EDITORIAL – Preserve tradition by giving freedom to grieve

Union Cemetery in Parker City, Ind., has so many unfortunate restrictions on how community… Union Cemetery in Parker City, Ind., has so many unfortunate restrictions on how community members can decorate head stones that the entire cemetery is now practically bare.

The rules forbid any statues, trees, shrubs, planted flowers, types of potted flowers, iron flower hangers, ornamental decorations, fences, rock gardens – anything that those in mourning might come up with to pay their respects.

The Union Cemetery Association came to this decision after three years of deliberation and posted its verdict earlier this year. Their argument for its restrictions is tied to the financial and safety concerns of the cemetery.

For a long time, volunteers were responsible for the maintenance of the facility in terms of mowing the lawn and discarding of decorations that had deteriorated as a result of bad weather and time.

Because of a lack of volunteers, the low number of burials and the safety concerns that arise from leaving the property unkempt, Union Cemetery has hired lawn mowers to pick up the slack. Now that it is paying for this service, they see no reason to entertain decorations that could possibly obstruct the lawn mowing process.

Former President Greg Oren – who resigned in the heat of all this controversy – stood firmly behind the board’s decision in an article in the Muncie Star Press saying, “We had to stop it from becoming an amusement park.”

To boot, while the cemetery allows minimal decorations on Memorial Day and Christmas, soon after the passing of the holiday, families arrive to piles of debris with decorations discarded in a haphazard fashion.

This is a relatively small town, so some of the decorations are ornate and detailed. However, many residents – some of whom have lived in Parker City since 1954 – are outraged by the cynicism of Oren and the drastic measures that have been taken unnecessarily.

If lawn mowers – paid or unpaid – have been mowing around decorations for decades, why can’t they continue to do so? It seems that the bitterness regarding low volunteerism has gone too far.

On a larger scale, funeral homes – and cemeteries for that matter – wouldn’t be in business if it weren’t for the tradition of the funeral that reveres the dead for the sanity of the living.

Truthfully, it would be unreasonable if any cemetery didn’t set limits. But considering these outrageous limitations, the bigger question now is whether a funeral home or cemetery should have jurisdiction over a community, specifically one that has practiced ornate decorating for decades.

While Indiana may seem light years away from us here at Pitt, this issue of regulation is not limited to Parker City; communities in New York have expressed these same sentiments and our values as human beings cannot be uprooted.

In the face of adversity or financial concerns, one must not forget a basic human tradition that has existed in not only America, but in countries all over the world. It would be a shame if this legacy of the dead faded away all in the name of commerce.