A series of vandalism in downtown Warrenton has drawn the attention of city police.Since the beginning of April, there have been at least 10 reports of graffiti, broken windows or other vandalism within a block of Main Street or at Binkley Woods Park on Morgan Street.In a letter sent to downtown businesses May 10, Warrenton Police Chief Larry Ellard wrote there would be more patrols in and around the Main Street area.Ellard asked businesses to report any acts of vandalism or suspicious activity, no matter how small. He also recommended installing security lights and cameras, and promptly cleaning or repairing any vandalism.“Vandals are amused by the angry reactions to the damage and brag about their work to their peers. This validates the act in a way,” Ellard said in the letter. “Failure to clean up the damage also sends the message that your location is an easy target.”Dr. Ashley Boehle, who operates a chiropractic office at 110 S. East St., said someone threw a rock through the glass of her front door just before she closed on April 19. The culprit, she believes, was among a group of children who frequently play in a public parking lot across the street.“It was loud. It scared us pretty bad,” Boehle recalled. “It just shattered the whole door. ... Then we just kind of saw the kids scatter.”Although the damage didn’t have a direct impact on her business, it was expensive to repair the door and a major inconvenience.“It makes me sad that these kids are running around and they don’t have good guidance in their lives,” Boehle said, adding that local police officers shouldn’t have to worry about monitoring the children playing downtown. “I’m just grateful nobody was hurt and that I didn’t have any patients here when it happened.”She added that it likely was just a few “bad apples” in the group that caused the damage.Sharon Arthur, whose family owns the building Boehle’s office is in, said the damage cost well over $1,000 to repair. Prior to that event, she said someone had drawn obscene graffiti on the back of the building.Arthur stated she plans to pursue prosecution in the case, commenting that children and preteens are “running wild” without any supervision.In the decades that her family has owned the building, Arthur said she doesn’t recall any mention of vandalism such as these.“I think if the city of Warrenton wants to grow and attract new business to the area, they’re going to have to do something about this,” Arthur said. “It’s bad for their image. It’s bad for the tenants.”As for the children, she said they need to learn that if they continue this behavior into adulthood, they could face criminal prosecution that stays on their records the rest of their lives.One of the other downtown buildings dealing with graffiti is Jordan’s Place, a social center for teens. The rear of the building has been vandalized at least twice, said co-founder Cathy Pritchett.“We went out and washed it off with a power washer, and then they did it again a week later in the same spot,” Pritchett said.She mentioned that the graffiti happened soon after several youths were suspended from coming to Jordan’s Place for stealing and inappropriate behavior.Security cameras are now in operation around the Jordan’s Place building, Pritchett said.Records from the Warrenton Police Department indicate that suspects were identified in at least six of the downtown vandalism cases. However, the records do not identify the suspects or whether the same juveniles might have been indicated in multiple acts of vandalism.The suspects were referred to the Warren County Juvenile Office.Downtown Warrenton