GREENWOOD – A town surveyor checking the boundary lines of Peter Gordon’s former tire dump property found six tombstones scattered in a field, Town Manager Carol Whitman said Monday.

“They have recently been put there, or at least since the tires were removed” by order of the state Department of Environmental Protection, she said.

The tombstones were discovered by Gary Inman, hired after voters at the town meeting in March approved spending $2,000 to have a survey done on the property.

The town acquired the 34-acre parcel – once one of the state’s largest tire dumps – for nonpayment of taxes in November 2001. Selectmen have not decided what to do about the property, since the DEP has placed a $700,000 lien against it to recoup the cost of removing an estimated 2.7 million tires.

Whitman said the town plans to contact police and ask for an investigation. For now, she wants to try to return the tombstones to their rightful families.

“These aren’t all that old, it’s a shame they were taken from somewhere, and I’m sure the families would love to have them back,” she said of the monuments.

One tombstone is that of Craig S. Robinson, born in 1946, and has no date of death on it. A second stone is that of his wife, Katherine S. Robinson, who died June 1, 1983.

Another tombstone lists Arthur M. Wilbur, 1875-1936, and his wife, Lilian M. Wilbur, 1874-1959.

A fourth lists Mary R. Vamvakias, 1915-1939. Two other tombstones simply say “Father” and “Mother.”

Gordon, who started the tire dump in 1986, was convicted in June 2000 for illegally receiving tires on his property in violation of a state consent decree. He also has felony convictions dating back to 1980, and was recently indicted by a federal grand jury on firearms charges.

Copy the Story Link