About 40 residents attended a community meeting at Griffith Leagues Club on Monday night to have their say on Griffith City Council’s controversial cemetery ornament removal policy.
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Organiser Carmel La Rocca said the “heart wrenching” gathering allowed many people to convey their story of arriving at a loved one’s grave, only to find all the flowers and mementos they had placed there were missing.
Some of the issues raised were as follows:
- People complained that even through they abided by the rules and regulation on the cemetery rules board, they still had ornaments removed.
- Some said that they went to cemetery to collect ornaments, but found the office was locked and unattended.
- There was confusion over why the lawn cemetery had to be targeted.
- It was also felt that ornaments glued to graves did not pose a safety threat, so did not need to be removed.
- There were calls for council to “put back” what they had already taken away.
Council have put their cemetery ornament removal policy on hold, and at their Tuesday meeting were addressed by members of the public upset at what they had already done.