‘I was devastated — I was hurt’
Lakeside Cemetery manager frustrated with recent property damage
Elsie Bennett wasn’t expecting to see pictures of property damage at Lakeside Cemetery when she turned on her Ipad to check her email, Tuesday.
Bennett, the manager of the North Sydney cemetery, learned that two brick pillars at two separate entrances of the Johnson Road location were knocked over and damaged over the weekend.
“I was devastated — I was hurt because when we work out there we do our best to look after Lakeside to the best of our abilities and with the resources that we have,” said Bennett in a phone interview from Zephyrhills, Florida, where she’s currently staying for the winter months.
“For somebody to do that to us, that’s going to cost us money to fix and we’re a non-profit organization and I feel hurt.”
The vandalism was discovered when one of two paid maintenance workers checked on the cemetery after the weekend.
Bennett isn’t entirely sure as to why someone would vandalize the sacred ground of a cemetery. “The reason I think the damage was done was because the chains were put across the entrance for the winter,” said Bennett, noting the cemetery has had complaints about the chains in previous winters.
“We don’t do that because people like to go up there and visit their loved ones, we only put it across in the winter because in the back of the cemetery it’s like a skating rink up there, so the chains go across to protect the headstones.”
Lakeside, a Protestant cemetery, shares its property with Holy Cross, a Catholic cemetery. The lone entrance to Holy Cross also has chains across it and those pillars were not damaged in the incident.
“It’s people that haven’t got anything better to do than destroy property,” said Bennett, who noted a Bud Light beer can was found near one of the damaged pillars. “I’ve been with the cemetery for 20 years and (the pillars) have never been damaged before — they’ve been there for over 25 years.”
Lakeside Cemetery was cooperated in 1876 and has close to 10,000 graves at the location.
This isn’t the first time the cemetery has fallen victim to vandalism.
About 15 years ago, 15 headstones were destroyed after a man ran into the monuments with his van. In recent years, graffiti containing sexual references was spray-painted on the cemetery’s office.
In October, the cemetery was the site for concern after illegal dumping took place near the back of the graveyard.
“When I came out of the cemetery I sat in my car and I cried because we don’t have the money for this foolishness,” said Bennett, referring to the spray-paint incident. “There were some tears when I heard about the most recent incident at the cemetery — I never slept all night, I couldn’t get my mind off why people would do this.”
Bennett doesn’t think those involved in the incident were trying to steal the pillars, which are two feet by two feet in width and stand four tall, with a Lakeside Cemetery plaque on the front.
“They just wanted them out of the way,” said Bennett. “The chains were attached to those pillars, but now the chains are across and attached to the tree near the entrance.”
“People can still walk up to the graves, they just can’t take a vehicle – if someone was to slide into one of them headstones, they’re responsible for them.”
The cemetery does have insurance, but Bennett has not been in contact with them, noting the insurance is mostly for the cemetery’s office and chapel.
Bennett hasn’t received any phone calls from residents with loved ones at the cemetery concerning the recent incident.
“We try to make Lakeside a place where people can come visit their loved ones with no distractions and to have everything groomed and nice,” said Bennett. “We’re doing our best to look after everybody, but then you have people who want to destroy property. There’s no reason in my mind why they’d want to do that.”
The cost to fix the damaged pillars is not known at this time.
The pillars are likely to remain where they are for now until at least the spring, following the cemetery’s board of directors meeting in May, where approval will be needed before they can be fixed.
As a non-profit group, a musical fundraiser is held each year in May to help with cemetery expenses, which are not allocated in the cemetery’s budget.
Bennett expects the money from this year’s event will likely go towards fixing the pillars.
She has a message for those responsible for the vandalism.
“Get a life or get a job or something that’s going to entertain them, besides vandalizing cemetery property,” said Bennett. “Normal people don’t just do that … I don’t know what’s wrong with people today.”
The Cape Breton Regional Police are investigating the incident and believe a vehicle, possibly a truck, was involved with knocking over the pillars.
Anyone with information about the crime is asked to contact regional police at 902563-5151. If you wish to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 902-562-8477 or 1-800-222-8477.