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Thursday, July 20, 2000

Barrier for Selena statue OK'd

Move meant to protect memorial from graffiti

By Michael Hines
Caller-Times

Paul Iverson/Caller-Times

Robert Alaniz (left) and Bert Vargas of the city park department repaint some of the area around the frequently vandalized statue of Selena on the bayfront. A barrier will be built around the statue to protect it.

In life, Selena Quintanilla-Perez did little to distance herself from adoring fans eager to get an autograph or snap a picture.
   But those eager to leave their own autograph on the Tejano superstar's monument have forced friends and family to authorize building a barrier around the statue honoring her.
   Industrial Fabricators of Corpus Christi agreed Wednesday to construct a 4-foot high barrier surrounding the kiosk where the statue stands, an effort to prevent graffiti from covering the memorial.
   The barrier would allow visitors to stand about three feet away from the statue. It's expected to be completed within seven weeks.
   "I think it was long overdue," said Selena's father, Abraham Quintanilla.
   The continued writing on the memorial - including the carving of 'Ray G + Delma G' into the statue's bronze chest - has bothered Selena's family.
   "It's such a beautiful memorial," said Quintanilla. "People want to leave messages, but that's not the right way to do it."

Caller-Times

   For fans such as Jose Ortiz, a 26-year-old New Jersey resident, the barrier won't stop the graffiti.
   "It really wouldn't be a good idea," he said.
   Admiration and admonishment about the decision was expected, said Dusty Durrill.
   He said the divisiveness is worth protecting the memorial.
   "It makes trespassing very awkward," Durrill said. "It makes it more of a sanctuary than an exhibition."
   The Devary Durrill Foundation, named for Durrill's daughter, paid for the memorial that stands at the entrance to the Peoples Street T-Head.
   The barrier would be about 14 feet in diameter and made of stainless steel. Durrill said the barrier would be curved, so climbing over it would be difficult. All of the surfaces on the barrier will be rounded to discourage writing.
   Durrill said a sign also would be set up in English and Spanish asking visitors not to go beyond the barrier or deface the memorial. Durrill wouldn't explain the costs of the barrier but said the city would not pay for its construction.
   The barrier was one of several proposed remedies to graffiti meant to honor the Grammy-winning Tejano singer. Selena was fatally shot in 1995 by the president of her fan club, and city officials said the messages have been a problem since the memorial was built.
   The writing was expected, Marina Superintendent Peter Davidson said. "It's part of human nature," he said. "It's just part of the culture."
   What wasn't expected was the number of messages, which meant cleaning crews tackling the graffiti about twice a week, city workers said.
   On Wednesday, messages had been hosed off the column in a two-day effort to prepare for the Junior League's planned repainting of the memorial Saturday.
   Tony Cisneros and Davidson addressed the problem to the Water/Shore Advisory Committee at its June 1 meeting. The board voted to allow Cisneros to contact the Quintanilla family and Durrill and seek their input about solutions to prevent further damage.
   One of the ideas suggested to the committee was to surround the statue with a galvanized steel cage to stop people from carving on the bronze statue and writing on a ceramic flower that is part of the memorial. Davidson also had the idea of placing pebbles along the column so writing would be more difficult. Another idea suggested was placing the entire statue atop the roof of the monument, Davidson said.
   The barrier's imminent construction came as a disappointment to some fans.
   Courtney Bethea, a 21-year-old New Jersey resident based at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, said the size of the barrier would probably make it ineffective and therefore unnecessary.
   "If people are going to write graffiti, they'll just jump over it," he said. "It might even entice them to put more graffiti on it."
   Other fans, however, said keeping the memorial clean was worth the effort.
   "It's a memory," said Ysmael Ybarra, 35-year-old Elsa resident. "Why should somebody just come and mess it up?"
   For Marta Skik, a 19-year-old Chicago resident, the barrier shouldn't be built because it shouldn't be needed.
   "If people could respect her for who she was, then you wouldn't need a barrier," she said.
  

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Staff writer Michael Hines can be reached at 886-3758 or by e-mail at hinesm@caller.com

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