75 gravestones vandalized at St. Peter & Paul's Cemetery

SOUTHPORT – Dozens of gravestones were vandalized Sunday evening at St. Peter and Paul’s Cemetery.

“It was horrible,” said Marty Chalk, president of the cemetery’s board. “I believe there are about 75 stones that have been turned over or destroyed.”

Cemetery workers were in the process Tuesday of trying to identify every damaged monument so they can get the names and try to reach out to the families, said Chalk, who was in Lake Placid for a county legislator conference but has been kept updated with information and photos.

“Some of the stones are going to be impossible to replace. Some of the families probably are long gone,” Chalk said. "We’re just trying to get as accurate a list as we possibly can, and we want to reach out to as many people as we possibly can.”

Chalk was first contacted about the vandalism Monday morning, he said. “I believe it happened Sunday evening. It’s hard to tell what time.”

“Some of the stones that were knocked over were huge, and there was such a path of devastation that they’re telling me that it looks like a group,” he said. “Obviously, it was more than one person. How many we don’t know, but they caused such devastation in a relatively short period of time.”

Damage could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said.

Reward offered for aiding arrest in Elmira cemetery vandalism

“I’m told that some of the stones are irreplaceable,” Chalk said. “What makes me sick is these families spent all of this money to honor their loved ones and you get these sick individuals, for whatever reason – I tell you, the degree of desecration in some of the areas there is just sickening.”

He said the independent Catholic cemetery does have an insurance policy, although he is not 100 percent certain of where the liability lies.

“We’re talking to our insurance company. We’re in the process (Tuesday) of getting a final cost of all of the damages, and once we do that, then we’ll address how we’re going to get it taken care of,” Chalk said.

“I’m not sure how this is all going to wash out, who’s going to pay what,” he said. “Hopefully, we can help, but we can’t do anything we know exactly how much the damage is going to be.”

A number of people were driving or walking through the cemetery Tuesday to check on the status of their families’ gravestones. Among them was Mary Fran Burke of Elmira, who found they were all OK, although a friend’s gravestone was overturned, she said.

“Why? Why would they come here to do such destruction?” she said. “This is supposed to be a peaceful, restful place.”

Chuck Nemier, 67, of Pine City, was overcome with emotion as he stared at overturned gravestones where his grandmother, grandfather, great-uncle and two uncles are buried.

“Usually, I’m not this emotional. I’m in shock,” said Nemier, a retired correction officer and Army veteran of the Vietnam War.

“My one uncle, Joseph, I never met because he died before I was born, killed in World War II. This isn’t right,” he said. “This is my uncle. He gave his life in World War II. These guys don’t think about that when do this, coming through here, raising hell.”

Nemier said he would like to see whoever is responsible for this to spend a year in jail to think about what they did and be required to make restitution.

“I’ve been tending this grave since my other uncle died a couple of years ago,” he said. “I don’t know what they’re going to do about restoring these. I’ll probably have to pay for it myself, which I don’t mind, but for what? It’s senseless.”

The Chemung County Sheriff’s Office is working with state police to find whoever did this, sheriff’s office Capt. Douglas Houper said.