Most of us have lost people we love and some of them are buried in local cemeteries that are poorly maintained.
The upkeep at the cemetery in Copperas Cove is getting worse overtime and it hasn’t gone unnoticed be the residents who have family there.
In the past the Copperas Cove cemetery has been well maintained but that hasn’t been the case lately.
”It’s just the weeds and it almost covers the headstone and things like that,” said Nancy Sneed, Copperas Cove resident.
Copperas Cove Parks and Rec says they have received several complaints and most of them are about the older section of the cemetery.
”If you drive through the cemetery and you look at the old sections, most of the old sections have curbing around every plot," said Jeff Stoddard, Director of Parks and Recreation for Copperas Cove. "Which makes it impossible to mow. You have to weed eat the entire old section.”
For residents like Sneed who have several family members buried here, seeing the overgrown grass and weeds is becoming a real problem.
”We go out there, it’s to get comfort," said Sneed. "To talk and remember and things like that, and there have been several times that I have gone out there and I have trimmed up things and that’s not really what I want to do when I go.”
Copperas Cove Parks and Rec said it is due to a lack of manpower after losing the part-time employee that normally maintained the cemetery.
Something they hope will change after recently hiring someone to maintain the grounds full time.
”He is being trained up on the equipment this week and hopefully next week, we’ll see some definite improvements in the cemetery and the main side of it,” said Stoddard.
This basic upkeep and trimming around headstones is what Nancy Sneed is asking for.
”I want it to be a serene and calm time and when it is trimmed up, it just shows that there is respect paid to those that buried out there,” said Sneed.
Copperas Cove Parks and Rec said they do have a new full-time employee who’s going to be starting next week and work solely at the cemetery, but they are willing to sit down with anybody who has concerns or would like to volunteer to help.
