INDIANOLA — Those responsible for the graffiti on three homes in Miller Bay Estates may never be held accountable.

As of March 28, there were no arrests and the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department had no suspects, sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson said. Graffiti, he said, is a recurring issue everywhere in the county. Unless those responsible are caught in the act, however, it’s difficult to make an arrest.

“You’re always going to have a bunch of young people engaged in that kind of activity,” Wilson said.

The three homes, located off Beachwood Avenue, were all apparently tagged with the same dark green spray paint, according to a Sheriff’s Department report.

A call to law enforcement March 20 regarding a racially derogatory message written on a home brought the sheriff’s department to the area. The graffitied slur, estimated to cost $500 to remove, is thought to have been directed at a neighbor, who is African American, according to the report.

Neighbors were upset by the graffiti. One neighbor, in tears, declined to talk to the press. Another neighbor had moved her van in front of her house to block the racially derogatory message.

Following the initial call, the responding deputy found graffiti at two homes on Seavista Drive, on a garage door and on a fence, apparently painted with the same paint.

Wilson said graffiti comes and goes. Every generation, he said, seem to think it’s discovered spray paint for the first time. Discouraging graffiti is difficult, Wilson said. Those whose property is vandalized don’t have many options to deter it from happening. “Its like trying to discourage weeds from a home,” Wilson said.