City agrees to takeover cleanup of Lincoln Cemetery after urging from advocate Lemarkus Snow

Community advocate Lemarkus Snow has been maintaining Lincoln Cemetery on Medical Center Parkway since the city laid off most of the public works department in 2018.

He went before the City Council Tuesday to get the city - now under new administration with a plan to add staff back in public works - to take back responsibility of the graveyard that is where city legends such as J.L. Chestnut are buried. 

Mayor James Perkins Jr. agreed that the city of Selma will take over day-to-day operations as they do with other cemeteries.

Snow, with his crew from Snow's Cleaning Service, cleared the property last weekend before handing it over to the city. Snow said it likely cost $10,000 in work hours that he donated to get Lincoln Cemetery cleaned up. 

"The city needs to step in," he said. "There are important people (buried) here. ... There are graves dating to the 1800s. Maybe the preservation group can step in. Something needs to be done."