Cemetery Vandals: A Slap on the Wrist Won’t Cut It

Cemetery vandalism is a common problem nearly everywhere. Tombstones are toppled and often destroyed. The perpetrators, if caught, usually get minimal punishments, if any.

In a letter to the Editor of the Marshall Independent of Marshall, Minnesota, Samantha Barowsky offers a different idea:

This writer would suggest having the perpetrators assist in the clean-up of the cemetery and the repair of the headstones. The offenders might also learn something from doing genealogical research on those who are buried in the cemetery, primarily those whose headstones were vandalized.

You can read Samantha's complete letter at http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/505069.html?nav=5072.

Comments

[John]

It's time to bring back the stocks.

[Traci]

Personally, I'd make them dig their own grave.

[Linda]

I'm on our local Cemetery Board. At one time we were installing one-foot square headstones for those where none existed. We learned that we didn't have the legal right to do so. While the Cemetery belongs to the City, the burial families have "leased" the gravesite, itself.
When damage to headstones happens, we, as a Board, can only look on in distress. It makes the need for a stronger penalty that much more necessary. One nearby cemetery had some 60 headstones destroyed in one night. The costs involved are staggering. While I’m all for the culprits being involved in the repair and also the research, the repair costs ought to be assigned to them, as well.

[Mary Beth]

Maybe communities shouldn't wait until the vandalism happens before acting. A few weeks ago I was corresponding with a newly discovered distant cousin about a cemetery where both of our ancestors are buried; she was concerned about the proximity of the country cemetery to the highway and its lack of fences. My reply:

"Not sure I've ever heard of vandalism or drag racing in the Catholic Cemetery. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the kids never get that bored. An idea just popped into my head. One of the ways that has been found to engage kids is to have them take care of whatever they've wanted to harm. What about Adopt-A-Grave? Each kid would be responsible for maintaining a grave for someone who has no descendants around to do so. S/he could learn about the person, just the way we're studying family history for our own families. They could learn to search census records, newspapers, county land and marriage records, etc. Someone involved with schools here in CA said genealogy is too touchy a subject to build projects around because so many kids come from other-than-standard home situations and it might prove embarrassing. But if each kid learned to research using a person who has no known descendants in the area, it could work."

The local historical or genealogical society could nominate graves for inclusion in the project. One of the reasons for no vandalism at area cemeteries in my home county may be that most of the kids who are of an age to be potential vandals participated, along with the rest of their boy or girl scout troops, in a grave-by-grave census of the cemeteries.

Also, in my hometown and home church, most kids attend funerals from an early age and go to the cemetery for burials. Perhaps if death and its surrounding rites are familiar to kids, it makes cemeteries less scary and strange and less likely to be destroyed out of fear of the unknown.

[Linda Johnston]

Since cemetery vandalism is usually committed by young people, without much money, I agree with having them participate in the cleanup. Restitution might be a long-term item, though.

For those of you, who've had a tombstone broken by such vandalism, I'd like to let you know that you may already have the means to have the stone replaced or repaired. If you own the deed to the burial plot, check with your homeowner's insurance policy to see if tombstones are covered. I was surprised when I was asking my agent about coverage for my mother's stone, since the cemetery is 350 miles from my home. It was a "custom-design" and it had taken a year to get the blank stone from India. I didn't want to pay that price again, so was checking into coverage for it. I already had that coverage. So, it would do some good for anybody to check to see if you already have it, or can get it, since these items are not inexpensive to replace.