|
This Memorial Day weekend, one local Boy Scout and his troop honored our veterans in a very unique way. The Confederate cemeteries in both Enterprise and Quitman were vandalized in early April. The headstones and other monuments in the cemeteries were spray painted with graffiti and, despite a hefty reward, the vandals are still at large.
When Austin Culpepper heard about this, he was determined to do something to make it right again. "When I first saw this story on the news, it upset me that there are people out there who have such disrespect for our veterans.", said Culpepper, "I just don't see how anyone can think vandalizing a cemetery is an ok thing to do".
Austin is a scout with Troop 40 from Meridian and is in the process of earning his Eagle Scout rank. He realized that cleaning the cemetery would not only be a project that would help him grow in scouting, but one that would also benefit the entire community. "I picked Memorial Day weekend to do this project because I wanted to show the community that we do care about all of our veterans and what they did for us." said Culpepper.
Austin contacted a local Professional Engineer in Quitman, Ryan Fontaine, P.E., told him about his plan and asked what he needed to do to get the project moving. Mr. Fontaine offered advice on methods to remove the graffiti and clean the headstones and he put Austin in touch with Clarke County District 5 Supervisor Tony Fleming, who is responsible for the maintenance of the Quitman Confederate Cemetery. Austin met with Mr. Fleming at the cemetery to survey the damage firsthand and formulate a plan of attack.
The rank of Eagle Scout is not something that is easily attained. Many merit badges must be earned and the scout must plan and perform a leadership project, in which they oversee a project from start to finish which will benefit the community. The cleanup of the Quitman Confederate Cemetery was the leadership project for Austin. He organized and led a group of scouts from his troop as they performed many tasks in the cemetery. Not only did the scouts remove the spray paint graffiti, but they also cleaned all headstones to prevent the newly cleaned ones from standing out from the ones which were not vandalized. They also trimmed the grass, raked leaves and debris, pruned trees and shrubs and picked up trash and litter around the site.
The Quitman Confederate Cemetery now looks how it was intended to look thanks to Austin and his fellow troop members. Thanks go out to Ryan Fontaine, P.E. and Tony Fleming for helping to get the project organized and thanks also to the Fontaine Peach Outlet for generously providing the tools and supplies needed to complete the project, and also for providing lunch for the group of hard working young men. If you haven't been to see the cemetery in a while, now is the perfect time to stop by and see it.
|
