Poor conditions at local cemetery make it difficult to visit loved ones

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Community members are struggling to visit their loved ones’ graves at the Mount Hope Veterans Memorial Cemetery due to the poor condition of the cemetery.

The cemetery’s landscape is not being kept up with. With grass growing as high as two feet tall, Darrell Jones can’t visit his sister’s tombstone. His sister has been buried there a long time and Jones says he’s never seen it so bad.

“I came out here yesterday to visit my sister’s grave. I got a great uncle out here. I got a great grandmother out here. I got a great grandfather — and when I came out here through the gates, it was sad,” said Jones.

The cemetery’s gate is broken and the roads are unpaved and muddy. Some headstones have even sunk into the ground and the grass is so high, people can’t locate the graves.

On some graves there are flowers, and one tombstone has a flag showing that this cemetery is still being visited.

In 2018, a group was organized to help with the upkeep. Jones said he’s reached out to Councilman Jimmy Hughes. He says it’s the responsibility of the community to keep the cemetery clean.

“Come on Youngstown, we can do better. Even volunteers. If we got some landscaping companies that want to step up and do this to help out, contact the councilman Jimmy Hughes. I mean, as a community, we need to come together and do better,” said Jones.

Jones says the conditions are shameful, especially with Memorial Day next week.

“It’s disrespectful to our veterans and the dead itself. It’s very disrespectful to not have this kept up,” he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com.