Councilman Byrden wants cemetery regulations revisited

Cairo City Councilman Demario Byrden is asking the city council to reconsider its restriction on slabs over graves in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

According to Byrden, some of the grave sites at Forest Lawn Cemetery, on 11th Avenue N.W., appear to be “sinking in” and “looks bad.”

“Maybe we should revisit putting slabs out there,” Byrden said at last week’s city council meeting.

Forest Lawn is the city’s only cemetery where grave slabs are prohibited. The reasoning of the council at the time was to reduce the expense of maintenance of the cemetery and to reduce damages to slabs by maintenance personnel.

City Manager Chris Addleton said that if graves are in fact sinking, it is likely due to unsatisfactory work by vault companies. Addleton suggested if there is a serious issue, the city could declare it a nuisance and issue citations.

However, Byrden said he was opposed to that and asked if slabs could be allowed.

“It looks tacky,” Byrden said.

The council voiced no concerns to revisiting the cemetery regulations, but took no action last Monday night.

In related business last week, the council:

‰Heard from Councilman Jerry Cox who said he had been contacted by northwest Cairo residents who voiced concern for the physical well-being of residents of a group home on 11th Avenue N.W. Cox asked if the building department or health department could conduct an inspection of the facility. According to Cox, some of the residents do not appear “healthy.”

‰Heard concerns from Councilman James H. (Jimmy) Douglas about political signs on the city’s right-of-way. Douglas suggested that a copy of the city code regarding placement of signs on rights-of-way be shared with qualifying agents before candidate qualifying begins next month. Douglas warned the city will soon be taking up signs out of the right-of-way and he noted “those signs are expensive.”

‰Heard a complaint from Mayor Booker Gainor concerning the Broad Street railroad crossing. Addleton said a meeting with the railmaster out of Thomasville had been arranged, but that he was not anticipating a favorable outcome. The city manager asked if the council would be interested in seeking political influence from Atlanta to correct the excessively rough crossing. The council consented to Addleton attempting to gain assistance from Atlanta in dealing with the situation. “I wish we could go in and fix it ourselves, but we can’t get in their right-of-way,” Addleton said.

‰Unanimously approved the intergovernmental agreement between the City of Whigham and Grady County for the proposed Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.