By KRIS REILLY, Editor

LUCERNE VALLEY • Vandalism has plagued the area of Old Woman Springs Road west of Barstow Road in recent weeks, a local business owner said.

The worst of it was discovered last Thursday morning. Obscene messages and drawings were found on the Chamber of Commerce building, Hi Desert Book Oasis, Ranch Reality and a section of the shopping center where Starlight Video is located.

Sgt. Kevin Jaquez said last week that the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Lucerne Valley substation is investing a lead in the case. Jaquez couldn’t say for certain if the perpetrators were juveniles or adults.

Lou Grantt of Hi Desert Book Oasis said she has been finding trash and liquor bottles in front of her store for the past two weeks or so. Also, liquids were being poured into the mail slot of the Chamber of Commerce building next door, she said.

Grantt said there were several names used in the graffiti.

“The names that were on the door were mostly of the adults that hang out there, not kids from the high school,” Grantt said. “It seemed like it was one of the guys who hang out there and he was mad at the other guys.”

Grantt said that the next day she found a liquid that she suspected to be urine on part of the building, but she didn’t call the police because “I didn’t want to be a pest, and I didn’t know who did it.”

She’s hopeful the police investigation may bring an end to the incidents, and she pleaded for help from local citizens who see suspicious people near the store after business hours.

Anyone who witnesses acts of vandalism should call the anonymous WeTip line at (800) 78-CRIME.

“It’s just really been getting bad lately,” Grantt said. “Every time when I’m driving to work, I think, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to see to today?’ It’s not something you want to see in your town.”