The Bad
| `IT IS A DISGRACE': Grave situation: Muddied questions of ownership and maintenance turn: southwest Atlanta cemetery into dump for trash and vandalism. - The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, January 19,1998 |
Dorothy Phillips finds no peace when she visits her parents' graves in Roseland
Cemetery. Instead of neatly manicured lawns and scenic vistas, she sees hundreds of
abandoned tires, dumped furniture, trash and ankle-high grass.
The tiny burial ground at Cleveland Avenue and I-85 in southwest Atlanta also has
been a dumping site for bodies: the skeletal remains of a woman were found last
week and another woman's body was found tied to a tree in August.
"I find it hard to believe that no one has been taking care of this place," said Phillips,
75. "It's sad to see something like this happen and no one seems to care. I would
think they could clean up the trash and cut the weeds."
Despite an obvious "No Dumping" sign, hundreds of car tires sit in mud and near
trees along the main road that goes through the cemetery. Trash is stacked against
the trees that surround the cemetery, and papers, wine bottles and beer cans stick
out from the grass. A waterlogged couch rests upside down near the grave of
Josephine Loewus, who died March 20, 1911.
Loewus' grave sits precariously near the edge of an eroding embankment. The angel
statue that stands sentinel at the graves of Etoy and Ruth Parkman is without a head,
arms and wings.
Senah Mae Widner visited the cemetery over the holidays and found that her
daughter-in-law's headstone was knocked over.
"It is a disgrace how they have let it go," said Widner, whose husband and
son-in-law are also at Roseland. "I can't get anyone to go up there and help me take
care of it. I can't go back and forth up there to take care of it. Who is supposed to
take care of it?"
That seems to be the million-dollar question. No one ---not the state, family
members, Fulton County nor the Georgia Cemetery Association ---really knows
who, if anyone, owns Roseland.
A sampling of funeral homes who have used Roseland claim that families mark the
graves and the funeral directors make sure they are dug. The funeral directors said
they have no dealings with any kind of owner. County tax office records list an owner
of the property in Nashville, and a holder of the tax deed in Norcross. Neither
company had a telephone listing.
Tom Biggers, a tax delinquency administrator for Fulton County and Atlanta, said
that on Jan. 7, 1997, the tax office held a sale to collect five years of back taxes.
That is when the Norcross firm bought the tax deed.
The Secretary of State's office, which regulates cemeteries, said that Roseland isn't
registered because it isn't a perpetual care cemetery.
When a family buys a perpetual care lot, a percentage of the purchase price goes into
a trust fund for maintenance and care of the cemetery.
"I abhor the fact that this cemetery is in the condition that it is in," said Freddi Hagin,
executive director of the Georgia Cemetery Association. "How this cemetery could
have gotten into this state is beyond me."
Phillips said that on the Saturday before Christmas, she visited the graves of her
parents and learned how bad Roseland had gotten.
"I was shocked, really shocked," said Phillips, who has several family members
buried at Roseland. "I couldn't believe that could be done in broad daylight with
nobody seeing it. You would think something like that would be sacred."
All the more distressing to Phillips is that she doesn't even feel safe visiting her family
---at least by herself.
In fact, she was visiting the cemetery when the second body was found earlier this
month.
"It makes you not want to visit without a bodyguard and that's pretty bad," Phillips
said. "It makes you almost want to be cremated."
Cemetery. Instead of neatly manicured lawns and scenic vistas, she sees hundreds of
abandoned tires, dumped furniture, trash and ankle-high grass.
The tiny burial ground at Cleveland Avenue and I-85 in southwest Atlanta also has
been a dumping site for bodies: the skeletal remains of a woman were found last
week and another woman's body was found tied to a tree in August.
"I find it hard to believe that no one has been taking care of this place," said Phillips,
75. "It's sad to see something like this happen and no one seems to care. I would
think they could clean up the trash and cut the weeds."
Despite an obvious "No Dumping" sign, hundreds of car tires sit in mud and near
trees along the main road that goes through the cemetery. Trash is stacked against
the trees that surround the cemetery, and papers, wine bottles and beer cans stick
out from the grass. A waterlogged couch rests upside down near the grave of
Josephine Loewus, who died March 20, 1911.
Loewus' grave sits precariously near the edge of an eroding embankment. The angel
statue that stands sentinel at the graves of Etoy and Ruth Parkman is without a head,
arms and wings.
Senah Mae Widner visited the cemetery over the holidays and found that her
daughter-in-law's headstone was knocked over.
"It is a disgrace how they have let it go," said Widner, whose husband and
son-in-law are also at Roseland. "I can't get anyone to go up there and help me take
care of it. I can't go back and forth up there to take care of it. Who is supposed to
take care of it?"
That seems to be the million-dollar question. No one ---not the state, family
members, Fulton County nor the Georgia Cemetery Association ---really knows
who, if anyone, owns Roseland.
A sampling of funeral homes who have used Roseland claim that families mark the
graves and the funeral directors make sure they are dug. The funeral directors said
they have no dealings with any kind of owner. County tax office records list an owner
of the property in Nashville, and a holder of the tax deed in Norcross. Neither
company had a telephone listing.
Tom Biggers, a tax delinquency administrator for Fulton County and Atlanta, said
that on Jan. 7, 1997, the tax office held a sale to collect five years of back taxes.
That is when the Norcross firm bought the tax deed.
The Secretary of State's office, which regulates cemeteries, said that Roseland isn't
registered because it isn't a perpetual care cemetery.
When a family buys a perpetual care lot, a percentage of the purchase price goes into
a trust fund for maintenance and care of the cemetery.
"I abhor the fact that this cemetery is in the condition that it is in," said Freddi Hagin,
executive director of the Georgia Cemetery Association. "How this cemetery could
have gotten into this state is beyond me."
Phillips said that on the Saturday before Christmas, she visited the graves of her
parents and learned how bad Roseland had gotten.
"I was shocked, really shocked," said Phillips, who has several family members
buried at Roseland. "I couldn't believe that could be done in broad daylight with
nobody seeing it. You would think something like that would be sacred."
All the more distressing to Phillips is that she doesn't even feel safe visiting her family
---at least by herself.
In fact, she was visiting the cemetery when the second body was found earlier this
month.
"It makes you not want to visit without a bodyguard and that's pretty bad," Phillips
said. "It makes you almost want to be cremated."