Churches desecrated

— Trying to remove the vulgar words painted on the side of the historic church in the rain Monday, Fayrene Jones, lamented over the damage to her church.

When the few remaining members of the Corinth Church came to the service Sunday morning a three weeks ago, they made a startling discovery. The building had been vandalized, marked with obscene words and pictures, the work of criminals with time on their hands.

This is the fourth time in the past year the church has been a target for vandalism, Jones said.

“It’s not usually this bad,” she said. “They’ve cut up the yard with four-wheelers and knocked over the propane tank.”

Jones said she reported the incident to the sheriff’s office.

A report was taken at 7:20 p.m. Monday, Aug. 23, by BCSO. Deputy Doug Gay, public information officer, said there are no suspects at this time.

For three weeks, members of the church have worked to restore the church back to it’s previous facade.

Along with lewd drawings and phrases on the exterior walls and front door, the vandals spray-painted anti-religion messages on the church. Foam insulation was sprayed around the front doors. The carpet on the porch was so badly damaged it had to be removed.

Russ Wilson, who lives just up the road from the church, said he has seen trouble happening at the church in the past. He recounted a time seeing taillights and four people on four four-wheelers rushing off at the sound of his approach last year.

The original Corinth building began as a school house in 1888, when John Potts deeded one acre of land to the Corinth District 2. In 1911, the school was enlarged thanks to moreland deeded by Tabitha Dent.

The building was used as a school, church and community building until the mid-1940s, when the Corinth school and Garfield school consolidated. In 1948, the building was deeded by Garfield schools to be used as a community building. The original structure was complete destroyed by fire May 24, 1980, and was reconstructed the same year.

New Prospect burglarized

Tuesday morning, the door to New Prospect Baptist Church was found kicked open and a speaker and speaker wire were missing, according to a Benton County Sheriff’s Office report. The church is at the intersection of Mill Hill and Gann Ridge roads.

Ron Shultz, pastor of the church, received the call from a neighbor about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday and arrived atthe church to find the front porch light on and the double front doors wide open.

He said this is the ninth time the church has been burglarized.

“I think it’s kids by what they took. If it was organized, they would have taken more,” he said. “It’s a nuisance is what it is.

I’m grateful they’ve never done major damage to the church. What’s happened to respect ?”

News, Pages 1 on 09/15/2010