This view shoots west across the thicket which is the Maguire Cemetery. Adjacent is a maintained park area with a picnic table and beautiful trees like a park environment. Then why this. Could not the people that maintained the park mow this cemetery also? Well, after it is cleaned up and set back up so the equipment can get into there.
This is one of the better photos of the Maguire Cemetery. Counting all the fallen stone there is at least 9 box tombs in this cemetery but only about 6 are at least partially standing.
Moving the camera southward a bit yields this photo. This is the worse case of cemetery vandalism I have seen. Cemeteries like this fair better if they are far away from human kind where they often survive intact. However, the remote cemeteries pose problems too because they are so difficult to find. This one is in Columbia City limits. It is rather strange the way it his been abused in the past with hardly a hint of intervention from City Fathers or anyone else passing by all the time.
Reminds me of the case of the Good Samaritan in the Bible whereby everyone saw the hapless individual (this cemetery) lying beside the road. Everyone (all the surrounding people) just passed by on the other side leaving the maimed person lying wounded on the side of the road to Demastus.
This is a visible testimony that we are a bit trashy no matter how much money we have or how big our house is if we let problems like this fester.
We have plenty of people who need the therapeutic properties brought about manual work needed to clear up this brushy site (under our noses) with their hands. But, all we do is drug them (our drug addicts & mentally ill); put them behind bars (our criminals) and/or watch over them with guns in isolated cells. We also sit them in front TVs and watch them (our children) become overweight & develop all sorts of health problems.
Here the Ellen Leonard memorial is shown against the backdrop of the partially caved in rock wall.
Photo and information by Wayne Austin 24 Mar 2009, about 4:00 PM with light clouds overhead.
