OAKDALE CEMETERY DESECRATED- Ringleader Daniel Benson was tried and convicted of all counts. Sentenced to four years in prison.
Oakdale Cemetery is located at 520 North 15th Street - Wilmington, NC. 28401
Eric Kozen is the Superintendent
Contact either Mr. Kozen or secretary Bertha Register at 910-762-5662 to find out how you can help.
A LOT OF DRINKING BY THE VANDALS -note the "sophisticated" merlot brand of wine
Investigators reportedly took 4 bags of evidence (empty beer cans and bottles) from the scene
SMOKING CHEAP CIGARETTES
VANDALS ALSO STRUCK IN MAY
BUT THE DAMAGE DONE RECENTLY IS THE MOST DISTURBING
IN THE HISTORY OF OAKDALE CEMETERY'S 152 YEAR HISTORY
ANGELS MISSING THEIR HEADS AND WINGS
ANYTHING WITH THE CROSS SEEMED TO BE TARGETED
JUST PUSHING DOWN A PATH OF DESTRUCTION
MEAN SPIRITED VANDALISM
THE HISTORIC HEBREW SECTION'S BEAUTY WAS RUINED
MANY OF THESE MONUMENTS ARE EXTREMELY HEAVY-
TOO BAD ONE DIDN'T FALL ON THE EVIL INFECTED BRAIN OF ONE OF THE VANDALS
Obviously there is an enormous cost to restoring these grave sites and tax deductable donations are needed.
Many of the Cemetery visitors I spoke with were outraged. One Judge I spoke with said no mercy should be shown to any of the individuals convicted of this crime.
This Cemetery is the final resting place of many notable members of our historic community. 367 unknown confederate soldiers are buried here, Honorable Edward B. Dudley - North Carolina's first elected Governor, Henry Bacon - Architect and designer of the Lincoln Memorial, Mrs. Rose O'Neal Greenhow - confederate secret service agent who drowned off the coast at Fort Fisher while fighting the Blockade, Dr. William Crawford Willkings - slain in a duel stemming from a local political election in 1856, this is believed to be the last man killed in the South in a political duel and most recently David Brinkley - noted NBC news anchor from 1956 -1970 found a final resting place at Oakdale.The cemetery is home for many of Wilmington's familiar citizens, you will find family plots for the Kenan family, the Champ Davis family, the Trasks, Camerons, Hoopers, Roundtree, DeRosset, Bellamy, Boney, Sprunt, Crouch, Murchison, MacRae, and so many more. Even my family has some plots in Oakdale so I imagine someday to find myself laying beneath the large mighty oaks that populate this sacred place.
SPEAK OUT IN THE FORUM
