I am sad to report that there has been some vandalism at Green’s Prairie Cemetery. The top half of the stone for War of 1812 veteran Elisha Gorham was pushed off the lower half of the monument and damaged. The vandals also attempted to push off the tops of the monuments for William C. Green and Chester Stephens. They may have also toppled the tombstone of Emilie Reed, but I was not looking a the back side of the cemetery on Saturday and therefor can not say if that stone was upright at that time. The damage probably occurred on Saturday night, April 4th. On the way to the recycling center on Saturday morning I had stopped by the cemetery and found some veteran’s flags had blown out of their holders (a normal occurrence) and one had torn loose from the wooden staff. Yesterday on the way to vote I stopped again to replace the repaired flag and found the damage.
I reported the vandalism to the Green County Sheriff’s department and later met with a Deputy Thompson who took the information and also pictures of the damage. Neither of the close neighbors had heard anyone at the cemetery over the weekend. Deputy Thompson said there was little that they could do to identify the vandals unless someone had seen people at the cemetery. He did place the cemetery on a watch list so that when Sheriff’s deputies were in the area they would drive by the cemetery.
Today I was able to twist the tops of the W.C. Green and Chester Stephens monuments back into position. However the main section of the Elisha Gorham monument probably weighs several hundred pounds and will require mechanical equipment to lift it back to the top of the monument.
It is a shame that anyone would have so much disrespect for our history, and the contributions of our veterans and pioneer settlers, that they would cause such wanton destruction. If anyone has any information about who might have been involved in this vandalism they should report it to the Green County Sheriff’s department at 328-9400.
Dave Green