Vandals wreck pioneer cemetery

By KVAL.com staff Published: Oct 12, 2009 at 3:12 PM PST Last Updated: Oct 13, 2009 at 5:23 PM PST

EUGENE, Ore. -- Vandals used gravestones to make a fire pit and damaged almost every grave marker in a pioneer cemetery that has been the focus of volunteer cleanup efforts in the Santa Clara neighborhood of Eugene, Ore., this year.

The Luper Cemetery dates back to the 1850s, and a volunteer group has held four events this year alone to cleanup the site.

Now Luper Cemetery is a field of destruction thanks to weekend vandalism.

The Lane County Sheriff's Office confirmed Monday that they received a report on the vandalism. Deputies had not had a chance to respond to the scene, and no suspects have been developed. An official said a deputy tried to contact a reporting party Monday but couldn't get anyone on the phone. They plan to try again Tuesday.

KVAL News learned of the damage from a caller to the KVAL Tipline at (541) 685-KVAL (5825).

"We heard the damage was bad," KVAL News reporter Tom Adams said after visiting the site, "but never in my 21 years of covering news in Eugene have I seen vandalism of this scale."

See more photos of the vandalism

All this damage happened last night. Nearly every tombstone or grave marker has been damaged or knocked over.

"It's unfortunate that someone would come out here and destroy all the headstones," said Sharon Olson with the volunteer group cleaning up Luper Cemetery. "All the markers that were left, that we thought were going to be in good shape."

"No one monitors it," said Sherry Scott, another volunteer. "The sheriff can't monitor it. We can't lock it up, so it's just open and it's so far back that they can get away with anything and no one can see them."