An 18-year-old Peachtree City woman has been charged with criminal trespass after she was found spray-painting a concrete pylon adjacent to the old Brown Family Cemetery off Dividend Drive in Peachtree City. With some graves dating to the mid-1700s, a number of headstones were found broken by vandals in late April.
Alena L. Zavodny was charged with criminal trespass and misdemeanor marijuana possession, according to Fayette County Jail records.
Peachtree City Detective Heather Scott said she arrived at the old cemetery on May 17 to follow-up on previous damage to the headstones and found two females at the site. It was the second time that Scott visited the cemetery site that day.
Zavodny was seen spray-painting a large cement pylon situated on adjacent property and in close proximity to the old Brown Family Cemetery.
Scott was told by the females that they believed they were on cemetery property, adding that one of the females told Scott they “hang out there” though they adamantly denied having any involvement with the vandalism and damage to a dozen or more headstones discovered on April 20.
Scott said Zavodny had just finished applying blue spray paint to the pylon and that her hands were blue from the paint.
“She admitted spray-painting a month ago,” Scott said.
Sprayed on the face of the large pylon were a series of words, letters, numbers and a star. It was on May 17 that Zavodny was found painting the interior rim of the pylon with blue spray paint.
Scott said Zavodny felt it was horrible that the headstones had been broken. As for her painting the nearby pylon, Zavodny said she was displaying her artistry, Scott explained, adding that Zavodny was aware that the pylon was not a grave marker and that her painting on the previous occasion that included the words, letters, numbers and a star had popped into her head.
Scott said the second female at the site was reading a book, had no involvement in the incident and was not arrested.
Police officers, Boy Scouts and others have subsequently worked to repair some of the broken headstones.
Peachtree City police officers on April 20 were called to the Brown Family Cemetery off Dividend Drive in reference to damage done at the old Brown Family Cemetery adjacent to the Ply-Gem property. The pylon painted by Zavodny was located on the adjacent ExecuSoft Controls property.
The vandalism that included broken headstones was believed to have occurred sometime before March 30, according to police reports.
Officers were told that the most recent marker in the cemetery is at lest 85 years old, with the oldest dating from 1755.
The graveyard is one of many in the area established on former family land.
