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Mayor Terry
Palmer, Officer Bob Hollenbeck, Police Chief
Mike Guess and Alderman Cleo Chandler survey
damage to one of the oldest monuments in
Steelville Cemetery on Monday. All agree
that something should be done to preserve
the headstones that date back to as far as
1839. (Angie Fodge photo • afodge@cubafreepress.com) |
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By Angie Fodge
STEELVILLE–Preserving the
past is something important to the residents of
Steelville, including Mayor Terry Palmer. That’s why
it disturbed him so much on Friday, April 27, when
he found stones knocked over and cracked tombstones
in the oldest part of the city’s cemetery, where
many of the tombstones date as far back as 1839.
While taking a group of
Steelville High School Reading Club students on a
tour of the Steelville Cemetery last Friday, Palmer
came across many older tombstones that had been
knocked over.
Officer Bob Hollenbeck made
a trip to the cemetery to check out the damage. He
reported that he didn’t see any damage that wasn’t
already there and suspected the damage was more of
the result of nature than of vandals.
On Monday, Hollenbeck, Chief
Mike Guess, Mayor Palmer and Alderman Cleo Chandler
all met at the cemetery to inspect the damage.
Chief Guess said that about
four or five years ago, there was a work day at the
cemetery and some of the older monuments were
repaired using liquid nails. He noticed that some of
the older tombstones appeared to have fallen over
where those repairs had been made. Guess and others
in the group suspected that some of the damage could
have been caused by January’s hard-hitting ice
storm.
“Many of these tombstones
are old and sinking in the ground. Most of the
families have all died and no one is around who can
fix them up,” Guess said. “We lock the gate at night
and the Steelville police patrol this area.”
Guess went on to report that
his department had not seen any vandals lately in
the area. He did say that even with the gates locked
many kids walk right past the cemetery. He noted
that about 10 years ago, some kids had created havoc
by knocking down several tombstones, but he didn’t
think that was the case this time. He suggested
another work day was in order to repair the
tombstones, but someone would need to get in contact
with the cemetery board about the matter.
Hollenbeck said that many of
the tombstones were so heavy it would take some kind
of lift just to knock them over.
While Palmer agreed that
some of the graves looked like they could have just
fallen over, he thought that it looked like someone
had taken a pry bar to a few of them. Chandler
agreed.
Palmer noted that there is
such rich history in the cemetery and he wants to
make certain that is preserved.
“The school has been great
about having kids come here and charcoaling the
graves to capture the history of it,” he said.
He remembered three people
buried in one grave that died in the flood of 1890.
That grave is turned over and cracked.
“There should be a
historical society or something that could help with
this,” Guess suggested. “ We might want to research
what is the best (product) to use and if this liquid
nail is a bad thing to use.”
Hollenbeck suggested
drilling a stud in the monument to hold it together
with the steeple piece.
“We do have to be careful; a
lot of this is people’s property. We really don’t
know what to do until we talk to the cemetery board
about it,” Guess said.
Palmer announced he would be
getting in touch with the board president, Billy
Lea.
Calls by the newspaper
placed to Lea were not immediately returned at press
time. Calls placed to other cemetery board members
were referred to Lea, who was away for a special
family occasion.
Palmer said that not much
surprises him anymore and he hears of people
stealing hooks and other items off graves.
“Nothing is sacred anymore,”
he said.
Guess said although he
really believes the damage is not the result of
vandals, he does encourage anyone with any
information to report to the police department at
(573) 775-2200. |