Lithonia residents upset with level of care at local cemetery

“It’s disturbing the dead. It’s disrespectful to the community. It’s disrespectful to the people who are buried out here and their families,” resident Jim Kelly said.

Lithonia owns the cemetery, and is responsible for its maintenance.

Lithonia Mayor Deborah Jackson told Channel 2 crews come out every few weeks — and will check the cemetery more frequently now.

“It it maintained to the level we can, with the staff we have,” City Councilman Fred Reynolds told Channel 2.

He said recent storm damage has had an impact on maintenance, and the city only has three people to clean up and mow the cemetery and the rest of the city.

“We can do better, but we can only do what we can with the schedule that we have and the three people we have on the public works department,” Reynolds said.

Resident Kathy Conley told Channel 2 it was “disheartening” to see the condition of the graves.

“How much does it cost to mow the grass? And if you’re not going to do it, why don’t you tell us?” she asked.“…This is no way to have all these people here. There’s no respect what so ever,” Conley said.