Dozens of graves vandalized at cemetery

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    ELIZABETHTOWN, New York (WPTZ) — Dozens of graves have been vandalized at a northern New York cemetery. The grounds are home to the final resting place of numerous veterans, including some from the Revolutionary War and Battle of Plattsburgh.

Last week when Elizabethtown workers went to inspect the Boquet Cemetery, they found headstones were knocked over or broken.

Elizabethtown Town Supervisor Noel Merrihew said the community has had a mixed reaction.

“The feedback that I’ve had as town supervisor as this word gets out of the damage that was incurred here this week is heartbreak, outrage, hostility, being so close to Memorial Day,” Merrihew said.

Merrihew said between 50 and 70 headstones have been damaged, including the final resting places of some hometown heroes.

If the culprits aren’t found, the burden to fix the damage could fall on the taxpayers.

“The cost of each individual headstone is phenomenally expensive,” Merrihew said. “I have no idea, but looking around today, I know it’ll be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Not to make it perfect, but just to try to put it back to some resemblance of order.”

Community members in Elizabethtown, like Margaret Bartley who is the president of the Adirondack History Museum, can’t believe this has happened.

“How could you do that to somebody who fought in the American Revolution to gain American independence and just take the bronze star on it and throw it in the woods? We just keep thinking, what kind of anger do people have that they would do this?” Bartley said.

Now Bartley and other community members are stepping up and offering a reward to find who did it.

“People are really upset because it is a very beautiful and very historic site here,” Bartley said. “The community’s come together to offer a reward of money; I’ve heard over a thousand dollars or more, depending on how many people want to donate.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the New York State Police.

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