Mendon vandals strike cemetery

Monroe County Sheriff's deputies are looking for vandals.

More than 20 headstones have been destroyed at the Mendon Cemetery. Some of the damage were so bad they were broken in 3 separate pieces.

Two weeks ago, visitors discovered 25 headstones cracked, tipped and turned. Most of these headstones date back as far as 200 years. Because of their age, it's now up to the Mendon Cemetery Association, which maintains them, to get them fixed.  It may take several weeks for the State to approve the money for repairs.

Deputies say the headstones may have been disturbed by more than one person, since some weigh as much as 500 pounds. And this isn't the first time Mendon Cemetery has been disturbed, vandals struck twice 15 years ago.

"We want to keep it open to people, to visitors, open to families whose loved ones are buried here and it just leaves us with a feeling that we might have to lock up the gates you know.  We don't want to have to do that, but it's a plight that all cemeteries deal with from time to time," said Clayton Zuber, President of the Mendon Cemetery Association.

Monroe County Sheriff's deputies say no arrests have been made.  The cost of the damage is estimated to be about $3,000.