March 28, 2024

Letter to the Editor: New rules at cemetery seem restrictive

After seeing the cemetery clean-up ad in Tuesday’s paper, I called 641-792-7116 for more information on the new cemetery rules and regulations for Union and Memorial Gardens cemeteries.

The new rules are pretty restrictive. There will be a lot of unhappy people the city is going to have to deal with when they find out there’s not a lot of person can do at a grave site if you don’t want to ruin an existing headstone or foundation by gluing on an urn. Why would anyone ruin a stone and glue on an urn, just to put out a little something for a special person.

I already expressed my extreme objections to the new rules, which I really didn’t want to do, but it is pretty annoying to find out after years of going to both cemeteries, you might as well forget it. My family plot is not geared for a shepherd hook or a flower pot.

I can understand people don’t need to put out a shrine or plant a row of bushes, but what is the big deal planting a few annuals in front of a stone, which my sister and I maintain and also do all the clipping, etc. How can you be on someone else’s lot when you are right in front of your stone on your lot — that’s the city’s logic.

I know things change but the new rules are too much. To me it’s a cheap excuse for the city not having to be bothered with cleanup and maintenance, which is lacking a lot in the old sections at Union Cemetery, where my family is.

You’d better get the word out, Newton, before Memorial Day 2023.

Carol Don

Newton