Vandals of St. Vladmir's ROCOR Cemetery CAUGHT!!!

[尼古拉前执事]

Published in the Asbury Park Press 5/23/03
By A. SCOTT FERGUSON
and JOSEPH SAPIA

JACKSON -- Two township boys, 10 and 12, are to be charged today with
causing as much as $130,000 in damage at a Russian Orthodox cemetery
last week, police said.

Juvenile delinquency charges, based on the May 12 criminal mischief
at St. Vladimir's Russian Orthodox Christian Cemetery on Route 571,
are to be filed in state Superior Court's Family Division, said
township police Detective Lt. John Siedler.

Fourteen gravestones were destroyed while another 60 were damaged and
could possibly be repaired, said Martin Hrynick, cemetery president.
Hrynick said a total replacementwould cost $110,000 to $125,000.

Also damaged was a cemetery chapel, which honors Russian Cossacks,
Ukrainians and Belorussians sent to Siberia in 1945. The chapel
damage includes broken windows, a damaged icon of the Blessed Virgin
inside and broken outside lights.

The chapel damage was estimated at $2,500 to $3,000, said Nickolaj
Lukinov, a Cossack who helps maintain the chapel.

Police are investigating if there's a connection between the cemetery
damage and the $2,000 damage done to the nearby St. Vladimir Memorial
Church on Perrineville Road at Route 571. The church and cemetery are
not affiliated.

Police declined to identify the boys -- and they probably would not
be identified after charges are filed because they are juveniles. But
police said the boys and their families are aware of the pending
charges.

The two boys live in the Cassville section, Siedler said, where the
cemetery and church are located. The area is home to many people of
Russian ancestry.

Police believe the boys acted alone.

"I'm glad it's been solved," Hrynick said. "I really don't know how I
feel about two silly kids doing something."

Beside hurting family and friends of the deceased, "it's probably
going to hurt them for the rest of their lives," Hrynick said.

Lukinov suggested a positive punishment for the vandals, something
that would make them understand what the vandalism meant.

"I think preventive medicine would be better because, as they get
older, they may cause more damage for themselves," said Lukinov, who
lives in Warren, Somerset County. "Maybe next time, it will be
something much bigger. Maybe they will be reminded you can't do this
and get away with it."

Lukinov's wife, Lina, suggested holding the parents responsible.

"It's the desecration of the chapel that bothers me more (than the
cost to make repairs) because they did desecrate the interior,"
Hrynick said.

"It's a sad commentary on our time -- with all the positive activity
they have, that we didn't have growing up, that they have to resort
to this," said the Rev. Philip Petrovsky, associate pastor of the
church. He has family buried at the cemetery. "It indicates a lack of
direction in their lives. It was completely senseless. It just got
them in trouble.

"The emotional pain these people had to go through with the cemetery
is unbelievable," Petrovsky said.

The boys were not of the Russian Orthodox faith, but there appears to
be no bias intended, Siedler said. Instead, it appears to be
opportunistic vandalism, Siedler said.

On May 12 at about 5:30 p.m., the two were riding bicycles on Route
571, also known as Cassville Road, and went into the 26-acre
cemetery, where more than 7,000 are buried, Siedler said. They
started vandalizing vigil candles and food offerings left on graves a
week earlier as part of the Russian Orthodox Easter tradition, he
said.

Then, they moved on to the Cossack chapel, Siedler said.

Sitting on a gravestone, they discovered it moved and realized they
could knock it over, Siedler said. At this time, they tipped over
several gravestones.

Finally, they broke a door handle on the chapel and smashed the door
with a rock, Siedler said.

Police estimated the boys were in the cemetery two to 2 1/2 hours.

Investigating the vandalism at the church led police to one of the
boys, then to the second, Siedler said. The church damage included
stolen lights, ripped-out "no trespassing" signs, and damage to a
cross, steps and railing, Petrovsky said.

At the cemetery, the cost of fixing the gravestones is the
responsibility of the families or their insurers, if they have one.

"Some of those stones are not going to be replaced because there's no
family left," Hrynick said.

The cemetery has established a fund to fix or replace grave markers
in such cases, or for families that cannot afford repairs, Hrynick
said. Contributions may be sent to the cemetery, 316 Cassville Road,
Jackson, 08527, telephone: (732) 928-1010.

The cemetery, founded in 1939, is not simply "a local cemetery,"
Hrynick said. Plot owners live in 38 states, plus Canada and Europe,
Hrynick said.

[Mary Kissel]

I think that's so sad that people would actually vandalise a cemetary... I'm glad that they got caught though.

[Methodius]

Where are the parents these days and what are the teaching or failing to teach their progeny? This tikes were only 10 and 12 years old and doing such hateful and damaging things! Where so they get such ideas?

[Denis]

Where are the parents these days and what are the teaching or failing to teach their progeny? This tikes were only 10 and 12 years old and doing such hateful and damaging things! Where so they get such ideas?

I guess it is called "modern parenting" which translates as your own child is never wrong; rules of any kind are infringing his/her liberty; selfishness and bad manners is just "my child" affirming himherself...

[尼古拉前执事]

Pannikhida for Cossacks and Confession of the Desecrators of the Cemetery

14 June 2003

On June 8th, at St Vladimir's Cemetery in Jackson, New Jersey, a pannikhida was held at the recently desecrated Cossack chapel. This service was in commemoration of the betrayal and massacre of Cossacks at Lienz, Austria. Even though it had rained the entire day, a group of about 50 people had assembled to participate. At the service, Kuban Cossacks stood at attention bearing flags and drawn sabers, flanking both sides of chapel. A small group of other Cossacks, including Ataman Alexander Pewnew, flew to Lienz to participate in services there.

Protopriest Phillip Petrovsky officiated at the service, with the assistance of St. Vladimir's choir director, Vladimir Tarkan. The service was solemn as everyone reflected on the lives of some 28,000 Cossacks (many of them women, children and the elderly) that were repatriated to the Soviet Union by British troops in 1945 and murdered by the communists.
At the end of the commemoration, Protopriest Phillip related the story of the chapel desecration. Two boys ages 10 and 12 years were apprehended and had confessed the vandalism to the police. One boy noted that the turning point to their destruction occurred when they broke into the chapel. The boy decided to take a decorative crown that stood under an icon of Pokrova of the Virgin Mary and attempted to leave the chapel. As he proceeded towards the battered door a strange force blocked his way, he tried several times but with no avail. He finally was overcome with fear of the unknown and placed the crown back on the shelf. After returning the crown, he was then able to leave the chapel. This fear caused the two youths to cease their defilement, and they left the cemetery. This story shook everyone present at the memorial service, showing that the Virgin Mary with her Veil, or Pokrova, as always, watches over and protects over evil.

May these youths, through this dreadful event, find the right path to God and stand beside Him as did the Cossacks remembered on this day.

[Julianna]

These boys tried to rip a wreath down from an ikon of the Theotokos and something stopped them They'd gotten scared from this and left and praying for forgiveness I've heard.

[尼古拉前执事]

Donations sought to help fix vandalized headstones
Two boys, 11 and 12, have been charged in Jackson incident

http://tritown.gmnews.com - By Joyce Blay, Staff Writer - JOYCE BLAY Grave markers that were toppled at St. Vladimir’s Russian Orthodox Christian Cemetery, Jackson, remain where they fell as cemetery officials determine how to pay for their repair. Two boys from Jackson have been charged in the incident.

JACKSON — Weeks after the peace of St. Vladimir’s Russian Orthodox Christian Cemetery, Route 571, was disturbed in a rampage by vandals that resulted in more than $120,000 in damage, a return to normal remains a matter of opinion.

For surviving family members of the deceased whose headstones were toppled and could be placed back 
on their pedestals by Shevchenko Monuments, there is some solace.
But for the eight expensive headstones that were damaged beyond repair — and for which there is no surviving family — there is no justice, says Martin Hrynick, the cemetery’s president.

"Those people are the ones for whom we organized the fund drive," Hrynick said. "They were all large stones, and they are all expensive. The estimated cost of replacing such stones will run well into the thousands of dollars. I doubt we’re going to get enough money to make an exact replacement, but we will do what we can."

Four other headstones also were damaged beyond repair, but those families have been contacted, 
he said.

According to police, two Jackson boys, ages 11 and 12, were charged with committing the vandalism. Police said the boys were riding their bicycles along Route 571 at about 5:30 p.m. May 12 when they decided to enter the 26-acre St. Vladimir’s cemetery, even though the gates had been locked an hour earlier.

The spree began with the vandalizing of vigil candles and food offerings that had been left on graves as part of the Russian Orthodox Easter tradition the week before, Jackson police Lt. Detective John Siedler said. The items police listed included candles and hard-boiled Easter eggs, which are traditionally left at grave sites during the Easter season.
After the suspects desecrated a small chapel on the cemetery grounds, they overturned 74 headstones, police said. Decorations and offerings that had been left at numerous grave sites were destroyed or used to damage or desecrate other grave sites and headstones.

Following extensive media coverage of the vandalism, the parents of both juveniles came forward and offered their cooperation in the investigation, police said.

Although the boys live in the Cassville section of Jackson, where the historic cemetery was founded in 1939, they are not members of the Russian Orthodox community.

Detective Mitch Cowit, the bias officer for the Jackson police, investigated the vandalism as a possible 
bias crime. Both boys were interviewed at length and Siedler said police determined there was no bias.

He said the boys had caused the destruction for fun.

The matter will be addressed by state Superior Court, Family Part, in Toms River.

Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Robert Gasser said the boys are charged with two counts each of disorderly conduct and with desecration of venerated objects.

On Tuesday, Cowit said no other suspects are being sought in connection with the cem-etery vandalism.

Evidence of what happened that night could still be seen last week.
The tiny chapel erected and maintained by the Society of St. John the Baptist had been repaired at an estimated cost of $3,000 and many of the headstones had been re-cemented, but scattered crosses 
that had broken off their pedestals still lay in pieces on the grass. Caretaker Michael Molod, who has worked 
for the cemetery for 17 years, said they had not been moved because they cannot be fixed.

One example of a gravestone that could not be repaired is that of Ivan and Pelagea Makaroff, a husband and wife buried side-by-side. The headstone had been partially re-cemented on its pedestal, but a 
jagged scar runs along a section of the gray granite die where the Russian Orthodox cross that was 
broken off had sat.

Molod said it had been damaged after being toppled and striking the scalloped cement brickwork around 
the artificial flower bed in front of the headstone. All that remained of the religious commemoration of two lives was a razor-thin stump where the cross representing their belief had stood.

"Even if they put pins in a break this thin, the pins would expand and crack the old stones," Molod said. "The angle is so sharp, it can’t be fixed."

The headstone of another husband and wife, Stephen and Maria Zazorin, also was damaged beyond repair. The cross had broken off their headstone as well.

"The rest of the headstone is in good shape, but the cross — the second die — is gone," Molod said.

The cross itself lay in three pieces on the ground behind the headstone, where it shattered on impact.

A vigil lamp in front of the headstone was battered as well. The glass on one side was broken and the shards were placed inside the tilted housing, which listed to one side on a metal pole inserted in the ground. Atop the lamp, a bent metal Russian Orthodox cross stood twisted on its acorn-shaped pedestal.

Like many graves in the cemetery, small ovals with black and white photographs of the deceased were attached to the front of the headstone. Maria Zazorin, who died in 1969 at age 70, was a brunette with 
a modest smile and twinkling eyes who peered sideways toward the complementary photo of her husband, a mustached man dressed in a business suit and tie whose photo was affixed to the left side of the headstone. Stephen Zazorin, born in 1889, had died in 1961.

Though gone, their lives are not forgotten by the living, Molod said.
"There are a lot of people I know who are buried here," he said.
Since the grave sites are owned by families of the deceased, those without surviving members whose headstones were damaged beyond repair have no recourse other than the fund Hrynick set up.

Hrynick said he had no idea how long the fund-raising effort would continue before the cemetery began using whatever funds had been collected to replace the stones that were damaged or destroyed.

"This has never happened to our cemetery on such a scale," Hrynick said. "I have no idea what the 
proper procedure is for surviving families, so I suggest that they contact their attorneys for further advice. 
That’s about all I can say at this point."

Gasser, of the prosecutor’s office, suggested that families contact Barbara Bisaha, a victim counselor at the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, (732) 929-2027, Ext. 4736. He said she would answer any 
questions families had regarding the situation.

Gasser said anyone with information concerning the cemetery vandalism should contact him at (732) 929-2027, Ext. 3689, or Jackson police at (732) 928-1111.

Anyone wishing to make a contribution to the cemetery fund may contact Hrynick at (732) 928-1010 for further information.