Selma residents organize to clean cemeteries as city layoffs drag on

During Easter weekend, many families take time to visit the graves of their loved ones. 

But some visitors who went to Selma’s famous Live Oak Cemetery last weekend said they were shocked to find their family’s grave sites in poor condition, according to posts on social media sites. 

“I went to visit the gravesite of my 1st born baby and my big brother and I ruined my hosiery walking through the weeds to get to their plots that was so overgrown,” said one visitor on Facebook. “I think about people like myself and other families that come to place flowers and sit and reflect on their memories. I was afraid a snake was going to appear.”

City officials admit that Selma’s three city-owned cemeteries have not been maintained this spring because the maintenance staff was reduced when the city cut employees last year. Ten members of the cemetery upkeep crew were laid off along with the 69 other employees as part of budget cuts last year. That leaves two crew members to keep up with 50,000 cemetery plots in three cemeteries.

The City Council has discussed using contractors to mow the grass, but City Councilman Carl Bowline worries the city would have trouble paying a lawn service with its continuing budgetary woes. 

Volunteers have talked about keeping up the graveyards until the city can take it back over. 

City Councilwoman Susan Youngblood said Lorenzo Harrison Cemetery in Ward 8 is by far the worst. 

“There are reports of snakes being very prevalent, and overgrowth is at an all-time high,” she said. “I hope we can come to a consensus about a contractor for the cemeteries.”

Bowline said the condition of the cemeteries affects the city’s tourism. Many well-known graves at Live Oak Cemetery attract tourists. He said the city could be liable if people walking through long grass encounter snakes.

The city cemetery crew oversees 220 services a year, and Mayor Darrio Melton told funeral home owners recently that the city is reducing burial days to four a week. 

Selling burial spaces at $300 a plot is a revenue source for the city. However, several concerned plot owners – many located out-of-state – said on social media they may reconsider using their spaces.

Theresa Sanders, who said her husband saw on Facebook that the cemetery’s grass is not being cut by the city, said they planned to come to Live Oak Cemetery soon to clean up the graves of his parents.

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