Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio , which on the website "Find A Grave" lists 143,084 memorials, and 49 listed as famous, was once among Ohio's most preeminent cemeteries - being Columbus' largest - but has now become vastly violated with increased vandalism. The criminal destruction of monuments and markers have happened on several occasions during 2016 leaving the cemetery needing more help on all fronts.
So it is I feel compelled to share this entire news story from the "Columbus Dispatch" with details that should be of concern to anyone reading it whether or not they have ancestors, family members, or friends buried at Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus.
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“Grave markers nearing two centuries old lie on their
sides in the dirt. Obelisks are shattered into pieces. Statues that have stood
watch through the decades are pushed straight off their pedestals.
Over two summers, vandals have crept into historic Green
Lawn Cemetery after dark on several occasions and have kicked and pushed
and broken their way to more than $1.25 million in damage. The nonprofit Green
Lawn Cemetery Association has turned to Central Ohio Crime Stoppers — and the
public — for help.
"A couple of damaged markers, we can handle
that," Green Lawn Trustee Randy Rogers said. That happens in a storm or
when a giant limb falls from an old tree. But more than 600 monuments?
"It's completely overwhelming."
Anyone who turns over information leading to the
arrest of a cemetery vandal or thief will receive a $1,000 cash reward, said
Crime Stoppers President Kristen McKinley. It will be an ongoing partnership
between the two groups, with Crime Stoppers collecting information from
tipsters, who will be kept anonymous, and the cemetery funding the rewards.
Signs will be posted around the cemetery announcing the award, which officials
hope will be a deterrent
"To the person or persons who are committing
these despicable acts, you will get caught," McKinley said. "To the
person or persons who have information regarding this or have knowledge of who
is doing this, think about the families of the deceased who are buried in these
gravesites. How would you feel?...Do the right thing."
Because of the dollar amount involved, said Detective
Jason Evans of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, this is felony vandalism.
He has gotten some leads but could use some more information, he said.
Green Lawn Cemetery, established in 1848, is 360 acres
of rolling hills designed by a landscape architect. Many notable people are
buried there, including Samuel
Bush, the grandfather of President George H.W. Bush; former Ohio governor and
U.S. Sen. John Bricker, who was the running mate of presidential candidate
Thomas Dewey in 1944; World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker; and humorist
James Thurber.
The oldest sections of the cemetery, which have seen
the most damage, are the farthest from the main entrance.
The perimeter is about 3 1/2 miles with 2.2 miles of
fence. Tuesday, a man cutting through the cemetery slipped right between two
bent slats in the fence backing up to Brown Road
Cemetery officials think the 10 or so incidents, all
during the warm months of 2015 and 2016, are related. The security patrol
chased and almost caught two men on one occasion, and describes them as two
white men around 20 years old, average height and build.
On Aug. 14, the vandals damaged 109 monuments in one
night. On Nov. 26, the most-recent incident, they pushed over 30 to 40 markers,
causing between $35,000 and $45,000 in damage. Just to reset a small stone
marker costs $600, Rogers said.
"They've been very vindictive," he said.
"They'll pick a tablet up and smash it on top of another tablet."
Some of the most-extensive damage is to a monument for
Gustavus
Swan, a War of 1812 veteran, Ohio Supreme Court justice in 1829-30 and best
known for organizing Ohio's early banking system. He died on Feb. 6, 1860.
The vandals must have climbed the tall stone base to
get to the columned portion at the top, and they shattered a life-size bust of
Swan. The pieces, with the face destroyed, are still sitting at the base.
The cemetery has a portrait of Swan and a piece of the
tile that the bust was made from. But to have it remade will cost tens of
thousands of dollars
People can call in tips to Central Ohio Crime Stoppers
at 614-461-8477 or using the website stopcrime.org. Identities are kept anonymous,
McKinley said.
The association does take donations from the public,
both by mail and in person at the Green Lawn office.
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"Vandals destroy more than graves"
December 22, 2016
Author/Byline: Theodore Decker, "The Columbus
Dispatch"
More than 150,000 of Central Ohio's dead have been
laid to rest in Green Lawn Cemetery since 1849, and they say there is room for
another century of burials.
Here among Green Lawn's 360 acres lies Franklinton's
founder, Lucas Sullivant. Philanthropist Hannah Neil is buried here, as are
World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, artist Alice Schille, and humorist
James Thurber.
There are opulent shrines to the well-to-do, where
sunlight shines through Tiffany-style glass windows, and modest stones erected
in tribute to generations of mothers and fathers, sons and daughters.
Occasionally, especially in the cemetery's more recent
history, there have been those who would defile the place. They have hacked
bronze fixtures to sell for scrap and torn up the lawns with a stolen dump
truck. Over the past two summers, vandals have toppled and broken hundreds of
monuments, causing damage that the cemetery association now estimates at more
than $1.25 million.
"It's completely overwhelming," Trustee
Randy Rogers told Dispatch Reporter Shannon Gilchrist.
Rogers' comments came as the cemetery announced
Wednesday a partnership with Central Ohio Crime Stoppers, hoping that a
standing offer of reward money will out those responsible for the ongoing
destruction.
It's a special breed of pond scum that delights in the
wanton and sustained vandalism of a cemetery. The more recent damage has been
confined largely to the cemetery's older and historic plots, probably because
those graves are farthest from the entrance and weasels are adept at sniffing
out the coward's path.
With rows of weathered granite and centuries-old
trees, it's easy to think of the place as frozen at a point long past. But
while the bulk of the broken monuments may date back decades, the vandals'
disrespect is an affront to even the most recent families to mourn at Green
Lawn.
Just this month, some of those families have paid
their respects to an 87-year-old South Side husband and father who ran a
wrecking company and served with the Army's 503rd Field Artillery Battalion
during the Korean War. To a Grove City woman who spoiled her grandchildren,
loved to knit and crochet, and made hats and blankets for infants who were ill.
And to a noted photographer whose pictures chronicled decades of the
African-American experience in Columbus and beyond.
The vandals have stolen some of the peace of the place
even from those who have been spared physical damage.
One woman, whose family has deep ties to Columbus and
whose mother died on Dec. 5, said generations of her family are buried at Green
Lawn. She goes there to reflect and pay tribute to her ancestors, and one day
she'll be buried there too.
Hearing about the vandalism left her disgusted and
worried, to the point that she didn't want her name mentioned here on the
off-chance that her family's graves might be targeted.
"It's beyond comprehension to me, what someone
would be thinking to do that," she said. "We're talking about a
cemetery. It's supposed to be people resting in peace.
"It's almost too much to bear," she said.
Her mother, though, was a positive force in life and
remains one in death.
"She wanted the world to be better, starting with
her," the woman said.
Here's what she imagines her mom would say about the
vandals:
"We have to get to those sorts of people, and
encourage them with positivity, and let them know they are loved."
That is a mere fraction of the legacy of Green Lawn. A
kindness standing firm against hatred, even as headstones fall.
tdecker@dispatch.com
@Theodore_Decker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PUBLISHED: 12/21/16 02:03 PM EST.
UPDATED: 12/21/16 02:09 PM EST.
Central
Ohio Crime Stoppers, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, and Green Lawn Cemetery
officials held a news conference Wednesday announcing a reward regarding the
repeated vandalism.
A $1000
reward was announced for any information leading to an arrest/indictment in the
case.
The
incidents reportedly took place at Green Lawn Cemetery between August and
November. Several headstones were destroyed at the cemetery and glass was
broken in a mausoleum."
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1721.14
Cemetery policemen.
The
trustees, directors, or other officers of a cemetery company or association,
whether it is incorporated or unincorporated, and a board of township trustees
having charge of township cemeteries, may appoint day and night watchmen for
their grounds. All such watchmen, and all superintendents, gardeners, and
agents of such company or association or of such board, who are stationed on
the cemetery grounds may take and subscribe, before any judge of a county court
or judge of a municipal court having jurisdiction in the township where the
grounds are situated, an oath of office similar to the oath required by law of
constables. Upon taking such oath, such watchmen, superintendents, gardeners,
or agents shall have, within and adjacent to the cemetery grounds, all the
powers of police officers.
