Coal Grove Village display welcomes new Baby Jesus

Published 12:00 am Sunday, December 25, 2011

COAL GROVE — The stars in the sky can now look down upon a new Baby Jesus who was lain to rest in the manger where just nights before, a thief in the night stole the iconic part of the Nativity scene.

The popular Christmas display at Paul Porter Park in Coal Grove has been the target of criminal mischief several times in the past few years, most recently with the theft of the baby Jesus from the Nativity scene. Last year, about $2,000 worth of electrical wiring was stolen, making this year’s attraction a miracle in itself.

But the vandals can never seem to break the village’s Christmas spirit.

Email newsletter signup

Just as with the community’s support to raise money for new wiring, several people in the village and elsewhere volunteered their assistance in purchasing a new Baby Jesus for the Nativity.

“We have had a couple of people who wanted to purchase a new one,” said Coal Grove Betterment Club President Vicki McDaniel. “But there was no way I could get it in before Christmas. One man wanted to remain anonymous and also Larry and Bobbie Shelton. They said they would help buy a new Baby Jesus.”

But it was an unexpected Good Samaritan from Wheelersburg who read about the theft in the Tribune who offered her support.

About a month ago, Mary Beaumont was in Portsmouth with her 5-year-old grandson William. Wanting to do a little shopping, the two visited the Boneyfiddle antique district of town.

It was just outside Ghosts in the Attic Antique Mall when she saw it.

“We’re coming across the street and I see something on the sidewalk,” Beaumont said. “As we approached the door I notice it is in two pieces.”

It was a little rubber doll.

“It was a naked, disheveled looking thing,” she said. “It was dirty.”

Earlier in the day, a man had tried to sell the doll in the shop, without success. Angry, the man threw the doll against the outside of the building, leaving it.

A former child protective services worker, Beaumont’s rescue tendencies kicked in and she picked up the doll.

I looked at this doll and I thought, that looks like a baby Jesus,” she said.

Beaumont took the doll home and cleaned it up and popped the two pieces back together. Having planned to donate the Jesus doll to a nursing home, Beaumont saw an article in a newspaper at the Ashland Town Center Mall about the Paul Porter Park theft.

Beaumont said she knew that was the reason for finding the doll so she contacted the village and arranged with McDaniel a pick-up in Wheelersburg with a Coal Grove police officer.

McDaniel said she had been holding out for someone to return the original Baby Jesus when she got the call from Beaumont.

“It gave me chill bumps because God works in mysterious ways,” she said. Why would she find a baby there? There are still some kind people in the world. I kept hoping someone would bring it back, but they didn’t. I just still can’t believe they stole Baby Jesus.”