Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

January 17, 2007, Front Page

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

 

Local Cemetery Vandalized

 

$1,000 offered for information

 

Intruders vandalized the North Pine Valley Cemetery last week, overturning scores of headstones and markers.

 

Pine Valley Chairman Dennis Walker said he believed the crime occurred sometime during the overnight hours of Wednesday, Jan. 10th, when a total of 43 gravestones were tipped over.

 

“Whatever they could tip over, they did,” he said.  A number of monuments, some dating back to the 19th century were damaged in the fall to the frozen ground.

 

Considering the amount of the damage, Walker said, he had to assume that more than one person – perhaps three or four – were involved in the vandalism at the town’s cemetery located northwest of the city of Neillsville on South Mound Road.

 

“There was no reason for it,” Walker said of the senselessness of the crime.  It was also a sad occurrence, he added.  “That’s people’s family out there,” said Walker.

 

Walker said that Marshfield Monument, of Marshfield, will likely have to use a mall crane or similar equipment to reset the larger stones.  Marshfield Monument will also likely attempt to repair the stones that are damaged.

 

In the meantime, Walker said, the Town of Pine Valley is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.

 

The Clark County Sheriff’s Department is investigating, Sheriff Louis Rosandich confirmed on Monday.  Anyone having any information is encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Department at 743-3157.

A day after the vandalism was discovered last Thursday; sections of the North Pine Valley Cemetery were still a tangle of toppled tombstones.

 

Follow-up articles

 

 

Suspects ID’d in cemetery vandalism

 

The Clark County Sheriff’s Department has confirmed that three Neillsville youths have been interviewed in relation to the recent vandalism of the North Pine Valley Cemetery.

 

Two of the male suspects are 18 years of age and one is 17, said Chief Deputy Jim Backus.  They were apprehended after a number of phone calls identifying them by name were received.

 

The Town of Pine Valley had offered a $1,000 reward for information after 43 gravestones were vandalized on or about Jan. 10th.  The monuments, some dating back to the 19th century, were discovered tipped over.  In falling to the ground, a number of the stones had broken apart.  The total damage reportedly amounted to about $6,500.

 

Backus said on Monday that other interviews were being conducted and that the investigation is still ongoing.  When completed, the matter will be referred to the Clark County District Attorney’s office for charges, he said.

 

Source: Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI, January 24, 2007 Front page

 

 

3 teens charged in vandalism at town cemetery

‘Lone grave’ also allegedly targeted

 

The Clark County District Attorney’s office has charged three Neillsville teenagers with vandalizing the North Pine Valley Town Cemetery last month.  The youths also stand accused of causing criminal damage to the historic “Lone Grave” site located several miles away in the adjacent Town of Hewett.

 

Named in three separate criminal complaints filed in the Clerk of Courts office last week were: Justin A. Jensen, 17; Christopher W. Thums, 18 and Thomas M. Perry, 18.  They are each facing a maximum penalty, on two criminal felony counts, of seven years in prison and $20,000 in fines.

 

According to the court file, the three teenagers allegedly entered the Pine Valley Cemetery on Jan. 10th and tipped over about 40 headstones.  Some of the monuments, a few dating back to the 19th century, broke off in their fall to the ground.  The teens later drove to the site of the lone grave of Blanche Grimes, a 17-month old girl who died in 1895.  There, they alleged kicked over a surrounding picket fence and bent the cross.  The site of the so-called “Lone Grave,” located just off a secluded town road and which has been cared for by sympathetic individuals over the years, has been described as one of the most beautiful such locations in the state, one that reminds visitors of the pioneer days in Wisconsin.  “Tread softly by the grave of one our hearts had learned to love,” an inscription on the modest gravestone reads.

 

As soon as the vandalism to the North Pine Valley Cemetery was discovered, town officials publicly offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the perpetrators.

 

Two “confidential” informants, according to court documents, came forward with information on Jan. 17th.

 

Jensen is said to have bragged about his involvement in the incident at school, noting that the incident was reported on the front page of the Press.

 

According to the court file, all three teenagers admitted to involvement in the vandalism at the cemetery.  One said, “We did it,” after just 20 seconds into an interview by a Sheriff Department investigator.  Only one, however, admitted to his personal role in the damage caused at the “Lone Grave.”

 

One of the three accused teenagers told the investigator that he had felt so bad about his actions that he vomited the next morning.

 

Damages in the vandalism at the cemetery; amounts to about $2,700 according to an estimate to reset and restore the monuments from Marshfield Monument.  The damage to the “Lone Grave” site has apparently not been calculated. 

 

District Attorney Darwin Zwieg confirmed that he will be seeking restitution.

 

Dennis Walker, Pine Valley town chairman, last week confirmed that the $1,000 reward money will be offered upon conviction.

 

The initial court appearances for Jensen, Thums and Perry are scheduled for March 22nd.

 

Source: Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI, February 14, 2007, Front Page

 

 


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