Dear Editor:
I am sickened to my inner core to discover that those that run the Riverside cemetery in Superior Township, Montpelier desecrated the final resting place of buried loved ones.
Requiring grave decoration removal is common for cemeteries for cleaning in the spring. It is also common that decorations have to stay out of the way for mowing purposes, this is common knowledge and completely understandable for anyone that mows a yard to comprehend.
However, employees removing WWII hooks and even cutting items out of concrete that is nowhere near where a mower would catch the decoration is unacceptable.
YOU SHOULD BE FIRED AND A CIVIL LAWSUIT should be filed on behalf of families against the township trustees that allow this behavior.
I see on Facebook that those that are running the graveyard are described as “hot headed” and completely unsympathetic toward those that are upset and contacting the office to state their displeasure.
Why are they hired then? Shouldn’t a cemetery be a place of serenity and much like a church? Is the pastor going to cut the rims off your tires when visiting?
Unless missed by everyone I’ve talked to or on Facebook, there was no notification in town, WLZZ radio, newspapers, signs or letters to next of kin that you were going to start hacking at expensive tombstone cement pads you just cut them off after they had been on graves for years, even decades.
How are those out of town supposed to know if you do not contact them about policy change? One person said there was a note in the back building in a window?
You destroyed handmade items that are irreplaceable, some that were placed by veteran’s groups who traveled great distances to honor the fallen. Shame on you!
There is nothing more sacred than the final resting places of loved ones, those that tend to the graves should be trusted.
When visiting our graveyard, we should be thinking of our departed loved ones not mad about how the grounds are being desecrated in the name of quick and easy mowing.
For those that cannot visit often we should know that our loved ones are being well taken care of. I’m still waiting for township trustees to return my message after a week.
Carol Hill, Jackson, Michigan
