Restless appearance

By Dan Gordon

May 02, 2007 09:52 am

— The state of some headstones at Athens Cemetery has a local man incensed.
The Athens resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he goes to the cemetery “at least once a month” to visit the graves of his grandparents and great-grandparents.
“Every time I come up here, I have to bring a broom, rags, ant poison, gopher poison... just to clean (the headstones) off,” he said. He said one reason for his frequent visits is “because I know what (the headstones) will look like.”
The man led this reporter around the cemetery grounds Tuesday afternoon, pointing out his complaints — ant beds, gopher mounds and numerous headstones partly obscured by soil and grass. Many of the standing headstones were visibly sunken, with names and epitaphs below ground level.
A U.S. Army veteran, he was especially upset over a flat white marker he said belonged to another veteran. Grass was growing over the marker’s outer edges, and the words were partly obscured.
“You don’t know how upset the headstone of that veteran makes me,” he said. “Before long, it’ll be forgotten. Grass’ll grow over it, and it’ll be gone.”
The man complained that several of the headstones were stained with mold and algae, some of which he said most likely could not be cleaned off. He also said footstones were often leaned against headstones by grounds keeper and left there, instead of being returned to the foot of the graves.
“When it’s so high-dollar and costs so much, then they deserve better,” the man said. He said he understands that many cemeteries, particularly country cemeteries, have little money for maintenance.
“There’s a country cemetery about five or six miles outside of Athens that’s in really bad shape. It’ll make you cry,” he said. Making a circle with his thumb and forefinger, he added, “They’ve got trees that big around growing all through them. It’s sad, sad, sad.”
The man said he believes the headstones are being covered in dirt from freshly-dug graves. The plots in Athens Cemetery are excavated by grave diggers on contract with funeral homes.
The man said some leftover grave dirt is left piled around the markers.
“They’re burying these people, little by little,” the man said. “I asked (a grave digger) why they didn’t put down a tarp or plywood or something (to pile the dirt on). They said it’s just their method.”
However, members of the Athens Cemetery Association Board of Directors disagreed with the man on the causes of the buried headstones. Bob McDonald, a board member in charge of the cemetery grounds, said it was the result of natural settling.
“It’s mostly the older markers,” he said. “The problem is not having a proper base under them, probably.”
He said monuments with small bases tend to settle more than those with large bases.
“(People) basically just need to go to a respectable monument maker and tell them that they need a good base,” he said. “It’s also a good idea to let a grave settle before putting on a monument. I’d say it’s best to wait about six months, myself.”
McDonald said the cemetery association straightens up markers that have settled too deeply. He also said the association regularly puts out poison for pest control.
“We’ve had complaints about fire ants. We’ve had complaints about gophers. We try to take care of that,” he said. “We’re trying to do everything we can within the limits of our economic situation.”
Steve Grant, board president of the Athens Cemetery Association, said the upkeep of Athens Cemetery is determined by donations. The cemetery association is non-profit, and much of the maintenance is done by volunteers.
“(Cleaning headstones is) expensive to do,” he said. “We can’t do it all the time, but we budget to have them cleaned from time to time.
“We’re there because it’s a labor of love. We care about it.”
He added that he believed McDonald’s volunteer work had vastly improved the cemetery grounds.
“Bob ought to be given a medal for what he’s done,” Grant said. “He’s put his time, his effort and his sweat into it and something like this is almost like a slap in his face.”
Grant said anyone is welcome to formally complain to Athens Cemetery Association board members and to attend the monthly association board meetings.
“If there’s an area out there that (the anonymous man is) talking about, we won’t get mad. We’ll fix it,” Grant said. “It’s a place of meditation and respect. We want it to look right.”
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dgordon@athensreview.com