Waimea Weekly
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Wednesday 6 September 2017
Digger Hunt Winners Page 9
Richmond needs an upset Page 23
Page 16 - 17
Who did this?
Simon Bloomberg Reporter
simon@waimeaweekly.co.nz
Father’s Day was always going to be an emotional day for June Boyd visiting her husband Basil’s grave in the Richmond Cemetery on Sunday, but it turned to be more heart-wrenching than she could possibly have imagined. June and three of her five chil-
dren, Brooke, Lewis and Charmaine, and her grandson Joshua, stood in silence when they saw Basil’s damaged memorial headstone lying on the ground. First there was a sense of disbelief and then came tears and anger as they gathered with other families in the cemetery in the aftermath of a “disgraceful” act of vandalism that damaged an estimated 70 graves.
There had already been an outpouring of emotion on Friday after seven graves sites had been found damaged. Vandals had kicked over memorial headstones and photos, including one photo of a 16-year-old Richmond girl who tragically died in 2008. But that was just the start as the vandals returned on Saturday night to wreck a further 60 grave sites, including four historical
headstones dating back to March 20, 1903. June says it was an “intensely emotional” day with strangers hugging and consoling each other as they stood among the destruction. She says losing Basil was one of the hardest times in her life and seeing his memorial headstone lying on the ground brought all
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