HEARING SET ON CEMETERY COUNCIL TO DECIDE HOW TO DEAL WITH PIONEERS' GRAVEYARD.Byline: JIM Jim Miss Watson’s runaway slave; Huck’s traveling companion. [Am. Lit.: Huckleberry Finn] See : Escape SKEEN Staff Writer PALMDALE - A public hearing will be held Wednesday, when the City Council will decide whether the city should step in and clean up the 120- year-old 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. . The council will vote on a resolution declaring the abandonment of the cemetery at Avenue S and 20th Street East as a place for future burials. The move sets into motion a process allowing city government to begin the cleanup and to secure the cemetery at a cost estimated at $220,000. The cemetery, established by the city's first settlers in the 1880s, has fallen on hard times in recent years. It has been vandalized frequently and is marred by trash and debris, despite efforts by volunteers to keep it clean. Council members want the site cleaned up, but there is debate on how deeply involved city government should be in the project. Mayor Jim Ledford favors major involvement, making the cemetery part of a historical park planned on an adjoining site. ``I think it's a great opportunity for the community,'' Ledford said. ``It's an opportunity for our residents to get into the historical aspects of the community.'' Ledford said he believes there could be grave sites outside the cemetery, just east of the site. At some point, he said, a survey should be done to look for 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. . But Councilman Steve Knight Steve, Steven or Stephen Knight is the name of:
``I think there's a role for the city for having a dignified dig·ni·fied adj. Having or expressing dignity. dig  ni·fied ly adv. cemetery, but I don't want this to turn into a huge money pit we can't get out of,'' Knight said. The resolution would make three findings: that the site is not an endowment-care cemetery, that it has not had more than 10 burials within the past five years, and that it presents a threat or danger to the public's health, safety, comfort or welfare. In addition to allowing the cleanup, the resolution would be a step toward making the cemetery a pioneer park. Under such a designation, city government would conduct restoration work on the cemetery and then maintain it in that state. If the abandonment resolution is approved, the city could start the cemetery cleanup as early as September. 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. City officials said a search of records indicates that the Jonas family, one of the pioneer families 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 local church for a cemetery. City government has acquired 14 acres adjacent to the cemetery to establish 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. Palmdale officials are in discussions with local historian Glen Settle about possibly relocating three of the city's early buildings from Rosamond to the historical park site. The buildings are a railroad railroad or railway, form of transportation most commonly consisting of steel rails, called tracks, on which freight cars, passenger cars, and other rolling stock are drawn by one locomotive or more. station and homes that belong to the Ritter rit·ter n. pl. ritter A knight. [German, from Middle High German riter, from Middle Dutch ridder, from r and Munz families, early settlers of the community. City officials are trying to determine the cost of relocating and restoring the buildings, which had been moved to Rosamond as part of a ghost town ghost town, term for any once flourishing American community that has been abandoned, generally for economic reasons. While most of the towns have little or no population, they often contain old buildings, which may serve as tourist attractions. tourist attraction Noun 1. tourist attraction - a characteristic that attracts tourists attractive feature, magnet, attractor, attracter, attraction - a characteristic that provides pleasure and attracts; "flowers are an attractor for bees" that operated from the 1950s to the 1980s. The cemetery could complement the park, city officials said. Only 2 1/2 acres of the original cemetery are fenced and appear to have been used for burials, but there is a possibility a search might disclose burials outside the fenced area, city officials said. Records indicate there may have been as many as 203 burials, although during one examination, there appeared to be only 187 marked graves within the fenced area. Far fewer than 187 markers are still there. The last 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 of record was Jan. 17, 2001, city officials said. The cemetery no longer accepts burials because of the possibility of disturbing unmarked graves. james.skeen(at)dailynews (661) 267-5743 IF YOU GO The public hearing on the cemetery will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Palmdale City Hall, 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. CAPTION(S): box Box: IF YOU GO (see text) |
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