One of the first things Brighton District Court Judge David Donnelly asked the two college students up on graffiti charges this morning was whether their parents knew.

The pair, arrested early Saturday at a freshly tagged building near Boston University, said they did not.

"Why didn't you call your parents?" Donnelly asked the two, both 19 and both from the San Francisco area. They told him they were hoping to handle the matter on their own and to get the case resolved because, they said, they didn't do it - it was the woman they were with who was writing on the wall.

Donnelly didn't want to hear it. First he appointed two attorneys to represent them. Then, even though it was 7:30 a.m. on the West Coast at the time, he ordered the two to go into the hallway and inform their parents: "Let them know you've been arrested and that you're before the court," he said.

Not-guilty pleas were entered on their behalf.

Innocent, etc.