Three Lewiston men were arrested in connection with the desecration last week of one of the city's oldest cemeteries.
Police charged the three young men with aggravated criminal mischief and desecration and defacement of a burial site in connection with widespread vandalism at Riverside Cemetery. All three remained at the Androscoggin County Jail on Tuesday night.
Police charged the three young men with aggravated criminal mischief and desecration and defacement of a burial site in connection with widespread vandalism at Riverside Cemetery. All three remained at the Androscoggin County Jail on Tuesday night.
The suspects are alleged to have toppled more than 100 headstones sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning last week. Some of the stones were 200 years old and weighed 1,000 pounds or more.
"They should be made an example of," said Marilyn Burgess, 72, of Leeds. "Being caught means they won't be free to do it again. Fixing those stones ain't worth a damn if they can do it again."
Burgess was among those throughout the county outraged by the weekend rampage at the graveyard that dates back to the early to mid-1800s. Burgess serves as the legislative liaison for the Maine Old Cemetery Association. She was at the Summer Street cemetery to check on the graves of her relatives when she heard the news.
You can read more in a story by Andie Hannon in the SunJournal at http://www.sunjournal.com/city/story/898975?sms_ss=email
My thanks to Bob O'Halloran for telling me about this sad story.
