CITY EYES FUTURE OF OLD CEMETERY.Byline: JIM Jim Miss Watson’s runaway slave; Huck’s traveling companion. [Am. Lit.: Huckleberry Finn] See : Escape SKEEN Staff Writer PALMDALE -- City officials will resume discussion this week on what to do with the Palmdale Cemetery cemetery, name used by early Christians to designate a place for burying the dead. First applied in Christian burials in the Roman catacombs, the word cemetery came into general usage in the 15th cent. , a pioneer legacy that has fallen on hard times. City Council members are hoping for a large public turnout at their meeting Wednesday to give them guidance on how to handle the 120-year-old cemetery at 20th Street East and Avenue S. At that meeting, the council will consider a resolution stating the city's intent to declare the cemetery abandoned, with no more interments allowed, a first step toward the city stepping in and cleaning up the property. Council members said they have received very little public comment on the issue since it was discussed at their May 17 meeting. They said they would like to see a large turnout on Wednesday. ``I would welcome as much input as I can get,'' said Councilman Tom Lackey. Lackey said he would like to see some limited city involvement, mainly aimed at cleaning and securing the property. Lackey said he doesn't want to see a large investment by the city. ``We do need to restore some dignity to it,'' Lackey said. ``The way it is now is disgusting and an embarrassment to the community.'' Councilman Steve Knight Steve, Steven or Stephen Knight is the name of:
``For me, personally, it's not at the top of my priority list,'' Knight said. Mayor Jim Ledford is interested in the city stepping in, along with community groups, to clean and secure the property and perhaps join it with a proposed neighboring neigh·bor n. 1. One who lives near or next to another. 2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another. 3. A fellow human. 4. Used as a form of familiar address. v. historical park. City staff members estimate that it would cost about $220,000 to clean up and secure the site. Annual maintenance costs would total about $30,000. The resolution to be considered Wednesday does not obligate obligate /ob·li·gate/ (ob´li-gat) pertaining to or characterized by the ability to survive only in a particular environment or to assume only a particular role, as an obligate anaerobe. the city to proceed with the abandonment of the cemetery. It does provide the opportunity for the public to comment on the issue and to participate in the discussions regarding potential actions that may be undertaken, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. city staff. If the City Council approves the resolution, the next course of action is for staff to publish public notices and then bring a second resolution for City Council consideration in August. The second resolution would make three findings -- that the site is not an endowment-care cemetery; that the site has not had more than 10 human interments within the past five years; and that the site, as it is, presents a threat or danger to the health, safety, comfort or welfare of the public. The cemetery is a legacy from the early settlement known as Palmenthal, founded in the 1880s by German and Swiss immigrants from Nebraska and Illinois Illinois, river, United States Illinois, river, 273 mi (439 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers, NE Ill., and flowing SW to the Mississippi at Grafton, Ill. It is an important commercial and recreational waterway. . City officials said a search of records indicates the Jonas family, one of the pioneer families that settled in Palmenthal, donated do·nate v. do·nat·ed, do·nat·ing, do·nates v.tr. To present as a gift to a fund or cause; contribute. v.intr. To make a contribution to a fund or cause. 20 acres to a church for a cemetery. The city has acquired 14 acres adjacent to the cemetery with the idea of establishing a historical park there. The community's first school -- a one-room schoolhouse built in the 1880s and now in McAdam Park -- might be moved to the proposed historical park, where there also could be exhibits detailing the railroad's impact on Palmdale's development. The cemetery could be a good fit with the park, city officials said. One of the issues is ensuring all burial burial, disposal of a corpse in a grave or tomb. The first evidence of deliberate burial was found in European caves of the Paleolithic period. Prehistoric discoveries include both individual and communal burials, the latter indicating that pits or ossuaries were sites are accounted for. Only 2.5 acres of the original cemetery is fenced and appears to have been used for burials, but there is a possibility a search might yield grave sites outside the fenced area, city officials said. According to records, there may be as many as 203 burials, although there appeared during one examination to be only 187 marked graves within the fenced area. Far fewer than 187 markers are still there. The last burial of record was Jan. 17, 2001, city officials said. The cemetery no longer accepts burials because of the possibility of disturbing unmarked graves Unmarked Graves is a horror novel written by Shaun Hutson. Synopsis When investigative telejournalist Nick Pearson is sent to Darworth in Hertfordshire, he finds a community divided. . The meeting to discuss the cemetery's future is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers, 38300 Sierra Highway Sierra Highway is a road in Southern California, United States. It runs from Tunnel Station near the north limit of the City of Los Angeles, where it intersects with San Fernando Road and Foothill Boulevard, as well as Interstate 5, and continues north to Mojave, mostly paralleling , Suite B. james.skeen(at)dailynews (661) 267-5743 |
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