DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Families are concerned about the condition of the final resting place for their loved ones.
They say a cemetery in DeKalb County is not being maintained. The city of Lithonia owns the property and is responsible for maintaining it.
Families are upset because many of the headstones are knocked over and the grass is overgrown.
"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.
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The Lithonia mayor said crews come out every few weeks and they will be back out now that the growing season is in full swing.
Families say that this has been a problem for 15 years.
"How much does it cost to mow the grass? And if you're not going to do it, why don't you tell us? This is our family. I mean, when you see children come and their parents are buried here, it's so disheartening," Kathy Conley said.
City councilman Fred Reynolds met with Channel 2's Chris Jose to address the concerns.
"It it maintained to the level we can, with the staff we have," he said.
Reynolds said the city only has a three-man crew to maintain the entire city, including the cemetery. He also said recent storm damage has slowed maintenance down.
"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.
Residents say the cemetery continues to look worse as time goes by.
"This is no way to have all these people here. There's no respect what so ever," Conley said.