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Kids: Don't Graffiti a National Park With Your 'Promposal'

By Christopher Coble, Esq. on June 01, 2017 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

The escalation of promposals -- elaborately staged settings for asking a high school sweetheart to the biggest dance of the year -- went a few steps too far at Sandstone Peak in Southern California. The highest point in the Santa Monica Mountains, and part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, was defaced with one word in white paint: "Prom?"

Park rangers say this is the second year in the row they've discovered the same graffiti on the red rocks near the peak, so it apparently bears repeating: vandalize a national park, go to jail.

Don't Paint the Park

To be clear, the culprits in this case have yet to be caught, and as of last Thursday, the park was tweeting for help:

"We love hearing about creative promposals," the park also posted on its Facebook page, "but damaging public lands is not the way to do it. For the second year in a row, the same graffiti message has been scrawled on a rock near Sandstone Peak. If you have any information about this crime, please contact dispatch at 661-723-3620. Thank you! - Ranger Zach".

Park Yourself in Jail

Should Ranger Zach, or any of the other National Park Service staff get their hands on the teen tagger, the penalties could be severe. Defacing national park property is a federal misdemeanor, punishable by three to six months in prison and as much as a $500 fine.

Casey Nocket, who last year pleaded guilty to seven counts of vandalizing rock formations with graffiti in seven different national parks was banned from 524 million acres of public lands during two years of probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

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