Graffiti Inspiration Revealed

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Graffiti Inspiration Revealed

By Lesley Tanner

East Longmeadow police have released the names of three suspects accused of painting some really unusual graffiti on the town high school, and police think they know what inspired the messages, which included "art is resistance".

Police pulled out their computers when they read the messages on the side of the building. They found a Web site called artisresistance.com. It's an anti-government page started as publicity for the band "Nine Inch Nails", and that's where police believe the teens got the idea.

William O'Shei, 18, isn't saying what made him allegedly spray paint the words "art is resistance" on the side of East Longmeadow High School, but police believe the website could be a clue.

"Seeing that it's a computer related thing," said Sgt. Patrick Manley, "we decided to see if the individual has a site of his own."

Searches on sites like Facebook.com and Myspace.com led police to O'Shei, 19-year-old Jonathan Adler and 18-year-old Aaron O'Brien all of East Longmeadow. Police found references to art is resistance and the band, "Nine Inch Nails" on their personal sites. Marketing for the band's new album "Year Zero" started the movement, but police are not blaming the ads for the action.

"I don't think the band was looking for the kids to create defacement of the building, and it's unfortunate that that is how they interpreted the message when they got it," Manley said.

A message that's spreading, just two days before the high school was hit, police in Longmeadow found the same art is resistance message spray painted along the side of Renaldi's Restaurant. Now the two departments are working together to see is they can connect the incidents and hopefully send a message of their own.

"One thing bad guys do is if they do something and get away with it they'll do it again, and people are successful until they get caught," Manley said.

O'Brien and Adler have received summons to court. All three are scheduled to appear in front of a judge on June 19.

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