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Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : MISCELLANY / NEWSMAKERS AND MILESTONES

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Times staff writers Gary Jarlson, Lorena Oropeza and Barry Surman compiled the Week in Review stories

Although some of them dated back 120 years, 65 tombstones in one of the older portions of Santa Ana Cemetery apparently struck no sentimental chords among vandals who struck late one night.

Some of the grave markers, tall and elaborate marble structures, dated back to the 1860s when Santa Ana was not much more than a pioneer village.

“It had to be more than one person, maybe a gang,” said Salvador S. Martinez, superintendent of the cemetery on East Santa Clara Avenue. “Maybe they were on drugs. I don’t know why people would do something like this.”

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Martinez said that because many of the tombstones are those of people who died more than 100 years ago, “there are no relatives alive who can come forward. We are trying to repair the stones. It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.”

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