LOGAN, OH (WCMH)–On the Vinton-Hocking county line, Mt. Pleasant Cemetery is home to many gravesites well over a century old – and for the first time, they’ve been heavily vandalized.

“A lot of the gravestones that were damaged were the older ones from the 1800’s,” said Sgt. Bill Bowden of the Vinton County Sheriff’s Office.

But not all of them have been there for so long. When recent high school graduate Corey Kissling died in 2008, his loved ones placed a granite football atop his headstone. The football was stolen during the vandalism and Corey’s great grandfather and cemetery trustee Carl Horn has to break the news to Corey’s mother that her late son’s grave had been vandalized.

“I hated to tell her. To see that vandalized, when there was no apparent reason, it’s awful upsetting,” said Horn.

Cemetery officials believe the incident occurred between July 24-26. The Vinton County Sheriff’s Office said they plan to begin patrolling cemetery areas more often.

To help re-build the damaged grave sites, you can donate to the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. Donations can be mailed to Logan Monument Company, 156 W. Main St., Logan, Ohio, 43138. Checks can be made payable to the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.