DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. — Loved ones are pushing back in an emotional graveyard dispute in Douglas County. What's supposed to be a place of rest is now the site of unrest.
Channel 2 Action News was alerted to this story after several people posted pictures on their Facebook page of the file of ornaments that was left at the Sunshine Memorial Cemetery in Douglasville.
Protesters showed up Saturday to hold up signs and alert passing drivers about what happened to their loved ones' belongings.
"My heart was broke. It was broke," Michelle Padilla said. "Everything was taken off."
"Me and my family put that stuff there because we love our mother. It was on other graves so I figured it was OK," protester Donna Longfellow said.
Family members on Saturday morning sorted through a pile of discarded personal items that cemetery workers had removed from graves. The items were dumped off of cemetery property.
Cemetery employees told Channel 2 Action News they were enforcing a long-standing policy after receiving a complaint.
Many people said they weren't given advance notice or they would have collected the items themselves.
"The United States flags were thrown in the mud," Longfellow said.
Betty Maslow doesn't have a relative buried in the cemetery, but showed up Saturday just to help.
"People paid money to bury people here. This doesn't make any sense," Maslow said. "They didn't have to do this. Why didn't they notify somebody?"
Maslow helped return a marker to the grave of a young child she never knew.
"How could someone take something off of a child's grave?" Maslow said. "This is a disgrace to everyone who has a grave site out here."
On Friday, Channel 2 consumer investigator Jim Strickland confirmed that a cemetery client out of state threatened legal action to get the cemetery to adhere to the no-extra-items policy.
That doesn't explain why many of the items collected are now shattered.
A staff member told Strickland they had no explanation on why family members didn't get more notice.
WSBTV
