Veterans Memorial vandalized in Youngstown

Article and photos by Terry Duffy

The Niagara County Sheriff's Office is continuing its investigations into a act of vandalism this week that defaced the recently updated Veterans Memorial at Youngstown's Veterans Park.

Dotty Riordan, wife of former Mayor Neil C. Riordan, assisted in coordinating the Veterans Monument improvements unveiled Nov. 11. She was informed of the vandalism that apparently occurred overnight from the period of Tuesday evening to early Wednesday morning by village DPW workers.

"They brought over the broken panels to my house this morning," Riordan said.

"Some young punks. I can't believe someone would do this," she added.

"It just happened," Youngstown Mayor Raleigh Reynolds said. "There's no leads at this time."

Vandals defaced the recently updated Veterans Memorial in Youngstown this week. Pictured is the memorial at the Nov. 11 Veterans Day ceremony.

The memorial is located across Third Street from the Youngstown Volunteer Fire Co. firehall. Reynolds said it has limited lighting at night. The Plexiglas panels on the multisided memorial apparently were smashed by a log that was left at the scene, but the memorial's listings of more than 1,200 area veterans, found nearby, was salvageable.

"That didn't get destroyed," Reynolds said, adding the village does have the current listings of names should they need to be replaced.

He said anyone with information on the incident should contact the sheriff's office at 716-438-3393.