CEMETERY CLEAN UP DONE

On Thursday, I wrote about making a presentation to the Perry Township Trustees at their October meeting regarding the disgraceful conditions found at the Walnut Creek Cemetery. At that meeting, the presiding trustee said he would contact the probation office and make arrangements for community service workers to do the cleanup work.

The meeting was on Monday, October 14, and today, Friday the 18th the work was done - fast MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! (The photos here can be compared to the photos in my blog of Thursday - big difference.)

The workers showed up at 9 AM and were provided with a weedeater, trash bags, a broom, and rakes. The old section of the cemetery was in the worst shape and the cleaning began. When I showed up at the scene about 10:30 AM, the trash can had been emptied, and several trash bags had been filled. I spoke to the workers' supervisor and then I walked around the old section to view the changes.

I saw that some areas that had been in the worst condition were still not clean enough. Therefore, to set a good example, I grabbed a free rake and began cleaning around a grouping of headstones. One young man had a trash bag and followed me for almost an hour and picked up all my debris piles. When I waved to the supervisor, he sent the other workers over to where I was raking and they joined in to do a more dedicated effort. I found several fallen stones that were since sunken into the ground and covered completely with grass, weeds, dead grass and debris. As I walked and felt a stone under my foot, I used my shoe to verify that there was a stone there and began to clean it off and rake around it until the stone was again visible. I did this several times.

After my hour of work, there were a total of 18 full trash bags ready to be hauled away. As we got ready to leave, after the cemetery looked much better, and more respectful to those buried there, the supervisor said that his van would not hold his five workers, all the trash bags, and the borrowed equipment that needed to be returned to the trustee's house. So I stepped up and volunteered to use my truck to transport the bags.

My truck was loaded with the 18 bags of debris and I followed the van to the trustee's house and all was unloaded and returned. A job well done in a timely manner. Now that the cemetery has been cleaned up, I hope the trustee responsible for this area will take better care of it and show more respect for the interments.

I feel a sense of pride and gratification that my complaint was taken seriously, my solution suggestion was accepted, and the cleanup was accomplished in such a timely fashion. I will attend the next monthly meeting and express my gratitude in a formal manner to the presiding trustee that stepped up and took charge, especially when it is not the cemetery he is assigned.

The squeaky wheel does get the grease! (Fortunately, I was not the only one to complain.)