The livelihood of a local logger took a major hit Sunday morning in Lawrence County with the destruction and vandalism of hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment.

Equipment at logging site on Ferguson Mill Road, about a half mile north of Highway 84 in Monticello was vandalized Sunday morning, destroying two pieces of equipment and damaging two more.

According to Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office investigator Ray Smith, a $10,000 reward is being offered by the owner, Anthony Stewart, of Carson, if the information provided leads to an arrest in the incident.

Stewart, owner of Stuart Timber, Inc. was logging a parcel of land in the George estate.

Firemen were called to the scene at 12:46 p.m. Sunday and found an overturned skidder burning against a bulldozer.

Firemen used foam to extinguish the flames and saved the dozer from total destruction.

According to Smith, the skidder is a total loss and a cutter will also probably be a total loss, while the dozer and a loader suffered damage.

Smith described the location as being in the 200-300 block of Ferguson Mill Road and asks that anyone who may have seen someone going into or out of the propertySunday morning please provide that information. Smith says confidentiality will be insured.

Smith also said that recording equipment on the machinery indicates some of the equipment was active about 9:30 Saturday night. If anyone saw any activity in the area between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Saturday night, October 25, that could be useful as well.

“Logging is hard work and for a person to damage someone’s livelihood like this is not acceptable.” Smith said, “Any information that will help solve this case will be very much appreciated.”

If you have information that could help solve the case, call the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, 601-587-2961 or Smith’s cell, 601-455-8888.