REGIONAL NEWS CONNECTICUT POST ffi ~5

Easton lay~.elaim to abandoned cemeteriesByMeg BaroneCORRESPONDENT

EASTON =: The town'sdead may rest more peaceful-iy with the knowledge thatTown Clerk W. Derek Buck-ley has successfully advocat-ed for change at the statelevel that will lead to the res-toration and maintenance ofgravesites at three of four

. abandoned cemeteries inEaston.

The new state law, effec-tive Oct. 1, will allow munici-palities to take over aban-doned cemeteries to providefor their preservation andupkeep. Impetus for the lawcame after Buckley sharedwith legislators his frustra-tions trying to determine

• ownership of the cemeteriesand raising funds for thework, which he estimates at$700,000. .

"Seven hundred thousanddollars is a lot of money for asmall town like Easton," hesaid. Buckley said he and ahandful of volunteers triedto trace the ownership trailusing pro bat r cords and

other means, but came to adead end. I· ~~ I .

He said they. attempted toraise the money through pri-vate donations, but willingorganizations and.individu-als backed away yvhen theylearned ownership of theburial grounds "isin question.Neither could the town "applyfor federal grants related tothe cemeteries for the samereason, he said.

The town initiated anadopf-a-grave pr o g r amthrough the Senior CitizenCenter, where individualswould pay $50for the renova-tion of a particular gravesiteand they would agree'to keepan eye on it regarding future .maintenance as it becamenecessary. But that would'only provide a drop in thebucket for the hundreds ofgravesites at Center Street,Lyon and Gilbertown ceme-teries that require restora-tion and maintenanc , in-luding repair of headstonesand lawn work. A fourth. metery is on water compR-n property and cannot b

. AMY MORTENSEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

In June, genealogist Lisa Burghardt and Derek Buckley, chairman of the Cemetery Commission,survey the graves of Abby and Murwin W. Bradley, whose headstones have fallen off of their base.

acquired." In the past, people

would provide money upfront for perpetual care fortheir gravesites. "The prob-

lem is inflation has madethose funds pretty wellmeaningless," Buckleysaid, using as an example acouple that left $150 years

ago for the maintenance oftwo graves. "You can onlyuse the interest to main-tain: the graves. It was .a lotof money at the time, but

inflation has made it kindof worthless," he said, :

"Two hundred years ago'in perpetuity' wasn't as loggas it is today," joked SteveCarlson, an alternate mem-ber of the town's Planningand Zoning Commissloii.Buckley spoke at a jointmeeting of the P&Z and theBoard of Selectmen this weekto discuss the impending leg-islation. ;'

Under the new state law;~town must post a legal notiqethree weeks m a row and ssta date for a public hearingabout cemetery ownership.If no one comes forward toassert ownership of the cem-eteries at that hearing thetown can take over either niecemetery as a whole or theindividual graves. ;.

The takeover is not by em-inent domain, Buckley said."People can come along at alater date to reassert theirownership if they want to,but it would give us owner-ship rights so we could go outand raise money to fix th,ecemetery," he said. '