Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A $2,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the identification of vandals who significantly damaged over the weekend two new Mississippi State entrance signs located on either side of Creelman Street at Highway 12.
The university will supplement the normal Golden Triangle Crimestoppers award for information related to the incident, bringing the total amount to $2,000. Information may be reported anonymously by telephoning (toll-free) 1-800-530-7151.
University police are investigating the theft of seven raised metal letters from the two brick-and-mortar signs that were discovered damaged Sunday along the western edge of campus. Also damaged was a spotlight that provides nighttime illumination of the signs, according to Jim Jones, MSU executive director of facilities.
Repairs will total approximately $5,000, Jones added.
"This type of destructive and malicious behavior will not be tolerated, and we will initiate civil and criminal legal proceedings as appropriate when the perpetrators are identified," said MSU President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong. "We are seeking the assistance of anyone on campus or in the community who may have relevant information."
The entrance markers are among six erected last summer and fall to designate major approaches to the Starkville campus.
"It is especially disappointing that someone, obviously someone who does not hold MSU in the same high regard that most of us do, chose to deface one of the most prominent public emblems of the university in a location that announces our presence and our pride in our campus to thousands of passersby each day," Foglesong said.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.