Robert Dafford said he will be in town next week to begin to replace the murals honoring the Portsmouth Spartans and Branch Rickey that were removed last fall.

"Those two panels (murals) had cracks in them and kept giving us problems. Every year we had to repaint the areas around the cracks. We've all gotten tired of repainting the same areas over and over again," Robert Dafford, the artist who painted the Portsmouth floodwall murals said. "So, we removed them (murals) completely to fix the cracks."

The first coats of paint were applied to the surface last fall.

"We will be in town next week to start repainting the Branch Rickey and Portsmouth Spartans mural," Dafford said.

According to Daffod the repairs being made to the wall last fall. He said the art will take about three weeks to reapply.

Bob Morton said Portsmouth Murals Inc., is planning a rededication of the Branch Rickey Mural on August 28th.

"August 28th is the day Branch Rickey signed the contract with Jackie Robinson," Morton said. "We thought that would be a great day to rededicate the mural."

The two murals were first painted in 1994, using a different primer that what's currently suggested. The murals were taken down because the primer underneath was starting to fail and would have effected the mural.

"He's (Dafford) going to replace the murals for $10,000 per-mural," Morton said. "We made enough money from the baseball banquet to pay for the restoration. It looks like we are in good shape right now."

According to www.sciotocountyohio.com "the purpose of the floodwall mural project is to create an outdoor art gallery depicting the last two centuries of the history of Portsmouth and the surrounding area. The section of floodwall included in the project is 20 feet high and extends for 2,090 feet along Front Street in the historic Boneyfiddle District of downtown Portsmouth. Painting began in 1993."