I sure am glad we have some city officials that have no heart. I thank God that they will never experience grief or pain from the death of a loved one.
In 1981 my husband and I lost seven-year-old Casey to cancer. He was buried in Shadowlawn behind K-Mart. Our son was very well known. Every Christmas, Casey always has a real tree. People all over town drive by to see how it’s decorated. This is one of the only things we can do to help ease the pain of our child having been taken away.
In 2002 almost 21 years to the day that Casey died, Merrill, my husband, died. Merrill worked for the Troup County Sheriff’s Department for 20 years. We had been together for 36 years. Yes, I still have two boys with families and grandkids, but they can never take the place of my first-born or my husband.
Feb. 22, my mother Betty Brooks passed away with cancer and was buried in the same cemetery. One of the main reasons we had them buried there was we own a sod farm. Mr. Jim Thompson got the grass from us. It helped us knowing Casey helped raise the grass put on the graves. We didn’t want Restlawn because you couldn’t put anything on it.
When Mr. Thompson took care of the cemetery, you didn’t have to worry about anything being torn up. The prisoners now go through cutting the grass and tear up anything in their way. They are just making their time.
Yes, I agree sometimes there is too much stuff on some graves, but that happens when you have a large family. I’m not going to be the one to tell Betty Allen she can’t put anything on her son or grandson’s grave. God be with you if you’re that brave. If we had known the heartless bureaucrats officials would dictate what could be put on the graves of our loved ones, we would have buried them on our land.
I was raised in Troup County, worked for Goodys for 18 years. My family and I are well-known through our jobs, family sod business and selling Christmas trees.
Why aren’t you more concerned about the flowers left from Christmas a year ago? Be glad someone left a Yoo-Hoo and not a bottle of beer.
Please don’t let these people take away what little comfort we have and the one way we can grieve. Speak up and let your voice be heard.
Susan Allen
Betty Allen
Dallas Mill Rd.
On an earlier post, you said something about him resigning. The only thing is, if he resigns...whoever takes his place will be in the same position. They will have to enforce the ordinance or lose their job, and they will eventually hire someone who will enforce the ordinance. So, it's not the person in the job...it's the ordinance that needs to be changed.
It's just like a police officer must enforce the laws. He might be told to give out speeding tickets on a street to anyone going over the 35mph limit. While he might think 45mph would be ok on that street, he would still have to give you a ticket if you were going over 35mph, no matter what he thought personally. A city employee has to enforce the city ordinances if told to do so...no matter whether he agrees with them or not.
I'm not trying to defend the ordinance, nor the city although it appears that I did. For that I am sorry. I'm just being a "big sister" and defending my brother. I hope that you and others can understand that.
First of all it's MRS Richardson. And if you are concerned, YOU should be the one voicing your displeasure with the ordinance to the CITY. That is not David Satterwhite's place. His job is to do what the city asks him to do and they asked him to enforce the existing ordinance.
You are one of the rudest, most hateful people I have ever had the displeasure to "meet" in this city. Your comments about Mr Satterwhite on this post and others are completely uncalled for.
No one is saying that you cannot place items on your loved one's gravesite. They are talking about what you noted above - the flowers from last Christmas. As you agreed, something should be done about them, right? That's what they want to do...take care of those types of things.
Mr. Bradley - this is not a proposed ordinance. This ordinance is already on the books, and has been for quite some time. The city is looking to enforce the existing ordinance.
I agree with you wholeheartedly that the people proposing this ordinance should re-think it. These things people place in the cemeteries are small compared to the pain that never goes away of losing children, husbands, wives, and other loved ones. For the city to try and tell us we can't honor the memory of our loved ones in this way is purely callous, inhuman, and cold.