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Volunteers gather to help clean up vandalism at Macoun’s cemetery

A group of volunteers gathered at the Macoun cemetery Wednesday evening to help clean up some recent vandalism.

A group of volunteers gathered at the Macoun cemetery Wednesday evening to help clean up some recent vandalism.

Village of Macoun administrator Carmen Dodd-Vicary said the vandalism occurred a couple of times in the past month, so the people were organized to repair the headstones the best they could. More than 20 people turned out for the work.

“There was a whole bunch of headstones, almost 30 of them, that were pushed over or damaged in these different occurrences,” said Dodd-Vicary.

The public was very upset and even outraged about the incidents, and wanted to do something to make the cemetery look good again.  

Not only did the cleanup effort attract residents of Macoun, but it brought out people who grew up in the area and have family buried at the cemetery.

“We worked on placing them (the headstones) back up, making sure that they were secured with a good base foundation, a putty, and just wanted to make it look nice again, not only for the residents in Macoun but the families that have lost loved ones and the families that are buried at the cemetery,” said Dodd-Vicary.

The volunteers needed just over an hour to finish the work.

She noted there was also a recent vandalism at the Macoun School gymnasium, and the RCMP has stepped up its presence in the area.

Cpl. Craig Park with the Estevan RCMP said that over the past several weeks, the RCMP has had multiple complaints of vandalism at the cemetery. They have identified two culprits and continue to investigate.

“This type of mischief is very concerning and grabs the attention of a lot of people as was evident in the gathering of volunteers to right this wrong,” Park said.

The next edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.