Family denied Entrance
Donation protected
Conflict of Civil Rights and Civility
For more than fifteen years the families of the Bell Town Cemetery have been denied access to their loved ones graves by an adjacent property owner. This owner chained and locked graveyard entrances to the fence that bordered the property (once thought) to be owned by the adjacent property owner. This mistake of property ownership prevented the families from entering the cemetery without being accosted, threatened and literally, arrested and charged with unlawful trespassing.
On August 9, 2017 the General Sessions Court of Cheatham ordered full access to the road leading to the cemetery. This delayed egress and ingress was ordered and decreed by the judge along with the order to remove all chains and obstacles that once bond the families from visiting their loved ones. This restful place holds both veterans and families members from World War I and II and veterans of Vietnam War included other deaths that span from a period of 1883-2010.
Once the chains were removed, the families were inconsolable to discover tombstones and markers destroyed, toppled and broken. The high tattered and torn grass on the property hid the names on markers that had been marred by vandelism, time and weather.
Such criminal acts of graveyard desecrations, at best, have now confronted the families with an almost insurmountable task of restorations and repairing the markers once that were shadows of pride and honor that were now
found with evidence of shame and desecration.
The family has decided to restore the valor and honor to the gentle men and women who are buried at Bell Town Cemetery. The restoration of honor to the soldiers buried there will be immeasurable. And, yet this is no small tasks and cannot be done by the families alone. Whereas, there is no way to regain the years lost in visits and memories, this restoration will began the process of healing for all involved. The acts of kindness and generosity are immediate. To disturb the dead is a crime but to rebuild hearts is a deed of humankind. The acts of uncivility will be restored with acts of love by hundreds of people both known and unknow to the men and women buried in Bell Town Cemetery.
The funds will be used to : landscape the property that surrounds the cemetery, remove trees, clear trash, debris, mow property, refinish, repair and replace grave markers and tombstone torn down and toppled.
Pictures will be posted of now and then progress in a linear order as work is completed and progress made.
The families want to involve other Gold Star families and veterns in this sacred process.
Like the men and women of our great nation the dead are those among us who help to share and remind us of the best in all of us. The families of the Bell Town Cemetery thank each donor in advance for any gift both small and large, both inkind and by individuals.
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2017/08/30/bell-town-cemetery-tensions-flare-over-access-to-gravesites/601506001/
For more than fifteen years the families of the Bell Town Cemetery have been denied access to their loved ones graves by an adjacent property owner. This owner chained and locked graveyard entrances to the fence that bordered the property (once thought) to be owned by the adjacent property owner. This mistake of property ownership prevented the families from entering the cemetery without being accosted, threatened and literally, arrested and charged with unlawful trespassing.
On August 9, 2017 the General Sessions Court of Cheatham ordered full access to the road leading to the cemetery. This delayed egress and ingress was ordered and decreed by the judge along with the order to remove all chains and obstacles that once bond the families from visiting their loved ones. This restful place holds both veterans and families members from World War I and II and veterans of Vietnam War included other deaths that span from a period of 1883-2010.
Once the chains were removed, the families were inconsolable to discover tombstones and markers destroyed, toppled and broken. The high tattered and torn grass on the property hid the names on markers that had been marred by vandelism, time and weather.
Such criminal acts of graveyard desecrations, at best, have now confronted the families with an almost insurmountable task of restorations and repairing the markers once that were shadows of pride and honor that were now
found with evidence of shame and desecration.
The family has decided to restore the valor and honor to the gentle men and women who are buried at Bell Town Cemetery. The restoration of honor to the soldiers buried there will be immeasurable. And, yet this is no small tasks and cannot be done by the families alone. Whereas, there is no way to regain the years lost in visits and memories, this restoration will began the process of healing for all involved. The acts of kindness and generosity are immediate. To disturb the dead is a crime but to rebuild hearts is a deed of humankind. The acts of uncivility will be restored with acts of love by hundreds of people both known and unknow to the men and women buried in Bell Town Cemetery.
The funds will be used to : landscape the property that surrounds the cemetery, remove trees, clear trash, debris, mow property, refinish, repair and replace grave markers and tombstone torn down and toppled.
Pictures will be posted of now and then progress in a linear order as work is completed and progress made.
The families want to involve other Gold Star families and veterns in this sacred process.
Like the men and women of our great nation the dead are those among us who help to share and remind us of the best in all of us. The families of the Bell Town Cemetery thank each donor in advance for any gift both small and large, both inkind and by individuals.
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2017/08/30/bell-town-cemetery-tensions-flare-over-access-to-gravesites/601506001/
Organizer
Lawrence Joyce
Organizer
Hendersonville, TN
