Locals Outraged Over Oak Ridge Overgrowth Take Matters into Their Own Hands
By: Lynn Adler
Updated: May 13, 2012
ALTOONA, BLAIR COUNTY - A local family takes matters into their own hands after the grass at a local cemetery grows 3 feet high.
WTAJ-TV first reported on the overgrowth at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Altoona last week.
Grass and weeds cover many of the headstones.
Now it appears a cleanup effort is underway, and visitors are helping out.
"I've never ever seen a grave yard like this," said Altoona resident Samuel Mateo.
Several of Mateo's family members, including his son, are buried in Oak Ridge.
He and his wife, Anita, refuse to let the overgrowth overshadow their loved one's graves.
"I will not let it overgrow around my son. I won't do that," Mateo said. "If they won't do it I'll do it."
So Mateo hauled down his own equipment and cleared the area himself.
"My son is over here," he said, pointing to a fresh burial plot. "And these are his great grandparents and his uncle right there. I did that area. I did what I could. The grass is so high the lawnmower kept stalling on me."
Maintenance staff at Oak Ridge Cemetery said they normally start mowing in early April, but this year they first began last Friday, May 11.
A lawyer that works with the non-profit corporation that operates Oak Ridge says the cemetery is having a hard time maintaining the large property and can't afford the upkeep.
The attorney said the cemetery doesn't have the budget to hire a full-time groundskeeper.
The grass has grown so high; many headstones are virtually invisible, buried in weeds.
"You look out and see people walking through 3-feet of grass looking for loved ones," Mateo noted. "They can't find them."
The cemetery's hired two-man maintenance team said the brush is so bad they have to first go in with a weed whacker first before they can mow.
Like Mateo, others with loved ones buried in Oak Ridge are so appalled they're willing to take matters into their own hands and clear the ground themselves if they have to.
WTAJ-TV first reported on the overgrowth at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Altoona last week.
Grass and weeds cover many of the headstones.
Now it appears a cleanup effort is underway, and visitors are helping out.
"I've never ever seen a grave yard like this," said Altoona resident Samuel Mateo.
Several of Mateo's family members, including his son, are buried in Oak Ridge.
He and his wife, Anita, refuse to let the overgrowth overshadow their loved one's graves.
"I will not let it overgrow around my son. I won't do that," Mateo said. "If they won't do it I'll do it."
So Mateo hauled down his own equipment and cleared the area himself.
"My son is over here," he said, pointing to a fresh burial plot. "And these are his great grandparents and his uncle right there. I did that area. I did what I could. The grass is so high the lawnmower kept stalling on me."
Maintenance staff at Oak Ridge Cemetery said they normally start mowing in early April, but this year they first began last Friday, May 11.
A lawyer that works with the non-profit corporation that operates Oak Ridge says the cemetery is having a hard time maintaining the large property and can't afford the upkeep.
The attorney said the cemetery doesn't have the budget to hire a full-time groundskeeper.
The grass has grown so high; many headstones are virtually invisible, buried in weeds.
"You look out and see people walking through 3-feet of grass looking for loved ones," Mateo noted. "They can't find them."
The cemetery's hired two-man maintenance team said the brush is so bad they have to first go in with a weed whacker first before they can mow.
Like Mateo, others with loved ones buried in Oak Ridge are so appalled they're willing to take matters into their own hands and clear the ground themselves if they have to.
