AVON, Ohio — Families in Avon are complaining about what they call disrespectful cemetery conditions at Resthaven Memory Gardens.
HB 168 passed in October 2018, and calls for more stringent "reasonable maintenance" at 4,100 cemeteries statewide, after growing complaints were sent into Ohio's Cemetery Dispute Resolution Commission.
Katie Hildebrand visits her in-laws frequently, and said the law isn't helping her case.
“Damage from heavy equipment that is being driven over peoples graves. Broken headstones. Sunken headstones. Absolute lack of any kind of maintenance at this cemetery," she said.
She visited the grave sites on Saturday, and said headstones were submerged in water.
"Half of my mother and father in-law‘s graves were submerged underwater. Their gravestone is leaning," she said. "Blatant disregard for the people who are buried here. It’s disrespectful."
Hildebrand and other families have been complaining to News 5 for months about the conditions.
News 5 contacted Resthaven Memory Gardens parent company StoneMor Partners LP about condition complaints at the cemetery, but the company had no comment.
News 5 also contacted the cemetery commission, through the Ohio Department of Commerce, about enforcement concerns, and it said it would look into where it stands with complaints filed against Resthaven.
