Local graveyard wreck

[PepperElf]

My parents visited this weekend and one of the things they wanted to do was visit the graveyards where their family members were buried.

We first went to see Dad's parents (same graveyard but buried in different spots). There's some lichen on the graves, but they're in good repair. I'll have to swing by later and clean them up.

Second graveyard was even better maintained - One of Mom's sisters was married to a Veteran so they have a joined plot in the Veteran's cemetery. And since it was there, we stopped at the grave of one of the local priests who'd served in Vietnam. Mom wants me to trim the grass around her sister's grave but again... that's not a lot of work & the area is pretty safe.

The next day we went to visit Mom's parents, separate graves but side by side.


This graveyard was a horrible wreck.

Mom told me what had happened... the owners couldn't afford to maintain it so they sold it to the city.

City: Oooo it's right next to this small sports arena! We can rent the graveyard streets for parking!

Drunk sports fans: I have to pee! <pisses on graves>

Graverobbers: Oo brass nameplates! I can sell these as scrap metal! <steals the metal from the gravestones>

Assholes: Nice statue, let's destroy it! <knocks monuments, statues, and gravestones over>


yeah. That's how the city is taking care of this graveyard. By letting people vandalize them, steal from the dead, and then urinate on them.

On top of that, we couldn't find Mom's parents graves... Mom knew they were by a patch of flowers she'd planted (her mother's favorite)... what we found was a few of those flowers and a giant patch of ivy. Dad had to poke through the patch until he found the stones. We were able to clear enough back to see the names were the right ones, but it's going to take a lot of work to clean those up.


In a month or two Mom & Dad are coming back armed with weed killer and gardening tools. We're going to get those ivy cut back enough (or totally gone) so the grave stones aren't buried. She's already told me not to go back by myself ... it's something she wants to do, and the area isn't safe for someone alone anyway.

:-(


blah @ the city for turning a graveyard into a dump.

[ralerin]

Would it be possible for you to move the graves to another graveyard and lodge some sort of formal complaint? =/ Because god...no one deserves to be treated like that, living or dead, whether they were the meanest cuss or the sweetest person. It's just not right.

[PepperElf]

I did suggest that but Mom doesn't want to move her parents. Plus I'm not sure what other one we could put them in....

The one Dad's parents are in is owned by a local church (& Mom's parents weren't that faith), and they can't go to the Vet cemetery (you have to be a vet or the spouse of one).

Mainly Mom just wants the graves looking nice, and it's where her mother picked...

[ralerin]

Then, before you do anything, document, document, document. Harass the aldermen/higher ups in the city, and if they sit on their hands, then slip a nice note to the newspapers and local news station. Something with bold huge letters about disrespect of the dead and horribleness and how this place was bought by Mr. 18th Century Head Honcho of City and disgraceful that City would let it rot and so forth would probably help.

[Sliceanddice]

take pictures too people always love to see the damage for themselves

[MoxisPilot]

I very rarely say this:

This story made me cry.


I am so ashamed that the city would allow it to fall into such disrepair, and that people would be so disrespectful of the dead.

[tropicsgoddess]

That's a damn shame, I agree on either moving your grandparents' remains to another cemetery or lodging a formal complaint to your city. I sure as hell wouldn't want some douchebag to desecrate the graves of my loved ones.

[Red_Dazes]

Then, before you do anything, document, document, document. Harass the aldermen/higher ups in the city, and if they sit on their hands, then slip a nice note to the newspapers and local news station. Something with bold huge letters about disrespect of the dead and horribleness and how this place was bought by Mr. 18th Century Head Honcho of City and disgraceful that City would let it rot and so forth would probably help.

take pictures too people always love to see the damage for themselves

I agree with this. The press and the media are ULTIMATE weapons against Twatwaffles of the government.

You can bet your ass if I ever found the cemetery where my Da is buried in that sort of condition. There would be blood.

[ottid]

I love looking at old graveyards, new ones too, but especially old ones. There is one just done the road from my place and on my next day off I should go and wonder around it by myself, it can be quite calming.

But anyway, the one down the road I think is the oldest one in the city, I don't think anyone new can be buried their, unless their family already has a plot. But it is beautiful. There are the lovely family burial plots with everyones names and dates of birth and death. I should really clue up on some historical dates and stuff for large groupings of deaths etc. I'm getting off topic again! Because of the age of the cemetery a lot of the families have moved away or have forgotten that far back or are unaware of the cemetery. A lot of the plots have fallen into reat disrepair, a lot have lost the statuettes ontop of the headstone things (I wouldn't really call it a headstone for a large family plot). I guess the other factor could be money, especially since a few need the concrete casings re-done.

There is atleast one group that goes around to a different cemetery every month to do a bit of a tidy up, but the council/other groups really need to do a lot more. I think the local Girl Guides, Boy Scouts, Girls Brigades and other youth type groups could do some community work there. Or even better yet, those who are sentenced to community work could do it...

[Andara Bledin]

I agree with this. The press and the media are ULTIMATE weapons against Twatwaffles of the government.

You can bet your ass if I ever found the cemetery where my Da is buried in that sort of condition. There would be blood.

Yeah, my first thought on reading the OP was that the press should be invited to come see what the local government has done to maintain the dignity of the graveyard it its care.

Also, if your family is undertaking some renovation and care of it on their own, you can turn it into a public interest piece. Local papers love that sort of thing.

^-.-^

[PepperElf]

from what Mom and Dad have told me people ahve already complained. i kinda think the city doesn't care.

i'm just glad that Dad's a Vet... He & Mom made arrangements with the Vet's Cemetery at least a couple of decades ago. The grass might grow over the corners of a gravestone there (all are horizontal stones) but the grounds are always well maintained.

plus there's a geocache there

[Fox One]

Then, before you do anything, document, document, document. Harass the aldermen/higher ups in the city, and if they sit on their hands, then slip a nice note to the newspapers and local news station. Something with bold huge letters about disrespect of the dead and horribleness and how this place was bought by Mr. 18th Century Head Honcho of City and disgraceful that City would let it rot and so forth would probably help.

This, this, this! It practically screams 6 o'clock news expose.