29 tombstones disturbed in church cemetery
Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer - July 18, 1989
SLATY CREEK - Twenty-nine tombstones were overturned and several were broken at a remote Ohio County cemetery Saturday night or Sunday morning, according to Kentucky State Police.
The Rev. Pete Leach said most of the members of the congregation didn't learn of the vandalism at the church's cemetery until Sunday night services.
"I think the first response was that it was unbelievable that somebody would do something like this," Leach said.
State police in Henderson received a report Sunday that the cemetery off Kentucky 269, 10 miles south of Beaver Dam, had been disturbed. Police believe the vandalism occurred between 5 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday.
No arrests have been made for the crime, which is a felony in Kentucky.
Leach, the church's pastor for 14 years, said this is the first time anyone has damaged the rural church or cemetery .
"When the shock wears off, you have a tendency to get angry, and you wonder what kind of sick person would do this," Leach said.
"I would suspect the ones who did this would have to be kids, but I don't know," Ohio County Sheriff Jim Wheeler said.
Leach said Slaty Creek cemetery is a community cemetery, but the church pays for its upkeep.
"I think this puts a little bit of fear in the community that someone would do this," Leach said. "No one knows for sure where these people were from." Many of the graves in the small cemetery date back more than 100 years.
Among those stones knocked over and broken was an obelisk-shaped marker on the grave of the Rev. Alfred Taylor, who died in 1865. Another disturbed tombstone marked the grave of Emery C. Cohron, who died in France during World War I in 1918 and was buried in the cemetery in 1921.
The cemetery is a short distance from the church and sits on a hill near a gravel road.
Leach said the church trustees will check to see whether insurance will cover the damage. If it doesn't, "the community will pull together" to correct things, he said.
Repair of tombstones 'eased a lot of sorrow'
Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer - July 25, 1989
After 29 tombstones were overturned and broken two weeks ago at Slaty Creek Baptist Church cemetery in Ohio County, prayers were answered, the Rev.
Pete Leach said.
A Beaver Dam funeral home and a Bowling Green monument company repaired markers and reset them on the graves for free, Leach said.
"This has eased a lot of heartaches, sorrow and grief, and I guess restored our faith in mankind," he said.
Sheriff Jim Wheeler said he has leads in the case and is close to making arrests. He believes those responsible are juveniles.
Members of the Slaty Creek church and the community were stunned after about a fourth of the tombstones in the graveyard were vandalized July 15.
The cemetery is off Kentucky 269, 10 miles south of Beaver Dam.
"One fellow came by the cemetery and said, 'This is pretty bad when the dead can't even rest in peace,'" Leach said.
But the generosity of William L. Danks Funeral Home and Fred Keith Monument Co. has gone a long way toward making people forget, Leach said.
"There's more talk about this good deed than there is about the vandalism," he said.
After the vandalism, church trustees were quoted an estimate of $2,900 to repair the tombstones, Leach said. Insurance wouldn't pay for the damage because each marker is individually owned, he said.
The church owns the land for the public cemetery , but a separate cemetery fund pays for the upkeep.
"We realized at that point we would have to do something about it ourselves," and the congregation planned a work day at the cemetery Saturday, Leach said.
But Wednesday night after church, Danks called Leach and asked whether he and Keith could help. Danks' son, Jeff, represents Keith in Ohio County.
After getting the go-ahead, workers from Keith Monuments arrived Thursday with equipment and repaired the tombstones.
"I don't guess words are adequate to thank Mr. Keith and Mr. Danks," Leach said. "Those people will forever remain in the hearts of the people of Slaty Creek." Danks said Monday that he, his son and Keith just wanted to help correct a bad situation.
"That was a bad thing to do, turn over memorials," Danks said. "They are very expensive and are easily broken.
"It doesn't take a very high IQ to do something like that," he said.
"Hopefully, when those responsible are caught they'll get a lesson out of it where they won't do it again."
Additional information for Slaty Creek Baptist Church Cemetery:
Find-a-Grave: Slaty Creek Baptist Church Cemetery (Ohio County, KY)
Satellite Views: Slaty Creek Cemetery
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