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DESECRATION
by Outspoken on Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:50 am
DESECRATION
BY AMY CALDER
Staff Writer Morning Sentinel
UNITY -- Alnetta Levesque has lived in Unity 45 years and has never seen anything like the damage done at Quaker Hill Cemetery and the nearby church on Quaker Hill Road.
Gravestones are tipped over, markers broken, flowers and pots strewn all over the cemetery -- and American flags yanked from their stands.
"Some stones have been picked up and thrown," said Levesque, 67. "It's terrible, and all the veterans' graves have been tipped over or destroyed. Some of the stones were made of metal and those were totally destroyed and they cannot be replaced."
Levesque said 49 stones were damaged or broken. She was heartbroken and angry when she saw her relatives' graves around 2 p.m. Tuesday, about a half-hour after a resident called state police to report the vandalism.
"My grandfather, my grandmother, two uncles and an aunt, my mother and two brothers -- they're all buried there," Levesque said. "They (vandals) have hurt a lot of people. If it's kids, I say give 'em a backpack and drop 'em on Baghdad and see how they like it."
The vandal or vandals also broke a window of the Quaker Hill Christian Church, entered it and wreaked havoc inside, according to Leroy Hunter, a church deacon and longtime church member.
"They went into the basement and supply room and opened a can of white paint and painted all the cupboards and floors, broke glassware in the basement," said Hunter, 89, a World War II veteran. "Upstairs, they wrote graffiti on all the walls and there's words we don't want to talk about."
He said he thought a felt-tipped marker was used to write the graffiti.
Like Levesque, he said he has relatives buried in the cemetery, including his wife.
"My parents are in there and I do have some other relatives," he said. "I don't know why these things happen. There's quite a lot of liberal people that'll do anything."
Trooper Thomas Welch was investigating the case Tuesday afternoon -- including interviewing church officials and residents. He did not have an estimate of the amount of damage done in both the cemetery and church but said he would be talking with town officials to find out what it will cost to replace or fix the headstones.
"The interior of the church is well into the thousands (of dollars worth of damage)," Welch said. "It's a mess. It's a complete mess in there."
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/5218785.html
Staff photos by David Leaming
BY AMY CALDER
Staff Writer Morning Sentinel
UNITY -- Alnetta Levesque has lived in Unity 45 years and has never seen anything like the damage done at Quaker Hill Cemetery and the nearby church on Quaker Hill Road.
Gravestones are tipped over, markers broken, flowers and pots strewn all over the cemetery -- and American flags yanked from their stands.
"Some stones have been picked up and thrown," said Levesque, 67. "It's terrible, and all the veterans' graves have been tipped over or destroyed. Some of the stones were made of metal and those were totally destroyed and they cannot be replaced."
Levesque said 49 stones were damaged or broken. She was heartbroken and angry when she saw her relatives' graves around 2 p.m. Tuesday, about a half-hour after a resident called state police to report the vandalism.
"My grandfather, my grandmother, two uncles and an aunt, my mother and two brothers -- they're all buried there," Levesque said. "They (vandals) have hurt a lot of people. If it's kids, I say give 'em a backpack and drop 'em on Baghdad and see how they like it."
The vandal or vandals also broke a window of the Quaker Hill Christian Church, entered it and wreaked havoc inside, according to Leroy Hunter, a church deacon and longtime church member.
"They went into the basement and supply room and opened a can of white paint and painted all the cupboards and floors, broke glassware in the basement," said Hunter, 89, a World War II veteran. "Upstairs, they wrote graffiti on all the walls and there's words we don't want to talk about."
He said he thought a felt-tipped marker was used to write the graffiti.
Like Levesque, he said he has relatives buried in the cemetery, including his wife.
"My parents are in there and I do have some other relatives," he said. "I don't know why these things happen. There's quite a lot of liberal people that'll do anything."
Trooper Thomas Welch was investigating the case Tuesday afternoon -- including interviewing church officials and residents. He did not have an estimate of the amount of damage done in both the cemetery and church but said he would be talking with town officials to find out what it will cost to replace or fix the headstones.
"The interior of the church is well into the thousands (of dollars worth of damage)," Welch said. "It's a mess. It's a complete mess in there."
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/5218785.html
Staff photos by David Leaming
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
