Thieves lift 2,000 cemetery vases
Associated Press
June 8, 2007
OSCEOLA, Ind. -- A northern Indiana cemetery manager believes about 2,000
bronze vases were stolen from burial plots for their value as scrap metal.
Workers at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens first realized that the vases were
missing when they received 93 complaints right after Memorial Day from
family members who had visited graves, general manager Richard Kuschnick
said. The theft of the estimated $600,000 worth of vases, which had been
hooked by chains to headstones, was reported Tuesday to police.
"We were in the process of talking about what to do when the Elkhart police
called us," Kuschnick said. "They said, 'We've got about 50 vases
here.' I
sent out our cemetery superintendent to identify them, and it turns out that
about two-thirds we knew were ours."
Kuschnick said the vases were recognizable because the cemetery east of
South Bend has its own foundry, where it makes pure bronze memorial vases.
A police report said three men tried to sell 49 vases to Sturgis Iron &
Metals Co. in Elkhart, but an employee would not accept them and called
police after recognizing that they were stolen.
Authorities in recent months have cited higher prices for scrap metal as a
factor in thefts of items across the state such as aluminum house siding and
guttering, copper tubing from air conditioning units, manhole covers and
beer kegs.
In response to the cemetery theft, Kuschnick said the mix of metals used to
make the vases will be changed to a nickel alloy mix with enough bronze so
they will not rust.
"It reduces the scrap value," he said. "I think people are getting kind of
desperate for extra money, and it's unfortunate that this is a resource they
are taking."
Isn't this awful?? And my mother is buried at that cemetery. The crook was found
because he had to show ID at the recycling place. At least I know they didn't get my
mother's vase...it was stolen about 2 years ago and they wanted about $40-50 to
replace it then. So we just got a cheap thing to stick in the ground, so we didn't
lose $$ if it should disappear again.
Pamm
Bob Alloway <ralloway(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
Thieves lift 2,000 cemetery vases
Associated Press
June 8, 2007
OSCEOLA, Ind. -- A northern Indiana cemetery manager believes about 2,000
bronze vases were stolen from burial plots for their value as scrap metal.
Workers at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens first realized that the vases were
missing when they received 93 complaints right after Memorial Day from
family members who had visited graves, general manager Richard Kuschnick
said. The theft of the estimated $600,000 worth of vases, which had been
hooked by chains to headstones, was reported Tuesday to police.
"We were in the process of talking about what to do when the Elkhart police
called us," Kuschnick said. "They said, 'We've got about 50 vases
here.' I
sent out our cemetery superintendent to identify them, and it turns out that
about two-thirds we knew were ours."
Kuschnick said the vases were recognizable because the cemetery east of
South Bend has its own foundry, where it makes pure bronze memorial vases.
A police report said three men tried to sell 49 vases to Sturgis Iron &
Metals Co. in Elkhart, but an employee would not accept them and called
police after recognizing that they were stolen.
Authorities in recent months have cited higher prices for scrap metal as a
factor in thefts of items across the state such as aluminum house siding and
guttering, copper tubing from air conditioning units, manhole covers and
beer kegs.
In response to the cemetery theft, Kuschnick said the mix of metals used to
make the vases will be changed to a nickel alloy mix with enough bronze so
they will not rust.
"It reduces the scrap value," he said. "I think people are getting kind of
desperate for extra money, and it's unfortunate that this is a resource they
are taking."
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