Flowers Still Disappearing

After two previous occurrences of stolen flowers were reported in the area earlier this month, another has surfaced. On June 23, resident Peggy Miller discovered the red lilies she planted in front of her daughter’s grave at Sunset Hill Cemetery had been dug up and removed.

Miller’s daughter, Jodi Miller-Scalzo, died in 2003. Miller planted the bright perennial flowers in front of her headstone last year, and they had just fully blossomed again this year when they were uprooted.

“It’s just so crummy,” Miller said. “Why would people do that? It’s not like it’s earthshaking, but you don’t expect it in Clinton.”

The previous two reports of stolen flowers happened within close proximity to Sunset Hill. On June 5, flowers from two planters near the entrance of the Kirkland Town Park were uprooted and stolen. A week later, another theft occurred on Post Street. Several geraniums were removed from a resident’s planting barrel near the road.

The Sunset Hill Cemetery is a little more than a mile away from the Town Park.

Superintendent of the Sunset Hill Cemetery Board of Trustees Roger Belois was contacted by Miller after she found the defaced grave.

Belois said the thefts would be easy to pull off in broad daylight because Sunset Hill is open all day with little supervision by staff.

“The thing is it could happen anytime because it’s open from dawn to dark,” he said. “This time of the year that’s a lot of time. It doesn’t necessarily have to be at night. And there’s a lot of times where there’s nobody up there.”

Belois’ job requires him to be at the cemetery several times a week. Typically he and the landscaping crew work from 8 a.m.–noon. Belois explained this is a part-time position, so he is not able to be on site all day to watch out for vandals.

Deer are notorious at the Sunset Hill Cemetery for eating flowers off of graves, but they take bites or at least leave stems behind. The lilies on Miller-Scalzo’s headstone were removed completely with no petals or scraps left in the area. Only an empty patch of soil remained.

Miller also has two sons, Bob and Chris, in the cemetery next to her daughter. No damage of any kind was done to their graves, and the surrounding area seemed untouched as well, according to Miller.

Miller said she will not let this incident prevent her from replanting at Miller-Scalzo’s headstone, but she is disappointed that something like this happened.

According to Kirkland Police Chief Dan English, no reports have been filed.