This was in the Indy Star North edition today. The photo shows Weemo Grass
cutters spraying weed killer next to the stones. They mean well but don't
know
about the harm to the stones, John Walters cleaned 3 years ago. Bob
Alloway
Cemetery concern
Overgrown grass thwarted efforts to visit graves
By Gretchen Becker
gretchen.becker(a)indystar.com
June 21, 2007
Three Northside residents who have relatives buried in one of Washington
Township's six abandoned cemeteries are raising concerns about how those
burial places are being maintained.
Their complaint -- primarily uncut grass -- came to light on Memorial Day, a
day when many visit the burial places of deceased loved ones.
In Marion County it's the trustee's responsibility to take care of abandoned
cemeteries. Washington Township has six -- Bacon, Crow's Nest, Deford,
Ebenezer Lutheran, Fall Creek Union and Newby.
The residents -- George Kerr, Tom Easterday and Bob Hessong -- all have
relatives buried in the Ebenezer cemetery, 4160 Millersville Road.
"Half that cemetery is related to the three of us," Kerr said.
On Memorial Day, Kerr likes to place flags on 60 veterans' graves, including
some from the Civil War.
Hessong has helped educate school children by taking them to the cemetery
where his relatives are buried. Easterday puts flowers on his relatives'
gravesites.
All three complained about tall grass they said was at least knee-high and
kept them from the cemetery before Memorial Day. Without proper, consistent
mowing, they said, hidden headstones could be damaged by mowers.
Hessong had taken a group of children to Ebenezer in May.
"The grass was knee to waist high, and the kids had trouble getting back to
the headstones," Hessong said. "My great-great-great-great-grandfather John
was buried here in 1854. . . . It's a fascinating cemetery and a historic
cemetery."
After hearing the complaints, Washington Township Trustee Frank Short said
he now has the situation under control.
Short, who became trustee in January, said his office's riding lawn mower
broke the Thursday before Memorial Day while mowing the two largest
cemeteries. Hand mowers are used in the other four.
He sent an apology by e-mail to several people, promising to keep up the
maintenance.
"I took the responsibility for it," Short said. "I knew it was one of the
big days. I screwed up, and I admitted it."
Short said before Memorial Day he was settling on more competitive bids for
mowing than the township previously had. It costs about $22,000 a year to
mow the cemeteries, he said.
The new contract began with Weemo Grass the first week of June. Grass in the
cemeteries will be cut once a week from April through October, Short said.
This is not the first time the township's cemeteries have struggled.
Broken headstones had to be restored with a project in 2002, when Gwen Horth
was trustee.
Short estimated it took $100,000 to fix 1,000 headstones in the township's
six abandoned cemeteries. Each stone took between two and 28 hours to
repair.
To see more information on Washington Township's abandoned cemeteries, visit
www.washtwp.org and click on "Abandoned Cemeteries."