>>Valley Patriot>> |
LAWRENCE - A memorial built to honor two Lawrence police officers killed in the line of duty; Peter Manning and Thomas Duggan, Sr., was vandalized last month at the Bellevue Cemetery. According to the Captain Shawn Conway of the Lawrence Police Department, five flag poles at the memorial were knocked down to the ground by vandals several weeks ago. The memorial was built and dedicated on October of 1997, when Lawrence Police officers: Captain Shawn Conway, Officer Ronald DeSantis, Justin Hart, Roy Vasque, Michael McGrath, Jose Florez, Jr., Richard O’Connell, and Michael McCarthy privately raised more than $50,00 to have the memorial erected at the Bellevue Cemetery in Lawrence. Lawrence police officer Thomas
Duggan, Sr. was killed in 1990 when he was beaten with a
baseball bat on Lowell Street. A drunk driver killed
Peter Manning in 1953, just a few short blocks from where
Duggan was killed. “It’s pretty disgusting” Captain Conway said of the vandalism. “Myself and Officer Dave Augusta, Jr., put those flag poles into the ground ourselves. We put them pretty deep into the ground. It must have taken a lot of work for someone to knock them over like that. It almost looks like they were sawed at the base and pushed over. Someone went through a lot of trouble to do this. It just shows a total disrespect for these officers who gave their lives in the line of duty.” This isn’t the first time the memorial has been vandalized. Last year someone climbed up the flagpoles and stole the flags from the monument. “Someone shimmied up the poles and cut the steel cable and just took the flags,” Conway continued. “I think when we replace the flag poles this time we are going to get the new poles with the cables locked inside so that this doesn’t happen again.” Lawrence Police Officer Thomas Murphy had the flags donated by the Lawrence Lodge of Elks back in 1997. According to Captain Conway the Lawrence City flag had to be hand stitched. They cost about $300 a piece to make. “It’s going to cost about $1,200 to replace each flagpole,” he said. “Cody’s Towing has volunteered to go up to the cemetery and pull the broken poles out of the ground, but the total cost of fixing the memorial will still cost approximately $6,000.” Because the memorial was built
completely with private donations, the Police
Relief’s Association is hoping to raise enough
private money for the repairs. Anyone interested in
making a donation can send a check made payable to
“The Lawrence Police Relief’s Association”
and mail it to the Lawrence Police Department, 90 Lowell
St., Lawrence MA, 01841. Send your questions
comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com |
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