During the past year, several members of American Legion and VFW posts in southwestern Wisconsin have been attending the trial of David Voight, who was charged with desecration of veterans' graves in the Hillsborogh Cemetery. This case first came to light near the end of May 2016, when local newspapers reported that Voight had been arrested and charged with vandalism for stealing veterans' grave markers and selling the supporting rods for scrap metal. Because the media reports seemed to dismiss the crime as trivial, Boscobel Post 134 Commander Ken Leifheit brought the incident to the attention of the Boscobel AL and VFW posts and also notified fellow post commanders in the surrounding counties. This resulted in a group of veterans over a dozen strong attending the 8 hearings for Voight’s trial.
At the final disposition of the case on March 6, 2017, the Vernon County courtroom of the Honorable Judge M. Rosborough was packed with 10 veterans, all seeking justice for the now mute deceased veterans who were the victims of this desecration. In the Judge’s review of the case, he specifically commented about the very visible presence and tenacity of the veteran units that had attended the hearings as evidence of the seriousness of the crime. Voight was sentenced to 60 days jail time and ordered to pay restitution of several hundred dollars.