LAKEPORT >> Upon visiting the graves of their late loved ones, several members of the community were shocked to discover a barren surface where tributary objects once sat.
The Hartley Cemetery District removed the items at the turn of the new year, enforcing a new rule in the district’s handbook: “No person shall place on any grave, any statues, toys, globes, shells, cans, jugs, bric-a-brac of any description or any unauthorized object.”
According the cemetery’s bookkeeper, Judy Gatton, the cemetery’s board decided to implement the rule on Sept. 21, 2016. Signs were posted outside the cemetery’s gate notifying visitors that all excess items would be replaced after Dec. 31, 2016.
Despite this warning, the cemetery received flak from those intent on keeping items by graves.
“I think people just didn’t pay attention to the signs,” Gatton said. “A lot of regulars were actually told … this was going to be happening.”
According to Head Groundskeeper Mickey Sweeney, the decision to invoke the rule wasn’t easy, but neither was the process of maintaining heavily decorated graves.
“There were a lot of graves out there where we couldn’t even see the headstones,” Sweeney said. “People kept putting stuff on but not taking anything off.”
He said many of the decorative items made groundskeeping very difficult. Mowing and trimming the cemetery became a cumbersome task because of the sheer amount of stuff surrounding the graves.
Also, many of those items became weathered or broken over time, leaving debris on and around the graves, especially glass and ceramics.
“We had a long discussion about it,” Sweeney said, mentioning the sensitive subject. He also said Kelseyville and other cemetery districts have employed the same rules.
The new rules allow for only two bouquets of flowers, artificial or fresh. Those bouquets must be placed in an existing vase on the grave or be put on the headstone.
But the decorations aren’t lost.
Cemetery workers placed all of the recovered items on site, inside the cemetery gates, though Sweeney said very few items have been reclaimed. Moreover, more items are being placed on the graves, despite signs and warnings.
