Historic Bell Stolen From Green Country Church

Thieves have stolen a piece of history that hung outside a Green Country church for decades.

Just off Highway 412, sits the Keystone Baptist Church. It's quiet, with the exception of passing trucks. But it's quieter now since someone stole the church's historic bell last month.

“We used it every morning,” said Keystone Baptist Church Member George Dietz. “We came out and rang it. It was kind of, it was traditional.”

George Dietz and his son Mark say the bell was also historical.

 “It's a couple hundred years old, so it's an old bell,” said Dietz.

It sat outside the old Keystone Baptist Church that had to be torn down when Keystone Lake was built in the late 50s.               

“I realize the historical significance of the bell,” he said. How many times that's been rung over 200 years."

And with a small congregation, almost all elderly now, Mark says pictures are hard to come by.

But you can see the bell on Google earth; you just can't tell by the pictures how much the bell might have weighed.

“I'm guessing 800 to 1,000 pounds, somewhere in there,” Dietz stated.

They'd had to have a flatbed truck and some time to do it, but they got it.

The church has been a target for thieves lately.

Before the bell, musical instruments, bags of sugar from the kitchen and AC units were stolen.   

The church's air conditioning units have been stolen so many times, they've put them in a cage and lock them up.

“It's kind of bad to come and steal stuff from the church,” said Dietz.

The church members just want the thefts to stop and for their bell to brought back home so it can ring out on Sunday mornings once again.