One of three teens accused of doing $100,000 worth of damage at Brookside Cemetery in late April will go to trial next month. Brian Patrick Buckley, 18, of Bridgewater appeared in Bridgewater provincial court May 10. He pled not guilty to a string of charges, including six counts of property damage and a single count of theft. Trial on the charges relating to the cemetery was set for June 5. Mr. Buckley will return to court June 26 for trial on the other charges, which include vandalizing MTT vehicles, headstones at Corkum's Funeral Home and windows at Holy Trinity Anglican Church.  He'll remain in custody pending trial after being denied bail at an earlier court appearance.

One of the other teens, a 17-year-old boy, is scheduled to appear in court May 18 for plea on six counts of property damage, five counts of theft and two charges of breaching a court disposition. He, too, remains in custody. A 15-year-old boy from Queens County is slated to appear in  family court May 29. He was released on house arrest.  About 170 headstones were overturned, many damaged beyond repair, in an overnight vandalism spree April 25.

The Brookside Cemetery Commission is now co-ordinating a monument restoration fund. "Although monument repair is the responsibility of the families, the commission recognizes there are many old monuments  where there are no surviving relatives," cemetery manager Carol Pickings-Anthony said last week. The focus of the fund is to help out in those kinds of cases. The cemetery commission is in the complicated process of doing an inventory to contact all families affected by the monument damage. "It's quite a process. Addresses have changed. People have moved. There are no survivors," the manager said.

Donations to the monument restoration fund can be made at the Royal Bank of Canada in Bridgewater, Lunenburg, New Germany or Liverpool, or mailed directly to the Brookside Cemetery Monument Restoration Trust Fund, 60 Pleasant Street, Bridgewater, B4V 3X9.

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From  Halifax Chronicle Herald - June 26, 2000

18-year-old gets year for trashing cemetery
By Gerrie Grevatt / South Shore Bureau

Lunenburg - An 18-year-old Bridgewater man was sentenced to 12 months in jail for his part in vandalizing Brookside Cemetery. Brian Patrick Buckley was sentenced Monday in Lunenburg provincial court.

"I owe an apology to everyone I hurt," Mr. Buckley said before Judge Anne Crawford handed down the sentence. He also told the court he wants a chance to make up for what he did. Mr. Buckley confessed to damaging up to 170 headstones at the Bridgewater cemetery in late April, causing about $100,000 in damage. He's been in custody since his arrest.

"A cemetery is a very special place in a community," Judge Crawford told Mr. Buckley.
"When you do damage, you are desecrating a very sacred place."

Eleven people filed victim impact statements to the court, many of them expressing outrage at the destruction of their relatives' tombstones. One man wrote that one of the vandalized headstones was placed in the cemetery in 1897 after nine-year-old Robert Keith Dawson died of appendicitis. His death occurred before there was a hospital in Bridgewater. Dawson Memorial Hospital, now South Shore Regional Hospital, was built in the boy's memory. The man wrote that he hoped Mr. Buckley will grow up to respect his community and that the community will be big enough to take him back.

Working to help repair the cemetery "will be a very fulfilling way to express your regret and sorrow," Judge Crawford told Mr. Buckley. She ordered him to do 240 hours of community service upon his release. Judge Crawford also placed Mr. Buckley on probation for two years and required him to seek counseling for substance abuse and anger management.

Mr. Buckley also pleaded guilty to damaging MTT trucks the same night he vandalized the cemetery.
On that charge, he was sentenced to three months, to be served concurrently.

Two young offenders are also charged with damaging the cemetery. A 17-year-old Lunenburg County boy will go on trial July 10. A 15-year-old Queens County boy is scheduled to enter a plea on the
same day.

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