On the 22nd of May this year I, along with members of American Legion Post 42 and the Ladies Auxiliary, had the distinct honor once again to decorate the graves of veterans and Ladies Auxiliary members in the Ferron, Molen and Clawson cemeteries with flags for Memorial Day. To say I was disturbed with the condition of the Ferron Cemetery would be a gross understatement. The unkempt condition of the graves themselves was underscored by the infestation of weeds among the dead and dying grass and the fact that the grass that had managed to survive was uncut.
The Ferron city code says in part:
“7-5-7: LOT SALES:
B. Purchase Price, Scope Of: A certificate and rights to burial shall be exempt from execution, taxation or assessment for care and maintenance from and after full payment of the purchase price. Payments made pursuant to this section shall not be construed to be in payment for cemetery services other than perpetual care.
C. Services Included: Perpetual care shall be deemed to include the filling of the grave, the placing of topsoil upon the grave, seeding the grave with grass and watering and cutting the grass. No other services are included. (1979 Code § 8-251) . . .
7-5-8: PERPETUAL CARE LOTS:
A. Scope Of Care: The essential perpetual care that the City agrees to give shall consist of care of the cemetery generally, and shall include, but is not limited to, mowing of all lots and graves at reasonable intervals, resodding, seeding and filling in sunken graves, sodding the surface of the graves to lot level, removing dead flowers and trimming trees and shrubbery when necessary, raking and cleaning the lots and straightening of tilting stones or markers, but shall not include repairing or replacing markers or memorial structures of any nature, except when the need for repair or replacement is directly caused by the City. (1979 Code § 8-262) . . . ”
The above would, or should, indicate that the city understands its contractual obligation to keep the cemetery in a decent state of maintenance and while I, personally don’t have anyone interred in the cemetery I am, as a citizen of Ferron, embarrassed by the condition of the cemetery and think that those that do should hold the city accountable and force it to put the cemetery into, and maintain it in, a decent state as required by the city’s own ordinance and its contractual obligations and as a perpetual sign of respect for our deceased loved ones.
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