Cemetery changes cause county complaints

Many Barnwell County residents have laid their loved ones to rest close to home in the Barnwell County Cemetery, and for decades have been able to decorate their gravesite in commemoration of a life once lived.

In May 2022, the Barnwell County Council approved to amend the cemetery ordinance which changed the ability to personalize plots.

The amendment went into full enforcement nearly five months later on October 19, 2022, and with this came a slew of complaints brought to the county’s attention both online and at county council meetings.

Barnwell County Ordinance 2022-05-389 relating to the Barnwell County Cemetery was amended to “enable grounds-keepers to mow and weed-eat the cemetery more effectively and efficiently,” states the update published in The People-Sentinel by the county and on the county’s Facebook page.

“All statues will be removed unless they are attached to the head stone or otherwise attached permanently to the plot; and all family mementoes will be removed,” stated the post.

The removal of family mementoes is what most of the complaints online and at county meetings pertained to, with questions as to where these sentimental items are going and how to get them back.

“If a family would like to retrieve family mementoes we gathered up from grave sites, the family can call Mark Beasley and set up a meeting with Mark to retrieve the items,” said Barnwell County Administrator Tim Bennett.

Mark Beasley is the building and grounds director. He and his team are responsible for routine upkeep in the cemetery, and now, removing these items from the plots.

Carol Wizorek of Williston expressed her discontent with the discarding of items dear to her family at a November 2022 County Council meeting.

“We were ambushed out there,” said Wizorek at the council meeting.

Wizorek purchased the plots 35 years ago. Her husband and son are buried in the Barnwell County Cemetery, alongside two of her grandchildren.

Wizorek told the council about her six-year-old granddaughter, who will now have to break the tradition of making a memento for her late father every year on Father’s Day to lay by his gravestone.

The only two children of Wizorek’s daughter, Sandra, are buried in the cemetery each with a decorated gravesite reflecting their lives. Her daughter was laid to rest in February 2022, and her son passed away four years ago, making the removal of their items even harder to bear.

Sandra explained to The People-Sentinel she did not know these items were being removed prior to coming to the cemetery to see them gone. She visited the Barnwell County Courthouse to see where they went and she was directed to Beasley who then brought her to where they were discarded.

Once arriving at the area behind Guinyard-Butler Middle School and the Barnwell County Detention Center where the items were, Sandra sifted through piles of items looking for ones she recognized.

As she looked through the assorted items, she thought about the pain felt by the buildings and grounds crew as they removed them.

Sandra felt it had to be a mentally tolling task, and later confirmed that sentiment with a buildings and grounds employee who was pained in removing the items he knew meant so much.

According to Sandra and other accounts made on Facebook, the employees were instructed to throw the items away by county officials. However, they salvaged as much as possible to be returned to citizens.

A time to retrieve items can be coordinated by calling the county administrator’s office at (803) 541-1000.

The Wizoreks were not aware of these changes before they were made, however, Barnwell County did post the amended ordinance in The People-Sentinel, which is required per state law. The People-Sentinel also published an article explaining these changes in more detail in the Sept. 14, 2022 edition.

A synopsis of the changes was also made on the Barnwell County, SC Facebook page to further inform the community.

When Wizorek spoke at the November meeting, she was aware of the process to retrieve items removed from plots, according to Bennett, whose office clarified the ordinance for her previously.

However, Wizorek’s complaint is that the county should have taken it a step further to inform the community about the removal of these items due to their sentimental value.

Wizorek explained she visits the cemetery more than she visits Facebook or the newspaper. To cover all their bases, it would have been beneficial to post a sign at the cemetery itself detailing the updates. This would allow for visitors to be informed and possibly remove their own items before they are removed by the county.

Now, this ordinance does not allow trees, shrubs, or plants to be planted outside of the county’s approved landscaping plan. If a tree, shrub, or plant is planted on or near a plot, the county shall have the right to remove it.

The use of artificial flowers is allowed, but only at headstones or as plot markers. If flowers are placed at a gravesite, they must be in a ceramic, concrete, metal, or hard plastic vase.

Cut flowers are allowed if changed regularly and well attended. They must be in one of the allowed vases and used only as a plot marker or attached to the headstone.

“No containers, artificial flowers, wreaths, statues, or other memorial type items shall remain on any plot for more than 60 days, unless incorporated within the headstone. After 60 days, county employees will remove the items,” states the county’s post.

However, there are some exceptions when it comes to flag poles, benches, or plots with coping.

Coping is a type of burial style that has sealed stone, marble, or granite encasing the outside of the plot. Pebbles are commonly used to fill in the middle of the coping, and tend to be a more expensive option.

Plots with coping do not adhere to this ordinance; “Cemetery plots with coping and stone chips are exempt from the ordinance, because these plots, for the most part, do not require mowing or weed-eating. Dead or faded flowers and broken statues will be removed.”

Flag poles, flags, and benches are also exempt from removal.

Many citizens are not happy with these changes. Under the county’s Facebook post detailing this ordinance there were over 60 comments expressing various issues with the amendment.

“When the cemetery wants to reimburse my family for chipping and breaking markers plus running over graves (which has led to near collapse of one) then I will abide by these ridiculous rules,” stated one Facebook user with family buried in the cemetery.

“Those plots were paid for by me. If I want to decorate them then that’s my prerogative,” said a woman under the post.

“The county should not have the right to tell anyone what they can place on their loved one’s graves,” stated an Orangeburg resident.

“Does this mean that the county will actually take care of the cemetery?” asked another.

“How can you make an ordinance AFTER someone has bought a plot and was not told any of this before paying?” asked a Barnwell resident.

“My infant daughter is out there and in the 6 years she has been there we’ve had to have her stone touched up and polished several times due to careless employees hitting it with a weed eater!!” said a local mother.

To retrieve items placed on plots or to learn more about the ordinance, call the county administrator’s office at (803) 541-1000.