WILTON – Temporary decorations at Lakeview Cemetery may be left until Nov. 1, selectmen agreed Tuesday.
Selectmen decided to remove a section of the cemetery policy Tuesday to appease residents who charged that Libby’s Lawn Care of Skowhegan improperly mowed the cemetery, breaking expensive decorations and mowing down flowers.
Town Manager Peter Nielsen said the contractor was merely doing its job in compliance with the town’s policy. The policy states that all temporary wreaths, artificial flowers, and decorations be removed within three weeks of holidays by the person who placed them there or be discarded by cemetery personnel was removed from the policy.
Norman Beisaw said his family members have some of the oldest graves in the cemetery, and it has been a 100-year-old tradition to place flowers there each year.
“I’ve witnessed no problems there for 60 years,” Beisaw said. “What happened around 1999?” he asked.
Residents said that before the current policy was enacted in 1999, items could be left at the cemetery until November.
Beatrice Fitzmaurice of Skowhegan said she lives too far away to remove items from her loved ones’ grave sites only three weeks after a holiday. She said she feels the lawn care company should pick up and remove flowers and decorations, mow the area, and place them back on the sites.
“It’s like having your own flower garden at home. I think the flowers should stay through summer,” Fitzmaurice said.
Nielsen suggested people trim around their flowers if they want them to stay there because it would cost the town more money for the time it would take the company to move them and put them back.
Selectman Norman Gould disagreed with the idea, pointing out that some people may be unable to do the trimming and it may be done haphazardly.
Some said they already maintained their loved ones’ plots and still had broken decorations and mowed flowers.
Barbara Hand said she faithfully trims at her grandson’s grave site where an angel that sat on his headstone and a rabbit next to the stone were both broken.
Nielsen suggested selectmen remove the section on removing items within three weeks of a holiday and selectmen agreed.
“It’s a start,” Chairman Rodney Hall said. Officials will discuss with Libby’s Lawn Care how much it will cost the town for the extra time in maintaining the cemetery.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
