Vandals tip more than 40 headstones at Bellingham cemetery

Toppling the headstones of more than 40 people buried at Bayview Cemetery is apparently something a few vandals can do in one night.

Fixing the damage they caused, so those visiting the cemetery can mourn the loss of their loved ones without seeing the fallen markers flat on the ground, takes much more work.

A total of 47 monuments — some in the shape of crosses —were tipped over at Bayview Cemetery sometime between Wednesday night, Nov. 18, and Thursday morning, Nov. 19, according to police. The damage followed a path that covered the length of the cemetery on the east side, from Lakeway Drive to Woburn Street.

A couple of the headstones that were knocked down weighed more than a ton, leading police to suspect more than one person was involved, said police Lt. Bob Vander Yacht.

The work to put the headstones back in place could cost the city anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000. Most can be reset using city-owned equipment, but it could take up to three weeks until the work is finished. Some of the biggest headstones — the ones weighing a ton — will require the use of a crane, Vander Yacht said.

Graves of the famous

The nonprofit cemetery owned by the city of Bellingham is more than 125 years old. It covers a total of 234 acres, and 50 acres are currently being used. More than 24,000 people are buried there.

Plenty of noteworthy people are buried at Bayview, according to Bellingham Herald archives, including Ella Higginson, a Bellingham writer and Washington state poet laureate; Galen Biery, a well-known collector of photographs in Whatcom County; John Joseph (J.J.) Donovan, a business and civic leader who was honored with a bronze statue in Fairhaven; and Beverly Dobbs, a photographer known in part for documenting gold miners in Alaska in the early 1900s and for making a motion picture about the gold rush and life north of the Arctic Circle.

One of the headstones knocked over this week was where Pete Zuanich, a Port of Bellingham commissioner for more than four decades, was buried in 2002 next to his wife, Marie. Zuanich Point Park is named for him.

Jake Rice was walking his dog in the cemetery Thursday when he saw the headstones that had been knocked over.

“It was just pretty disgusting,” Rice said. “Can you imagine coming there to pay respects to someone who died and seeing that kind of vandalism?”

Help sought finding vandals

Police are seeking information that would help identify the suspects. There was no pattern as to which tombstones the vandals targeted, Vander Yacht said, other than that the damage was along a walking path.

Cemetery manager Marcia Wazny said there are no security cameras at the cemetery, and there are no security officers there at night.

There was no indication that a vehicle was used to topple the headstones. If the vandals are found, they likely would face a charge of first-degree malicious mischief, a class B felony in Washington, Vander Yacht said.

“This is never OK, but leading up to this Thanksgiving weekend it can even be a little more impactful as family members are visiting their loved ones,” Vander Yacht said. “To find something like this is just really sad. We can understand how people would feel pretty dismayed to see this. It’s very disappointing to us.”

Anyone with information on the vandalism should call the Bellingham police tip line at 360-778-8611 or go to www.cob.org/tips.

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 7:25 AM with the headline "Vandals tip more than 40 headstones at Bellingham cemetery."