Hi all, While I realize that not all of you had ancestors that went into Cumberland county, I am reprinting an article that came out today in the Charleston paper. Linda listowner 29 September 1998 - Charleston Times-Courier NEOGA - About 60 headstones were toppled over in Drummond Cemetery this past weekend, and a reward is being offered to help find the culprit or culprits. Many stones were knocked off their bases, but some of the stones broken were very ornate and dated back to 100 years ago, said Lloyd Lacy, Neoga Township supervisor. Drummond Cemetery trustees are offering a $250 reward to the person who leads police to an arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for the vandalism. The cemetery is located about six miles east of Neoga and its divided into three sections. The area known as the original Drummond Cemetery, or the east end, sustained the damage. No estimate of the amount of damage was available Monday. Lacy said gravediggers were at the cemetery Friday preparing a grave for services on Saturday. No damage was noted Friday, but it was apparent on Saturday. "Some of these are very unique stones. Some were just beautiful. One is so big it will take a backhoe to lift it," said Lacy. At least one dated back to the year 1854. He said some of the stones turned over were not broken and could be set back into place by using proper equipment. "The township trustees will move forward with pressing charges if an arrest is made. Without an arrest, conviction and restitution, the costs of repairing or replacing the stones could fall back onto the families of those buried there, or taxpayers. "But, so many of these graves are so old, we couldn't locate family members," said Lacy. The Cumberland County Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident. No report was available Monday. -------- [NOTE - We all know that conviction in these types of crimes is rare. We can only hope that someone will "tell" on those who commited this crime. I am going to be contacting Lloyd Lacy and see if a fund will be started to repair the stones. If any of you are interested in contributing to this fund, please contact me and I will let you know what Mr. Lacy says. - Linda (lclang@advant.com)]