Flags, headstones vandalized in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH, July 2 (UPI) -- A Catholic Cemeteries Association official says U.S. flags, along with 115 headstones, were vandalized at a Pittsburgh cemetery.

Annabelle McGannon, executive director of the association, said the damage at Calvary Cemetery in Pittsburgh's Hazelwood neighborhood is the worst act of vandalism in the association's history, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said Thursday.

"We're sick about it," McGannon said of the vandalism discovered Wednesday. "We realize better than anyone the impact it has on the families ... It's just a senseless thing. It's hard to believe people get any entertainment out of this."

Vandals knocked over rows of headstones at the cemetery and tore apart some of the U.S. flags adorning the site's grounds, Lawrence Domencic, director of cemetery operations, said.

Among those buried at the Hazelwood cemetery, which was established in 1886, are actor Frank Gorshin, painter John Kane, former Pittsburgh Catholic bishop Vincent Leonard and former mayors David L. Lawrence, Richard Caliguiri and Bob O'Connor.