‘PEACE’ sign vandalized

Immediately after hearing that the iconic PEACE sign visible in Garapan had been vandalized, Yogi Singh, Richard Sikkel, and other members of the Saipan Hash Harriers led repair operations to restore the sign. (MELANIE WARD)

The “PEACE” sign on the top of the hill in Chinatown was vandalized over the weekend, with parts of the word covered in black plastic bags to bear a resemblance to a vulgar Chamorro term. Fortunately, a group of concerned citizens were immediately able to restore the sign upon learning of the incident.

According to the owners of the property, Juan (Morgan) and Rita Tenorio, they were only made aware of the vandalism late Saturday afternoon after their daughter went up to check on the sign.

Their daughter informed them that parts of the sign were covered in black trash bags and fastened with tape or some kind of adhesive so, from afar, the sign resembled the Chamorro word for “masturbation.”

The couple believe the vandalism could have been done by children or teenagers in the village because they do not remember seeing anyone come up to the sign prior to the vandalism so it is believed the perpetrators climbed up from below the sign.

According to Rita Tenorio, she can’t think why anyone would want to vandalize a sign that they paid for, out of their own pockets, for the community to enjoy.

“I don’t know why anyone would do that. That sign is for the community to enjoy. We allow everyone to come up and enjoy as long as they ask permission,” she said.

The sign, which was constructed over 10 years ago, was initially Rita Tenorio’s entry for a “Christmas light” competition. Although she did not win the competition, because of the joy it brought to the community, she said she decided to keep the sign up all year round. Since then, the sign has become a popular site for tourists and locals alike.

Rita Tenorio’s husband, Juan Tenorio, said he just hopes that this is the first and last time the sign is vandalized and that whoever did it realizes that what they did was wrong and that they don’t encourage others to do the same thing or worse.

“It looks like a kid’s work. It’s just sad but I just hope whoever did this, they find peace within themselves,” Juan Tenorio said.

Fortunately, members of the Saipan Hash Harriers community acted on the vandalism and immediately restored the sign back to its former state and the couple is grateful that they did.

“This morning, my wife saw a pickup truck with some guys with a ladder. When I went up there, I found two guys and a lady and they were taking down the plastic that was put up. It was very touching for me. We thank them so much for doing that because we believe that sign touches a lot of people,” he said.

Yogi Singh, who led the repair and cleanup, said that after learning about the vandalism, he recruited other members of the Saipan Hash Harriers community to help him fix the sign since the spot has become one of the group’s favorite spots after a long Hash Run. Other members of the cleanup crew were Richard Sikkel and Melanie Ward.

“We are a bunch of hashers so once in a while we’ll end up in that property. The owners are very nice and they let us use their property. We felt like, as a group that benefits from them and their property, we had to do something about it so we went up at around 11am just to see what needed to be done and it was just a bunch of garbage bags and cardboard so we took it down,” he said.