We must all do what we can to insure that all our antique burial sites are preserved and protected so they can remain as lovely & serene as the Kaufman City Cemetery.
Texas has laws to protect graves and burial
sites. Depending on the amount of damage or degree of desecration
done, the penalties range from hefty fines to imprisonment, but first the
culprits must be caught and there lies the problem, especially with this
nation's juveniles. Larger cemeteries have locked gates at night,
when most of the vandalism occurs, and some even have security personnel
to watch over them, but what about the community cemeteries in isolated
or remote areas? They are certainly not any less important because
they are not fenced nor protected by an association and we must find ways
to better protect them, also.
In April of 1999 the Weaver Cemetery, here
in Kaufman County, had more than 70 tombstones turned over by vandals in
one night. Noise was heard by persons living close to the graveyard,
yet nothing was reported to the sheriff's department - why? On another
night in January someone spray-painted the names of mass murders and punk
rock groups on the tombstones in the Henderson-Moseley Cemetery, which
is located on a lonely road and behind locked gates. The important
question in this scenario is "why would young persons disrespect the dead
so vehemently to want to do this sort of thing?"
In the autumn of 1998 vandals wanted into
the Lawrence cemetery so badly that they drove their vehicles into the
wrought iron fence - the gate was unlocked - and then the culprits deliberately
bent 100's of the fence's finials over, permanently damaging it.
In recent years the largest contributor to
the desecration of Kaufman County's burial sites has been it's location.
Kaufman is a rural county situated on the cusp of one of the largest metropolitan
areas in the nation, which offers it's residents a quaint lifestyle reflective
of life as it was 100 years ago, while being within driving distance of
any modern amenity your heart could desire. Life here is slower,
and it does always seem to be a little cooler in the summer, and if you
have lived here for any time at all you are probably called by name when
you enter the bank, but unfortunately the metropolis over our western shoulder
is creeping up on our way of life here and we have begun recently suffering
less rural, and more urban, problems, with "graveyard crime" being one
of them.
Today it is not uncommon to hear of a land
developer who scrapes the remains of a family cemetery into a creek or
culvert with a bulldozer, covering over every tombstone that is the only
record of who is buried there. The farm lands here are being subdivided
so quickly that the Commissioners have had to make changes in county laws
to facilitate a more active involvement of what is happening to the historic
sites within our borders. The State of Texas has done the same by
allowing older burial sites to be deemed as Historically Designated Sites.
Whether the persons who commit these
crimes are juveniles or adults, and whether they are residents of this
county or drive in from the big city to commit their crimes, makes no difference.
The fault lies not only in their disrespect for the law, but for their
disrespect for the dead, and both are products of not having been properly
taught when they were children, which is a situation we all can rectify
through education. We must no longer "turn a deaf ear" to what we
know is happening and report all suspicious and criminal activity in cemeteries
to the proper authorities and do our part as living guardian angels in
watching over these sites. No action to protect these sites is too
small to make a difference and every little bit of effort will help.
Each one of us must do everything possible
to watch over our cemeteries and burial sites. Whether you have ancestors
buried here in Kaufman County, other places in Texas, or somewhere else
in the US, please find out all you can about your local laws are pertaining
to the preservation and documentation of burial sites. Teach the
children today to be respectful adolescents & adults. Volunteer
to teach a Sunday School class or Summer Reading Program about cemetery
preservation, solicit the assistance of local Scout troops to clear neglected
sites so they can be better seen, help your local Heritage Society
enumerate a cemetery or organize a concerned group into Guardian Angels
for a certain site that may be a prime target for desecration. Whether
you are in Texas or not, if you want to learn more about protecting these
sites in this state, you can notify the Texas Historical Commission to
learn how to apply for Historic Designation on the burial sites where your
ancestors and family members are buried:
Texas Historical Commission
Cemetery Preservation
P. O. Box 12276
Austin, TX 78711
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