Mayor, council offer reward to ID vandals who damaged cemetery columbarium
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022 — One or more vandals damaged the city’s new columbarium located in the rear portion of the Bardstown Cemetery.
The columbarium is a structure made of granite panels that was added to the cemetery late last year as an optional final resting place for cremated remains.
According to City Clerk Gary Little, the vandalism happened last Saturday and apparently during daylight hours.
A resident who walks through the cemetery said the columbarium was undamaged on the first trip through the cemetery, but was damaged by the time the resident returned later that day.
According to Little, vandals apparently used some sort of pry bars to pry one of the long granite panels off the structure. That panel was found on the ground broke. Other adjacent panels showed damage from tool marks as well. Some interior damage was evident too.
The damage will be repaired as soon as replacement parts arrive, he said. In the meantime, the city is going to look at ways to improve security to discourage future vandalism.
$2,000 REWARD OFFERED. The council and the mayor each agreed to contribute $500 from their respective discretionary funds to create a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the parties responsible for the vandalism.
In addition to those funds, Mayor Heaton personally contributed an additional $1,000 to the reward fund.
“I worked across the street from this property for 46 years, and [the cemetery has] become an important part of our daily lives as a respectful place of rest for our family members and friends,” he told the council.
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