Milford cemetery removes items from gravestones that honored loved ones

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A community is reeling after items were removed from gravestones that honored their loved ones. The Milford Cemetery Association is strictly enforcing what items can be placed on gravestones. On Tuesday morning, people trickled into the Kings Highway Cemetery in Milford, not to visit their loved ones, instead it was to sift through mounds of discarded items. "I haven't found my plaques yet, or my turtles but I'm still looking," said Joni Henning, who lost her son to suicide on Nov. 1, 2012. The Milford Cemetery Association placed signs with rules and regulations throughout the cemetery over the summer. They say the rules have always been in place - but were never strictly enforced until now. A letter from the association states: The signs for rules and regulations enforcement have been placed throughout the cemetery since July 2024, which gave families time to remove there items. Effective October 1, 2024 is when our maintenance crew began removal of items that were not within the rules and regulations. Please understand that these items were placed by section for them to be easily found when families called asking to come get them. Most families are understanding but now it's been posted on social media and there is no order. Families are coming down thinking we were throwing out the items today, which is incorrect. Listen, I sympathize with you all, I too have loved ones interred at a cemetery and they too only allow planted flowers because this is a Maintenance Safety Issue. It’s difficult to mow, trim, blow leaves and do burials with all these items at a gravesite. Loose items can become projectiles and it’s a safety liability for our crew and also for families visiting. When a family purchases a plot they purchase burial rights not the land and they receive a packet with their certificate of use and the rules and regulations brochure. These rules and regulations have always been in place but they were never strictly enforced and now we must enforce them. Becky Pawlicki lost her fiancé and says she doesn't buy the reasoning behind the sudden reinforcement. "No one has ever touched it, the 'blower' never moved it, there's dirt marks where it was now it's in this dump," says Pawlicki. The association says the items will be discarded after Nov. 1, 2024. "