http://www.14news.com/story/32087952/memorial-day-crosses-damaged-at-henderson-park-arrest-made
Here in an aerial view of the crosses before the damage.
https://youtu.be/3FgjjtXbIgQ
https://youtu.be/3FgjjtXbIgQ
Folks, this happened in my birth city.
I spent part of last night along side veterans, masons, bikers, and citizens who guarded the cross display all night. I was at my farm 16 miles away yesterday when my brother came over and showed me the pictures on his phone. I was immediately overtaken by anger and indignation, appalled at what I saw. I had to walk away and calm down. I finished what I was doing and drove over to the park. My wife had gone over an hour earlier to offer help but learned that all the crosses, save those too severely damaged, had been returned to their proper places. The local plastic factory that made the crosses initially was going to fabricate replacements immediately.
Folks, I don't have the words to convey to the group here just what the attitude is in this city right now. This event happened at 05:58 and by 08:00 the park was full of people, literally. I have not seen this kind of cohesion and common purpose since the days immediately following the tragedy of 9/11. Old, young, vets, non-vets, rich, poor were all represented yesterday. This city is very proud of our veterans and between my wife and I we ourselves have 11 names represented there among the thousands. Any time during this Holiday period, ( the cross display is up for a couple weeks here), you can go down and watch the people placing flowers and momentos at the base of the crosses and, especially touching are the seniors and widows being helped along by their children who take such pride in decorating those crosses. This ordeal has effected thousands directly and tens of thousands of others who have voiced concern, shown their love and respect, offered help and prayed for our community. If you haven't already, please consider a prayers for our community too, we need them just now and I offer gratitude for your thoughts as well. Believe me, this kind of thing is unheard of here and I will try and keep the forum abreast of the proceedings against this guy and any further developments along those lines as they unfold. I am also going to the park with-in the hour and will post some pictures this evening, I know the picture in the news is terrible and I want to show the display now after it has been restored.
The police had the culprit within 8 hours of the act and of course he's claiming innocence. He admits to driving the car and leaving it at a McDonald's that's one block away with flat tires with remnants of the crosses embedded in the tires, grill, bumper etc. but he claims the car just quit running and he simply left it there, all the while denying driving it through the park. He drove the car within 20 yards of the sheriff's office that just happened to have a security camera facing the door and it recorded the 78 blue Thunderbird as it entered the side walk and park. He had to take a circuitous route through the Court House parking lot in order to allow the car to get into the display area without having to jump the curb that would have probably prevented him from doing just that had he tried to drive over it. In other words, there was some planning and forethought as he apparently went to some length just to gain entrance. In addition to the camera, two third shift employees were on a break outside a dry cleaning business across the street where he exited the park and saw him drive out and away. A citizen spotted the car parked in the McDonald's parking lot within minutes of the pictures of it being posted on social media and local news outlets. It was towed and impounded. The police then went to the driver's sister's home and arrested him and took him to jail. He has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident and criminal mischief that hopefully will rise to the level of a felony due to the fact that the crosses are valued at 60-80 dollars each and it is believed that the damages to the park grounds and the cost of replacing the crosses will exceed a thousand dollars, apparently the threshold for a felony here. There may be additional charges.
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as well as the other communities that have suffered these types of things. We must stand firm and resist these changes that seem destined for some reason. However as I sat among strangers and brothers last night, some of my hope for our country was restored. I saw a group of people, a true cross section of people, unite in a moment's notice and come together to protect something we all held dear, something we all were willing to defend.
