be penetrating the perimeter of the fence, because there could be more falling debris.”
The Columbus Fire Department also was concerned that someone had apparently gone over the fence to spray paint a wall in the “collapse zone.”
“That is a very serious concern for us,” said Capt. Mike Wilson, Columbus Fire Department spokesman. “…We have been working with the property owners, and the property owners have secured a fence around the area to help avoid situations where someone might try to enter any of the buildings or access the buildings, and it sounds like this was clearly a situation where they may have had somebody breach that fencing area.”
“It is a concern for safety, particularly close to 422 (Fifth St.), where the building is just not stable, and there’s potential for additional bricks and building materials (to) come down at any time,” he said. “So, we don’t want anyone around the structure.”
Library Director Jason Hatton said in a previous interview that multiple sides of the Bartholomew County Public library building were also painted with red and black spray paint, with one message that says, “We miss Matt.”
Hatton saw the paint when he went into work Friday morning, and security camera footage indicates that the vandalism occurred in the early morning hours.
This isn’t the first time the library or chamber have been the targets of vandalism. The same wall of the chamber building and the Large Arch sculpture on the library’s plaza were tagged as part of an extensive spray-painting spree discovered in late March 2020. Spray paint was discovered on homes, buildings, vehicles, schools, churches and other spaces.
Three 16-year-old juveniles were detained after images of them were discovered on cameras in the downtown area, one of the teens carrying a spray-paint can and another attempting to open a vehicle door.
“The exterior of that building is not our responsibility; it’s the landlord’s responsibility,” said Frey, in discussing the more recent vandalism. “But honestly, there’s nothing that can be done right now until the structural issue with that wall is repaired. That’s what we’ve been told.”
She added that with two more inspections this week, the building is nowhere near ready for renovations. Still, she expects that once the work is underway, the affected section will receive some “serious attention,” including a fresh coat of paint.
In wake of the fire, chamber staff are working remotely, and the organization is looking for a temporary space to co-locate, Frey said in a previous interview. However, they hope to return to their 500 Franklin St. location once it is safe to do so.
The chamber hopes to have a plan for its temporary relocation sometime in the next week or two, Frey said Monday.
