10/12/2004

Scouts topple ACW headstones

This is not unrelated to yesterday's story about decorate-your-own Lincoln statues to be scattered around Springfield:

...the Lincoln Cemetery Project Association expressed concern about a pattern of disrespectful behavior being displayed by visiting Scouts toward the cemetery. Betty Myers, secretary/treasurer for the association, said that includes an incident she witnessed Sept. 25 when a Scout toppled the headstone on the grave of Lloyd Watts, a prominent community leader and Civil War veteran.

The volunteers who run the cemetery have had it with "heritage tourists" on self-guided tours. They want out. It's that bad.