It is arguably one of the most exciting sports a bicyclist could dream of, featuring big air jumps, break neck speeds and a mad dash to the checkered flag, but 24 hours before Sunday's big bicycle motocross race, pornographic images spray painted on the building at the Chesapeake BMX complex in Severn threatened to shut down the event.
"We average about 200 to 250 riders every race here and a lot of them are young kids,” said BMX Head Coach Tom Scott, “We can't have any of them seeing that."
Images better left to a high school anatomy class, as crude as the vandals behind them, set a group of volunteers into motion to remove graffiti so vile it requires us to refrain from showing the finished work.
"Some images of male genitalia and some other illegible things, but what they're really doing... evidence showed individuals spray painting overnight,” said Marc Limansky of the Anne Arundel County Police Department, “So we're going to look into that and see if anyone can identify these folks."
Surveillance cameras at the facility captured the dark-clothed delinquents in the act, and volunteers with the non-profit BMX are offering a $250 reward after a league built to provide positive, healthy activities for young people became a target for those on a different path.
"If we could have caught these kids before they pulled out the paint, we would have done the same for them that we've done for thousands of others, which is to open up the door to the barn that they painted and give them a bike and a helmet and said, 'Let's go have fun,'" said Scott.
Right now, the BMX league boasts 500 riders, ranging in age from just 18 months to nearly 70 years old, and since they're devoted to helping youths, even if the suspects are located, some hold out hope that they can expose them to the sport through community service and help them avoid juvenile charges.
