Who damaged the urns at Lakeside Cemetery? The cometery committee wants to know!

By KATHY ROPP

Kathy.ropp@myhorrynews.com

It’s possible that Conway’s flower thieves are at it again, or that’s an idea that Lakeside Cemetery Committee member Ben Burroughs is considering.

Burroughs says when he went to the cemetery Sunday afternoon (July 17) at about 3 p.m., he saw that two flower urns, dating back to 1906 or the 1920s, had been toppled and one was broken. It’s possible that the second was also broken, he said.

He believes the vandalism happened Friday or Saturday evening, but is considering the possibility that it happened Sunday morning while many Conwayites were attending church.

The good news is the urns were bolted to the ground, so whoever toppled them couldn’t get them up and take them. The bad news is one of them was broken and Burroughs worries that the second is also broken.

Burroughs says the urns don’t have a high monetary value, but if they can’t be fixed, “History will be lost,” he said. “They’re valuable to us, but not to someone who might buy them at a yard sale somewhere.”

The cemetery committee isn’t sure just how long the urns have been welcoming visitors at the cemetery’s front gate, but Burroughs thinks they were placed there one hundred or more years ago.

 “The gates are nice,” he said, “but it’s nice to have a little touch like that.”

He said they have taken the urns to a safe place to clean them and put them back together, if possible.

The cemetery recently underwent a huge improvement with a $160,000 brick wall replacing the live hedge and a large sign bearing the cemetery’s name.

Burroughs is hoping that someone might have seen something suspicious or might have some idea about who damaged the urns.

Anyone who saw or heard anything is asked to contact Timmy Williams at the City of Conway at (843) 488-1777.