Coweta Graves Eroding

Some more than a century old gravestones are in danger of tumbling into a Coweta County road.

The Grantville city cemetery off Griffin Street covers 12 acres, with about 400 graves. Graves intended to stand the ravages of time are instead crumbling, in danger of falling down a bank. Erosion at the cemetery is causing the problems.

The city's long-standing trust fund intended to manage the cemetery has dried up, but Grantville is gearing up to spend at least $10,000 to prevent further damage, according to City Manager Mike Renshaw.

“I've directed staff to kind of look at putting up a concrete retention wall around those two, particularly around those two gravesites,” Renshaw told Channel 2’s Diana Davis.

That initial $10,000 expense will be in addition to another $6,500 a year for maintenance. The city has decided to take over maintenance chores that were previously outsourced.

“We feel that in looking at these issue we would be able to do a better job, better quality job and at a cheaper price than outsourcing, about $6,500 in terms of cutting the grass and basically doing basic pickup of debris and litter,” Renshaw said.