Surprise, Surprise Evansville Has Lost Track of Many Graves

kennymester.com

It may come as a surprise to some, but to the many residents living in and around the city of Evansville it really hasn’t come as much of a surprise to learn this week that there have been many grave sites recently discovered after being lost for many decades.

According to the article in the Courier & Press, the latest discovery comes at the corner of Vann Ave and the Lloyd Expressway where city officials were busy building a pedestrian bridge to an area that is now magically nothing but a parking lot filled with piles of rubble…

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/jan/26/there-are-unknown-grave-sites-among-us/?partner=popular

Yes, I don’t discount the fact that both Locust Hill and Oak Hill Cemeteries are currently shielded from nearby developments with long and distinctive walls. And yes, I don’t discount the fact that these two cemeteries have established quite reputable names that should not be forgotten any time soon. But at the same time, these lost grave sites are a perfect example of why we need to clean up these cemeteries and prevent future neglect.

City Councilwoman Connie Robinson’s letter to the City-County Observer in regards to the horrible conditions of our two cemeteries, most notably Oak Hill, hit the nail on the head…

http://city-countyobserver.com/2012/07/31/councilwoman-connie-robinson-appalled-by-condition-of-oak-hill-cemetery/

"I ask myself the question, how do we plot the burials? A tombstone was hanging on the sewer. Was that tombstone just stuck there or is a casket in the sewer?"

Even though Oak Hill is safely guarded from nearby developments, it still isn’t protected from roads inside its own confines. If Councilwoman Robinson had not discovered the grave marker laying on top of the sewer line, would anyone have noticed that it was gone from its proper location? I mean does anyone really believe that someone is buried on top of, inside, or underneath a sewer line? If this marker isn’t placed back in its correct location, who’s to say a road won’t accidentally be built on top of the buried body only to find out later through records that the marker that was stuck on top of a sewer line should have been sitting where the road is now built?

Evansville has a long history of neglecting their cemeteries with the 1980s being the worst. In the mid 1980s, Evansville saw the director of cemeteries fired while controversy brewed over the way he maintained the two cemeteries. Then, John West was fired by then mayor Michael Vandeveer after serving only a few months in the position…

http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=1120820

It’s bad enough that our city has lost grave sites all across the townships that circle the city of Evansville. It doesn’t appear that we will be able to find all of the lost grave sites any time soon. So while we are taking on the extraordinary task of locating all lost grave sites in and around the city of Evansville, let’s make sure we aren’t adding to the problem at Oak Hill and Locust Hill Cemeteries.

Losing more grave sites…. Now that would be A Gave Injustice!