Thursday, 4:30 PM
Snow blamed for knocking over to headstones, not vandals
By Dan Muse, Globe Correspondent
The tipping of 37 headstones in a Malden graveyard this weekend was caused by heavy snow, not vandalism, a cemetery official said today.
A plow clearing snow on Saturday pushed slush down a hill and knocked over the stones in the Holy Cross Cemetery, according to Robert Visconti, executive director Catholic Cemetery Association of the Archdiocese of Boston. Officials found no evidence of vandalism despite some media reports, Visconti said.
"With the volume of the snow that we got, the weight of it just blew these stones over," Visconti said.
None of the headstones sustained permanent damaged, Visconti said. Thirty-one of the stones were replaced today, and the remaining stones should be back in place by Tuesday.
