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West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark

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Historic cemetery vandalized

Saturday, 17 June 2006

By Allison Ryan

Illinois-Markers in the Berean Cemetery, an old graveyard northwest of Ladd unknown even to some locals, had stood for more than 100 years before unknown vandals tipped or broke most of the gravestones Friday night. The Bureau County Sheriff’s Department is looking for clues to the vandals’ identities.
“It appears that sometime during the night, 55 tombstones were knocked off their pedestals and damaged,” Bureau County deputy Kevin Beaber said Saturday after inspecting the cemetery. Some large stones were knocked from their bases, while obelisks and decorative tops were cracked into pieces.

“It has been a very long time since I have seen a totally thoughtless, totally criminal act and such a lack of respect. This is beyond description,” Beaber said.

Much of the small cemetery was divided into family plots, including three generations of the family of Franklin W. Seaton, founder of Seatonville, who died in 1873. Some of the gravestones had lasted through more than 100 years of wind, rain, sun and snow.

The letters on the oldest stones were worn almost smooth, and the faces discolored by wear, but there’s no telling how much longer they could have stood.

Beaber said the cost to repair the damaged stones would be “substantial,” declining to give a dollar figure until a conservator could make an assessment today.

Dale McKee, the cemetery’s only trustee, thinks it could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace all the damaged stones. McKee said he has mowed the lawn and kept it in shape for more than 50 years and doubts many of the stones will be repaired.

“I just mow it because my family’s there,” McKee said. The cemetery includes his great-great-great-grandfather. He said even the newer stones for many of his mother’s relatives had been tipped over. But, he said, there’s no insurance and no fund to support the cemetery and many of those buried there no longer have relatives in the area.

“When something like this happens, it just gets you down. I know I can’t replace all those,” McKee said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to it.”

Beaber said he had recovered some physical evidence at the scene, but declined to elaborate.

“I am going to do everything in my power and in the power of the Bureau County Sheriff’s Department to find whoever is responsible and prosecute,” Beaber said.

As of this morning, no arrests had been made, though Sheriff John Thompson said his department had interviewed five people with information about the incident.

“We’re optimistic — optimistic to the point where we’re satisfied we have very close knowledge of what happened and who was involved with it,” Thompson said.

Beaber said the saddest loss was the sentimental value for the family members that could not be replaced even if new stones were placed.

“It’ll never be the same,” Beaber said.

http://www.newstrib.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&ArticleID=20651&SubSectionID=207

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