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Do you support the cemetery’s new rules regarding gravesite offerings?
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In New Haven County, families visiting Milford’s King’s Highway Cemetery on Cherry Street were shocked to find their flowers, statues, and other offerings piled together on Monday, Oct. 21.
“The cemetery took everyone’s items off the graveside and dumped it in one big pile!” Dorothy Pawlicki said on the “You know you live in Milford, CT if…” Facebook page. “This is just disgusting on the cemetery’s part.”
Several of the items were broken, Pawlicki added.
Signs posted around the cemetery state that beginning Tuesday, Oct. 1, the cemetery would begin enforcing existing rules and regulations prohibiting most items on or near headstones. They include artificial flowers, balloons, pinwheels, wind chimes, and stones.
Vigil lights (open flame or solar), borders of any kind, statues, and potted plants are also banned, though fresh flowers in in-ground vases and planted flowers are still permitted.
American, military and first responder flags are also allowed.
A representative for the Milford Cemetery Association told Daily Voice that signs warning of the enforcement have been posted since July in order to give families enough time to remove their items. They added that items were placed in a designated section where they could be “easily found.”
The cemetery said the rules are necessary to keep maintenance workers and visitors safe.
“It’s difficult to mow, trim, blow leaves and do burials with all these items at a gravesite,” the representative told Daily Voice. “Loose items can become projectiles and it’s a safety liability for our crew and also for families visiting.”
The cemetery said the regulations have always been in place, but they were never strictly enforced.
“When a family purchases a plot, they purchase burial rights not the land, and they receive a packet with their certificate of use and the rules and regulations brochure,” the representative said.
Still, the new enforcement upset plenty of people whose relatives are interred at King’s Highway Cemetery.
“We have paid a lot of money for the plots here. We should be able to place memorials here,” Lisa Bradley, of Milford, said on Facebook. “As long as they’re not in the way of mowing and trimming, what is the issue? Very insensitive of them.”
“It could have definitely been handled with more care,” Cherine Meyer, of Norwalk, added.
You can view the complete rules and regulations on the Milford Cemetery Association’s website.
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