LaFayette revising cemetery rules after incident

By Andy Diffenderfer

Correspondent

LaFAYETTE, Ga. -- After being ripped by angry residents over the removal of flowers from the city cemetery, local leaders said they will revise rules for flowers and mementos at the Wardlow Street site.

Current rules are more than 30 years old, Mayor Neal Florence said.

"We want to have everybody to be on the same page," he said. "We hope that progress will be made on this, and it will be a step forward."

City residents were enraged when city workers this week cleared away everything, including fresh flowers, from the city cemetery. At a public meeting Thursday to discuss the controversial cleanup, a throng of angry residents lobbed complaints at the City Council.

In a statement, the city admitted the error and encouraged people whose flowers were dumped to file a claim at City Hall.

Dalton resident Marsha Godfrey's father, Dwane H. Carroll, is buried at the cemetery.

"Our flowers were brand-new and they threw them away, and that made me mad," said Mrs. Godfrey, who attended the Thursday meeting and said she visits the cemetery every two or three weeks.

"We kept everything there in good condition," she said. "They cleaned out everything, and that's what made everybody so mad."

The city published notice of the planned cleanup, including the removal of all floral decorations, on Nov. 13 in the Walker County Messenger.

"In hindsight, we did not give enough public notification," Mr. Florence said.

With emotions running high Thursday, Mrs. Godfrey said the meeting was productive because many opinions were aired. City leaders, she said, will be watched closely on the issue.

"They know they're going to have to do things differently," she said. "They're definitely going to rewrite the rules and regulations. I think we got a lot across to them that we wanted to."

Andy Diffenderfer is based in LaFayette. Contact him at andydiff97@comcast.net.

IF YOU GO

New rules for flowers and mementoes at the LaFayette Cemetery will be presented at a public meeting at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14 at City Hall.