"Green Lawn Cemetery is counting on someone having a
conscience — or at least, needing an easy $1,000."
"The cash reward is being offered for anyone who turns over
information leading to the arrest of vandals who’ve crept into the historic
cemetery after dark and caused more than $1.25 million in damage within the
past two years. Why? For laughs? Out of boredom? If these losers are seeking
attention, they’ve got it. But that notoriety is going to help them be caught
and go to prison.
These vandals were “vindictive,” Green Lawn Cemetery Trustee
Randy Rogers said. “They’ll pick up a tablet and smash it on top of another
tablet.” They shattered obelisks and pushed statues from pedestals.
The damage is extensive and permanent. Historic items cannot
be made as good as new ... or “old,” in this case. One victim of the vandals
was a monument to Gustavus Swan, an Ohio Supreme Court justice who organized
Ohio’s early banking system. He died in 1860, the year Abe Lincoln was elected
president. The vandals demolished a life-size bust of Swan, an artwork that
will cost tens of thousands of dollars to remake.
Rogers started a GoFundMe.com page about a month ago to ask
the public for help with the restoration; as of early Friday, it had $475 in
pledges toward a $100,000 goal.
A cemetery nearly 170 years old holds a lot of history.
Those buried in Green Lawn include Samuel Bush, a forebear of two U.S.
presidents; Ohio Gov. and U.S. Sen. John Bricker; World War I flying ace Eddie
Rickenbacker; and humorist James Thurber.
The oldest sections of the cemetery took the brunt of the
damage. On Aug. 14, vandals damaged 109 monuments in one night. On Nov. 26, the
most recent rampage, they pushed over 30 to 40 markers, causing up to $45,000
in damage.
Someone knows or suspects the identity of the goons who are
desecrating gravesites. The nonprofit Green Lawn Cemetery Association has
turned to Central Ohio Crime Stoppers and the public for help. Tipsters can
remain anonymous by calling 614-461-8477, or going to stopcrime.org.
The crime is felony vandalism, but it also was an attack on
Ohio’s cultural heritage. These despicable thugs deserve the full weight of the
law."
