Cemetery board decides

to leave south gate open

By BILL RICHMOND

City editor

The Fountain Park Cemetery Board Tuesday decided to leave the south cemetery gate open at all times.

Several local residents attended the board meeting to express their opinions about the gate closing and why it should be opened. In what she described as a long meeting with lots of discussion, board member Anne Riddle said the debate and petitions were basically a moot point as the board decided early on the gate should remain open.

"We opened the gate that day and it's been open ever since," Riddle said Friday.

"Several people told us they'd gone through a prolonged process to get that gate open in the first place and they didn't want to take a big step backwards. The board wasn't aware of that previous discussion about the gate.

The board announced previous to the meeting that it would welcome input on the issue and as a result heard from several people.

The cemetery gate was closed in response to vandalism last spring at the the cemetery. The board received a substantial amount of disagreement over the closing, including phone calls, letters and discussion at subsequent board meetings.

Another aspect of the decision to close the south gate is damage to the gate that has rendered it somewhat unstable. A vault truck once tried to use the gate and practically tore one pillar down.