The characters in the St. Mark's Lutheran Church's nativity scene lay battered and broken today after a vehicle crashed into the structure last night, according to the church's leaders.

Mary Ellen Tack, the parish administrator, said she notified Butler City Police this morning, but they appeared to already know about the accident.

“They knew about it before we did,” Tack said.

Church officials said the damage happened as the result of a vehicle accident.

Find out what happened in Friday's Butler Eagle.