CROSSVILLE, Tenn. — Hours after city officials posted a $5,000 reward to find the culprit who spray-painted graphic messages on buildings in the renovated downtown district, a woman called to turn her son in.

“She knew who did it. It was her son,” said Crossville Police Major Mark Rosser. “She was willing to bring him up there. He had admitted to her and he was depressed about being alone on his birthday and told her to look downtown.”

The woman brought her 23-year-old son in for questioning. Police said he admitted to tagging several buildings, including a Tennessee Highway Patrol post.

If the suspect, Matthew James Savage, is convicted, he faces a maximum of 11 months, 29 days in jail. He is awaiting a court date.

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There are plenty of labels you could tack on to Ryan Nevins to better understand him – artist, grassroots political activist, bipolar patient – even a former draft pick for the Anaheim Angels – but a criminal? Not a chance, he says.

The 30-year-old Flushing resident has recently turned himself in to the 111th precinct for graffiti vandalism. When he appears in court on April 30, Nevins faces up to four years in prison for tagging extensive areas of the City with both his personal insignia – “RH” – and broader chromatic messages such as “Have the Courage,” “Shine: Follow Your Dreams,” and his notorious trademark “World Peace Not Pieces.” For years, his graffiti appeared on every major road from the Long Island Expressway to the West Side Highway. He’s splashed words across park walls and delivery trucks – even on a gate in front of St. Kevin School in Flushing.

But Nevins insists his work is meaningful art – not vandalism.

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Lisa McKenzie, Neighborhood Services Program coordinator, and Alex Rubio, a home-grown San Antonio graffiti artist, joined forces during the Hot Potato discussions in the Methodist Student Center Tuesday, to decrease graffiti violations and to provide positive alternatives for the young talented graffiti artists around San Antonio.

Although their definitions of graffiti differed, they agreed on one thing: Graffiti should only be allowed with permission.

“The difference between art and graffiti is one word: permission,” McKenzie said.

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