ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 17, 1996 TAG: 9611180081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GLOUCESTER
SOURCE: Associated Press
The parents of an Abingdon Elementary School student say they cannot understand why racist graffiti remained on a gymnasium wall for more than two months after they complained about it.
The spray-painted letters ``KKK'' finally were removed Friday after WAVY-TV aired a segment about John and Leticia Lane's complaint and the lack of action by Gloucester County school officials.
School officials on Friday blamed their delay in removing the offensive letters on poor communication.
The Lanes said they noticed the graffiti when they attended a school orientation in September. John Lane said he reported it to the school's office. He said he brought it up several more times on subsequent visits, telling his daughter's teacher and people in the office.
``They wouldn't let me see the principal,'' Lane said.
He said that while his 7-year-old daughter is not aware of the Ku Klux Klan's history of racial terrorism, ``she knows that it's bad.'' Lane said the girl has heard other students on her school bus mixing ``KKK'' with racial slurs.
Abingdon Principal Bernard Robins said a school secretary notified the system's central office about the problem, but the information never reached the person who needed it: buildings and grounds director David Robey.
``Frankly, I'm embarrassed that something like that was on the wall so long,'' Robey said.
Superintendent Larry Hoover attributed the lapse to ``at first an oversight and then a breakdown in communications. It fell through the cracks.''
Gordon Johnson, who operates Wash on Wheels in Gloucester, used a high-pressure spray of water and paint remover to get rid of the graffiti.
LENGTH: Short : 41 linesby CNB