From graves being dug in the wrong spot to unkempt grounds and “astronomical prices” for burial, residents have faced myriad problems when dealing with Forrest Memorial Gardens cemetery on Carterville Road in Petal.
Those issues will hopefully stay in the past now that the cemetery is under new ownership, as Pam and Steven Short of Petal recently purchased the site from the previous owners, the Lewis family.
“My husband, he owns a lawn care business, and when (the cemetery) first started growing up, he decided to go out there and start taking care of it, because I have tons of family out there,” Pam said. “While he was taking care of it, the idea came across us to see if we couldn’t reach out to Mrs. Lewis and purchase it.
“So we ended up going through her and the state to do that, so that we could make sure it got taken care of. Hopefully we can make some improvements and try to do something.”
The Shorts are currently preparing to do a bit of spring cleaning around the property, and are encouraging anyone with loose property at the cemetery to pick that up for the time being.
In September 2016, Delbert Hosemann, who then served as Secretary of State, said the cemetery was in danger of being seized by the state and sold to the highest bidder. Lewis falied to make arrangements to pay at least $22,477 – and possibly up to $32,000 – that Hosemann’s office said was owed to the cemetery’s perpetual care fund. That was after a 2012 audit discovered that officials from the cemetery had not remitted the proper amount required by state law to that fund.
A consent agreement was then drawn up between the cemetery and the Secretary of State’s Regulation and Enforcement Division, in which cemetery officials agreed to deposit 15 percent of the sales price of ground interments to the perpetual trust funds.
Hosemann said those payments were made for a few years, until Lewis ceased paying into the fund.
“Mr. Lewis made payments of about $7,500 over the years – he was to pay about $374.42 per month,” Hosemann said. “That money would go into a perpetual care trust for keeping the cemetery up to the standards that we expect – cutting the grass, fixing the roads and the other things that you expect for a cemetery to be well-run.
“He indeed (made those payments) before he quit, citing that he didn’t have the money or health problems or whatever.”
After discovering that Lewis had ceased making payments, Hosemann conducted another audit that showed Lewis had also been selling pre-need funeral goods – such as caskets, burial containers, memorial markers or grave opening and closing fees – without putting those funds into the perpetual care trust.
“These people that lost their pre-need stuff, hopefully in the future we can take donations to put in a trust account,” Pam said. “If we have the donations for it, we can fill that for them when the time comes.
“We’ve already done that for one person, but that was between a few people we knew.”
Officials from current Secretary of State Michael Watson’s office did not return phone calls on the matter of the owed funds.
“I’m guessing (Mrs. Lewis) was released from it, since she got rid of (the cemetery),” Pam said. “However, I didn’t have to take care of any of her stuff; I’m just starting from scratch.”
Last year – in addition to the aforementioned problems – ownership and legal issues were raised after the death of Preston O. Lewis, the former owner of the cemetery. In September, Watson paid a visit to Petal Civic Center to address those concerns and answer resident’s questions.
“When (my husband) went (to the meeting), he went because he was going to tend to all my family stuff, because I was upset about it,” Pam said. “There was a gentleman that was there, and he was crying and he asked (my husband) if he had come to take care of the entire cemetery.
“My husband said no (at first), but then the gentleman asked him if he could pay him to tend to his son’s (grave) who was going to be buried in a couple of days. So my husband said he (wouldn’t take money), but that he would tend to it. At that time is when we really decided to go forward with getting the cemetery.”
“This is a perfect situation for us, to have somebody that can devote a lot more time to it than the city would be able to,” Mayor Tony Ducker said. “They can put the care and concerns of those that have loved ones out there at the forefront.”
Perpetual care cemeteries are regulated by the Regulation and Enforcement Division of the Secretary of State’s office.
Exempt cemeteries include cemeteries that are affiliated with or owned by churches or religious societies, established fraternal societies, municipalities, or other political subdivisions of the State of Mississippi. Also exempt are family cemeteries, family burial grounds, and community cemeteries.
