Graveyard damage ‘a new low’
‘Irresponsible’ ATV riders blamed for scuffing up site, say resident, councillor
DOMINION — The sight of all-terrain vehicle tire tracks scuffing up knocked-down headstones at a Dominion cemetery angered Meaghan MacDougall.
The Chalmers United Church Graveyard president said she can’t understand what would possess anyone to ride an ATV through a cemetery, especially scuffing up headstones.
Making matters worse, she personally has a grandfather and uncle who are both buried at the Ocean Avenue site.
“It’s heartbreaking to say the least,” MacDougall said. “It’s disgusting that they would even think about going through a graveyard.”
MacDougall, herself an ATV enthusiast, said she’s aware that many riders would enjoy riding through muddy terrain and all. But she considers any ATV that creates tracks and mud piles on a sacred and privately-owned property a new low.
“I’ll never understand that, especially driving over headstones,” she said.
MacDougall said she learned of the graveyard damage thanks to a social media post from Cape Breton Regional Municipality Coun. Darren Bruckschwaiger, who lives just up the road from the oceanside cemetery.
The graveyard, MacDougall said, leads to a gravel path toward an abandoned ATV trail that had since become overgrown with tall grass.
“I get the graveyard mowed four or five times a year in the summertime,” she said. “And there has never been any issue with ATVs every time I go down there.”
MacDougall wondered if ATV riders have been recently using that overgrown path as a shortcut to another trail.
In her own social media post, MacDougall wrote, “To go through the cemetery and destroy the grass and drive over plots is a whole other low. Not only did they make it harder for the grass to be looked after come the warmer months, they didn't even care enough not to drive over someone's loved ones’ plot.”
She said she did consider blocking off that overgrown path.
“Where it is private land, I was going to look into somehow putting something up just to keep these riders away from the old trail,” MacDougall said. “Because you would have to go over plots to even get to where this trail is located.”
‘IT’S VERY DISTURBING’
Bruckschwaiger said he learned of the cemetery damage from a local walker who lives two streets over from the graveyard.
“I got a message from
somebody on Park Street who walks quite a bit in the area and who had seen it," the councillor said. "So she called me up about it."
Multiple media reports have indicated that one gravestone scuffed with ATV tire marks belongs to a former armed forces member.
“I just don't know why somebody would do that — it’s very disrespectful, very disturbing,” Bruckschwaiger said.
“There are so many different paths where people can go and drive their bikes, and find their own spots to enjoy water, mud or whatever. … But they got into a habit of looking for shortcuts — and this chosen path is one that I'm not happy with."
'COUPLE OF THOUSAND DOLLARS' IN DAMAGE
Bruckschwaiger and MacDougall said they have contacted the Cape Breton Regional Police to investigate the matter. A police staff sergeant confirmed to the Cape Breton Post via email that officers are following up on the complaint.
"There have been extra patrols added to the graveyard area of Ocean Avenue in relation to this noted incident," said Staff Sgt. Gil Boone. "Unfortunately, with the passage of time, many of these older graveyards do not receive the visitors they once did due to aging population as well as the time of year.
"I will have patrols added to these as well as other graveyards in the east zone to increase officer presence."
Boone said he's reminding residents that cemeteries are to be respected, as "these are the resting areas of people's loved ones."
Bruckschwaiger has estimated about “a couple of thousand dollars” in damage — a figure that doesn't sit well with MacDougall. Since Chalmers United Church shuttered in July 2006, she said fundraising efforts have been a significant challenge.
“It will be up to us to raise the funds to repair the damages, or to apply for a grant and hope we get approved,” she said. “We only have donations that keep us going — and unfortunately we haven't had one of those in over a year — or if we happen to sell a plot … and that hasn't happened recently, either.”
‘JUST MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL’
Allister MacLean, president and membership co-ordinator with the Marconi Trailblazers ATV Club in the Glace Bay area, said incidents such as what happened at Chalmers Cemetery should never be a reflection of all-terrain vehicle riders in general.
“It gives all of us (riders) a bad name — and if this keeps up before you know it, trails will start getting shut down," he said.
In conversations with Bruckschwaiger, MacLean said the councillor knows this is “not coming from ATV club members or responsible riders. We’re both of the opinion that this is probably coming from young kids, underagers who shouldn’t be out on bikes, who are not licensed or insured, or wearing proper safety equipment."
“It’s absolutely terrible — just makes my blood boil," MacLean added. "That (cemetery is) a restricted area, hallowed ground."
ONGOING PROBLEM
MacLean recognizes this has long been an ongoing problem around the CBRM.
Among more recent occurrences:
• Last July, District 1 Coun. Gordon MacDonald had to deal with residents complaining of ATV riders tearing up Florence beach to the extent and he raised the issue with the province’s Department of Natural Resources and Renewables. A week later, workers sent on behalf of the DNRR had installed signage and placed gravel on the roadway leading into the beach, only to be confronted by a few ATV riders blatantly ignoring the warnings;
• And in the summer of 2022, a Coxheath soccer field incurred damage from deep tire track marks that gouged the greenspace, forcing Riverview Soccer Club games to either be rescheduled or cancelled outright. The club’s social media post on the matter caught the attention of two area landscaping firms, who generously stopped by to observe and later repair the fields — free of charge.
Along with the Chalmers Cemetery damage, MacLean said he learned an hour later of another similar occurrence at a baseball field in Bridgeport.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES
Asked what preventive measures could be put in place to halt such incidents, MacLean said certainly an increase in police patrols would help as a starting point.
“We can also encourage people in the neighbourhood to report any (unusual) ATV activity,” he said.
MacLean added that Bruckschwaiger suggested that in light of the Chalmers graveyard incident, police and ATV clubs should get together and “have some information points along an ATV trail, say, on a Saturday or Sunday, and bring along police officers and trail wardens to hand out literature about responsible riding, private property, and all the rules and regulations that go with that.”