CHINA — At least a half dozen gravestones were vandalized at a cemetery on Pleasant View Ridge Road recently with sometimes obscene graffiti spray-painted on the backs of several headstones, some of which have been in place for more than a century.
It’s not known when the vandalism occurred or who may be responsible. Roughly eight gravestones had profanities or other sayings spray-painted on them, including one that read “No Heaven” and another that read “Lucifer is watching.”
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Harold Charles, a China resident and member of the cemetery committee, had not been notified of the vandalism before Wednesday evening. Calls to other members of the cemetery committee, including Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux, were not returned.
Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office Sheriff Randall Liberty said that as of Wednesday evening, the town had not notified the sheriff’s office about the vandalism.
Charles, who has been on the cemetery committee for about eight years, said vandalism at China cemeteries is relatively rare.
“It doesn’t happen that often,” Charles said. “Occasionally we get some damage from trees.”
Charles said the cemetery committee usually has some reserve money in the committee’s budget to have graffiti removed.
Pleasant View Ridge Cemetery is a small burial ground on Pleasant View Ridge Road, about a quarter-mile past Bog Brook Road. It contains three to four dozen graves, most of which are from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Charles said there are a handful of small cemeteries on Pleasant View Ridge Road, but the one that had been vandalized is the only one near the road. The rest are farther back in the woods, he said.
One visitor to the cemetery who spotted the vandalism said simply that it was “a disgrace.”
Jesse Scardina — 861-9239
Twitter: @jessescardina
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