Nativity scene vandalized at Bellmore church

A 6-foot tall shepherd in a nativity scene at a Bellmore church was damaged over the weekend, Nassau County police and the church pastor said Monday.

The Rev. James W. Barnum of the Bellmore Presbyterian Church said it appears someone was trying to remove a shepherd figure from the scene when it cracked.

"It looks like someone was trying to lift it off a bolt or it was hit with something," Barnum said.

Barnum noticed the damage after Sunday morning services and told police it likely happened Saturday night, at about the same time a wooden marker in the church parking lot also was damaged. At the time, Barnum said he didn't think anything of the damage to the marker.

"With the marker, too, it now looks like someone was maybe trying to do it intentionally," he said.

Barnum said he was not sure if the statue - made of a plaster-like material and bolted in place to a wooden platform - could be repaired. "That's something I will bring up with our trustees," he said.

The new nativity scene was donated this year by a church family, he said. "It's the first time we've used it."

A police spokesman said Monday the incident was not being investigated but acknowledged that a report had been made.

Only twice previously in his 22 years as pastor could Barnum remember such vandalism, and in each case it involved the baby Jesus being stolen from the church's retired nativity set.

"I got it back once from a kid who took it as part of a scavenger hunt," he said.

Another time, the statue was never recovered.