Vandals and thieves are ruining cemeteries

By Staff
Bob Stickley
Guest Columnist
One of the most terrible things we might see in a cemetery is a busted tombstone.
A cemetery is a place of rest or a memorial to your mother, father, grandfather, grandmother and many more people that you loved and cared for.
Yet there are people who have no respect for them and choose to bust tombstones with a ball bat or an iron rod. Most of the time it is the older stones that get damaged the most, mainly because they aren’t very thick and are easier to break.
Usually when this happens it leaves the stone damaged so you can’t read who it is that’s buried there.
In most cases, there aren’t any relatives still living either, so such an act should not have happened and if you become aware of such mayhem, please report it to the police immediately. Anyone who commits such an act should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Another act of violence that takes place in our cemeteries is the theft of floral arrangements, urns, statues and crosses.
A basic three-piece floral arrangement will cost around $100-$125.
I set a large urn of roses on my wife’s grave several years ago and in less than a week it was stolen. These things cost a lot of money and certainly should be left alone.
My former pastor, who was in the wholesale flower business, shared an experience he had with some floral pieces he made up for different ones for Memorial Day gatherings.
He said he decided to mark his initials in a hidden place on his arrangements. A few weeks later he went to a big flea market.
As he was observing the booths, he came across one with floral arrangements, when he suddenly spotted some arrangements that looked like his. He turned the piece over and found his initials.
He then asked the man where the arrangements came from and he was told that it was none of his business.
My pastor called the police and when they confronted the man, he confessed to taking them from graves.
Decoration days at our local churches will begin soon and one thing that we can do is to anchor floral pieces as good as we can. It will keep them from blowing away and will help prevent others from taking them.
Also, mark your floral arrangements so it would be easier to recognize if they were stolen. The same goes for urns and statues.
If you see someone trying to remove flowers from a gravesite, try to get their license plate number so you can call the police. But be careful so that an innocent person is not questioned.
Decoration days are a great memorial tribute to those in our family and also our friends who have passed away, but we still have fond memories of them and it’s sad when some low life person thinks they can rob you of what you placed there in their honor.