SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – A local business owner is stepping up to help restore Old Memphis Cemetery after nearly 20 graves were damaged by vandalism.
Christopher Mullinex, owner of Gilcon Materials, is volunteering to donate concrete and partnering with a childhood friend who makes vaults to begin work on repairing the damaged graves.
“If there’s anything that we can do in the community that is going to show everyone that we are united as one, because some of the people in that graveyard are probably the reason we’re here today,” Mullinex said.
City and county leaders visited the cemetery Wednesday to survey the damage and meet with Mullinex.
ORIGINAL COVERAGE | Graves vandalized at Old Memphis Cemetery in Palmetto
Mullinex said he plans to make molds, fill them with concrete and reinforce them. He said he may oversize them so they can go down over the box and protect them from the elements.
“This is sacred ground. A lot of these people out here in the graveyard are people that influence a lot of the reasons young men like me are in business and work every day and what it means to be hard working because we were taught by these people what it means to be hard working,” Mullinex said.
Mullinex said as soon as the county is ready, work can begin. He said within the next weeks, work could begin on restoring the gravestones.
“This place has a lot of history and it should be protected just like any other history we’ve got,” Mullinex said.
The cemetery was flooded with people checking on the status of their loved ones’ graves following the vandalism.
“It is absolutely disgusting. Just the disrespect for our county’s history is absolutely infuriating,” said Amanda Ballard.
Commissioner Ballard said a motion for funds to be allocated for security and fencing is on the agenda at their next meeting.
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