"O" Street Blogger vandalizes new Bagley Bridge

**hybridy** · May-10-10, 02:46 PM

interesting...

Oneita D Jackson
Female | 40s

Parker St
Detroit, Michigan 48214 show full address[[313) 822-2159

**REL** · May-11-10, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by hybridy

interesting...

[[What's interesting about posting information with the sole purpose of harrassing someone in their home? Would you care to post your personal information, hybridy? People have her contact info [[including her work number) on the Freep. Why put her personal safety [[and her son's) at risk? Shame on you.)

As for my 2-cents, I am disgusted by her actions. I truly enjoy her blog, and appreciate what she writes, but don't find this funny at all. It's so sad. Not just that she did it, but she only wrote about it after she had to. She knew it was wrong, because when she saw the camera, she froze and pulled away immediately, like a child who had been caught. And her explanations sounded like excuses [["it easily washed off, other people did it first, we did it when I was a kid," etc).

[[For the record, folks, it was a green Pilot fine-point pen, not a Sharpie. But I've enjoyed the Sharpie discussion)

It's not "tagging", O, it's VANDALISM. It's a crime. And the more you trivialize it by calling it a cutesy name, the more acceptable it becomes

You said you feel stupid about it, and you should.

If you're reading this, Oneita, I hope you take this advice seriously: You now owe the city of Detroit. You not only committed a crime, but did it in broad daylight, and left a mark inspiring others to follow your lead [[remember your excuse of "other people did it first"? Ironic, huh?). If you are truly repentant, you will volunteer some serious time to clean off other peoples' stupidity, and write about how vandalism and blight contribute to the city's problems. Use your blog as a tool to combat the disrespect people show when they commit vandalism.

Then you can start championing the funding of arts in Detroit Public Schools, because clearly young people [[and unfortunately many adults) have limited ways to express themselves and have no creative outlet. I truly believe there is a connection here. Arts have all but disappeared from DPS, and have been among the lowest priorities and we are all paying for it.

Although, you have a well-known blog to express yourself, so what's your excuse?

Argh. I'm done.

Ravine · May-11-10, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by gnome

Insert your caption here:________________________________

Playing with this device is more trouble than I'm willing to go to, but here's my caption:

"Hey, does this Sharpie make my butt look big?"

**southwestsaavy** · May-10-10, 08:11 PM

FIRE HER. Was she on official Press business? that event was community and press focussed. far as I know, she does not live in Southwest Detroit, so I can only assume she was there as a Press representative.

**eno** · May-10-10, 09:02 PM

Originally Posted by southwestsaavy

FIRE HER. Was she on official Press business? that event was community and press focussed. far as I know, she does not live in Southwest Detroit, so I can only assume she was there as a Press representative.

Rather than firing her, how about Oneita do some form of community service in the area where she did her marking.

**SWMAP** · May-11-10, 10:54 AM

I'm not for 'capital punishment" in any form so I think the Freep should let Jackson should keep her real, behind-the- scenes job as copy editor. But she should probably withdraw her preachy blog and the regular article publication. There's nowhere that column can go now. Rather than the responsible adult she has positioned herself to be publicly, she is really an adolescent with a sharpie. What else has she defaced around town when she's excited?

**RickBeall** · May-11-10, 06:24 PM

All this over writing her name with a sharpie on a wooden bench? Awful lot of hand wringing going on. God forbid that any of us get caught on camera doing something silly.

**RealityCheck** · May-11-10, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by RickBeall

God forbid that any of us get caught on camera doing something silly.

Not to worry, R.B. - - we ordinary schlubs can go on about our silly business with scant concern for these types of public rebukes now heading toward Day 4.

Even the retroactively apologetic bench tagger understands why she's in the spotlight.

I make a living running my big mouth telling people how they should behave.

Here's how two of the 634 [[!) readers commenting on her mea culpa put it this afternoon to explain a distinction you seem to blur:

In your position at the Freep, especially when you babble on about vandalism and how it impacts the city, you must be held to a much higher standard. -- AshamedOfYou

O.J.'s action both at work and outside of work are a direct reflection on The Detroit Free Press. She -- and other Freep employees -- are held to a higher standard due to the types of jobs they have. -- Dtroit4evers

Chuck_MI · May-12-10, 01:48 AM

All I can say is if the Freep cans her for this, I will not buy another issue. I already feel silly for dropping a buck for the crossword puzzle each day. Journalism is dead in this city.

**gnome** · May-12-10, 05:22 AM

In today's Freep. our own Stephen Henderson writes a truly pained response to the whole incident.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...te=fullarticle

So I was beyond disappointed when I learned, last Friday, that one of the strongest voices in support of our approach, a voice I edit, had "tagged" a bench on the new Bagley Street bridge. My heart sank.

But what she did, as captured by a Michigan Department of Transportation camera, was callow and impulsive, exactly the kind of behavior that she scolds in her work.

Her blog will be inactive until May 31. Her column will reappear June 6.

Next week, the Free Press will meet with MDOT representatives to talk about how we might work together to clean up some of the mess and, just as important, change the culture around here so that bright symbols of our future aren't seen as targets for vandals

I feel for Stephen. He has a tough job in the best of times, but when one of your 'stars' does something so mindless it really must require a lot of patience to not go all Visigoth.

The thing about Oneita's tagging video was the ease in which she uncapped her sharpie. Like it was natural and ordinary. That can only mean that our dear "O" expresses herself that way all over the city.

O, marvelous.

**pffft** · May-12-10, 07:58 AM

I agree that she seemed very comfortable, casual almost, whipping the pen out and tagging the bench. Obviously one act with a pen appears minor, but I think the larger issue that people are reacting to is that in her apology, O. cited growing up in New York, that it's "what we did." If tagging is a deep-seated, cultural thing, we definitely have a divide in this town between those who believe in it and those who don't.

**RealityCheck** · May-12-10, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by gnome

Stephen Henderson writes a truly pained response to the whole incident.

. . . which draws 175 comments by noon.

While I've been part of the banter here and elsewhere [[though not at Freep site), this post by 'troyd' has a point worth considering:

I wish Freep could get as many comments on an important story like that poor 15-year-old gunned down in a drive-by last week. But no, we're still talking about a small tag that washed away in the rain, and why someone wasn't fired over it.

**Hypestyles** · May-13-10, 06:17 PM

there should be more opportunities for commissioned murals in the city, have some professional and youth graffiti artists create murals on these abandoned buildings, at least make them interesting to glance at for once...