I just received an email I'll keep anonymous, which contains a picture that is claimed to be HEK. Since I don't have a way to verify if the picture is correct and I am not the source and do not know if the source is correct, I will not post that... but here is the message I received... and the profile fits what I have observed...

Not organized crime. This is his picture. His crew is BAK and they are notorious for poor craftsmanship. The most irksome thing about him is that he forces poor people to look his slop. Apparently he resides in your old neck of the woods .... Shaker Hts.

People have publicly ridiculed him for years and he seems to enjoy it. Something to consider if you are thinking about writing more.

Disrupt IT

31 States have “Shield Laws” that protect from legally forced disclosure a reporter’s notes and/or confidential sources.    Ohio has such a law which is discussed here in the Cincinnati Enquirer /Chiquita Brands International  case in 1998.  A punch list of shield law issues – and what to do if  your notes or sources are requested from authorities - can be found here (specifically for California).

However, since even with a shield law a reporter’s notes and emails can be subpoenaed by prosecutors – and the reporter must then raise as a defense the right to confidentiality – it may be a time saver and a wise exercise of discretion for a reporter to anticipate the prosecutor and  only ask questions of  confidential  sources the answers to which questions will not be of interest to prosecutors.  

For example:   HEK has climbed up on a number of structures which didn’t belong to her/him.  That constitutes a trespass.  I don’t need to know who HEK is to know that there has been a trespass.  

On the other hand,  what I don’t know, and would be interested in knowing, is WHY the HEK likes to climb up on water towers and billboards.   Climbing up there on the QT is very strenuous and dangerous  – especially if you get a lacquer buzz before you come back down. 

Carl Pope gave public discussions on why he liked to put messages on public billboards.   

So the question I ask of the realneo audience – and it doesn’t matter at all whether or not you know HEK – is WHY THE HEK?     Is it a personal psych trip, a political statement, a shot at anarchy, or all/none/some/something else of the above?   Maybe HEK has acute insomnia?   Is the lack of a clear message the message?   Is the hijacked public medium the message?  Idiosyncrasy the message?

"The other news is that two graffiti taggers were recently caught by the Cleveland Police on May 30th at 3:00 am, at a gas station at E.55th and Superior."

"22 year-old Mathew Eastburn of South Euclid, AKA 'HEK', and 23 year-old Mark Skapin of Cleveland, AKA 'MAK' have been spray painting and marking their tags all over the Cleveland area."

-- Court Watch Updates - Armed Robbers Sentenced - Taggers Arrested on the Tremont Leaders email list

I just think some graffiti artists/taggers like to write it

  Taggers are juvenile delinquents.  Some people like to think of them as misunderstood artists.  They are messed up kids.  They need help, not encouragement.

  MM and I are of the same opinion on graffiti/tagging.  If it involves private property and the owner's permission has not been sought, then it constitutes a crime.  The grey area would be public structures.  Does defacing a bridge constitute a crime?  I still say that it does and it still amounts to scent marking.

Jeff, we could go on and on about ordinances and the legalities of billboards and how communities can protect themselves against offensive billboard/signage content and offensive imagery.

My own personal opinion--society is better off without graffiti and without billboards and over the top signage.

(*Susan--you will have to go after Jeff and after me on grammar usage--"whose?" :)

whose is like mine  - it means belongs to:  "whose use of language is correct? = the use of which person is correct?   Whose bike, whose idea is it? Also hers, yours, his.