Broad Run Girl Scout Trail Project Vandalized

Trail kiosk off Route 28 in Bristow has been damaged by graffiti.

Someone recently vandalized a Broad Run Trail kiosk and sign located behind the Route 28 Target; the trail marker was a Girl Scout project created by Jillian Huweart.

Last weekend, Jillian Huweart, 17, of Gainesville, was about to show her grandmother her Gold Award Girl Scout service project, a trail kiosk and sign behind the West Manassas Target on the Bristow border.

“I go out there periodically to just clean up some trash that might be there and to make sure it still looks good. I went there the other day, and it did not look good,” Huweart said.

Upon approaching the site, she noticed the graffiti. As she got closer, she realized that not only had the sign been vandalized, but the kiosk as well. Someone used blue and gray spray paint to paint a creepy smile and tag “SOLO 5,"

“How do people have the audacity to ruin someone else’s hard work?” Huweart wondered.

In August, Huweart completed an independent service project that was required of her before she could earn her Gold Award. The Gold Award is the highest Girl Scout honor one can earn, the Girl Scout equivalent of  becoming an Eagle Scout.

Graffiti covers the sides and back of the wooden kiosk.

For her project, Huweart choose to build a trail kiosk. She spent hours constructing it- approximately a full day on carpentry and another day erecting it at the site with help from volunteers.

After all her effort, she was crestfallen to learn someone or a group of people had disrespected her work and  robbed the county residents of their markers, which enhanced the hiking or cycling experience along the trail.

In response to the vandalism, Huweart filed a report online with the Prince William Police. She also contacted the Trail and Stream Coalition with whom she worked to create the kiosk.

As the kiosk was Huweart project, she also will do most of the restoration. She plans work with the Prince William Trail and Streams Coalition as soon as possible. She said it may require some sanding and some painting.

“We’re hoping to get it off there fast. I don’t know how long it’s been on there,” Huwart said.

This act of graffiti vandalism follows an incident at Bristow Commons last week.

Bristow Beat has contacted police, inquiring about the nature of the act. The Prince William Police Gang Unit believes the vandalism not gang related, but what they call "tagger art."