| | Local cemeteries such as the one pictured, located in Jordanville, would be eligible for adoption, providing for its maintenance and upkeep. (Photo by Janine Giordano) | |
jgiordano@rsmercury.comThey can be found strewn along highways, buried in back yards, peeking out of abandoned wooded lots. They can even be found lazily stretched out beneath a bright blue summer sky. They come in all shapes and sizes, organized and meticulously arranged or overgrown and desperately needing some TLC. They are the more than 700 cemeteries, abandoned and recognized, holding the deceased who make up the foundation of this country. Which is why Wayne Dunckel has made it a priority to create a program that would provide for the caring and maintenance of these often neglected plots of land. “I started this about 2000. It follows the same idea as the adopt a highway program,” said Dunckel, chairman of the Oneida County Historical Society. “If people will adopt blacktop, why not adopt a cemetery?” And so began his quest to convince people they should “adopt a cemetery, clean it up and start paying proper respect to people.” His efforts are not only focused on local groups and residents, like the Richfield Springs Historical Association he met with last week. Senators and assemblymen, anyone who will listen, really, are his focus. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, schools and private residents are all possible candidates for this program. For the last year, Assemblyman Bill Magee and Sen. James Seward have been working on legislation which would provide statewide status for the program, Dunckel said. Bill A05942 would, according to the summary, authorize the secretary of state to “develop and implement an adopt-a-cemetery program to improve, repair and maintain cemeteries in an effort to retain the heritage and history of this state and nation that is contained in our historic cemeteries.” Recently Dunckel spoke at an afternoon meeting of the Richfield Springs Historical Association and provided information on saving small abandoned cemeteries. He also provided information on how to plan projects for successful restoration and how to use cemeteries for genealogical and historical research gathering. “He certainly had a lot of information,” said historical association president Marj Walters. In addition to bringing this concept to the area, he also provided tips on how to care for headstones, how to clean and repair them, and the best way to get permission from land use owners the cemeteries may be located on, to avoid trespassing. Since membership to historical associations is limited, Walters proposed working with neighboring associations, such as Exeter. “Then we could accomplish so much more,” she said. The proposed legislation, according to Duncan Davie, spokesperson for Seward, “is on the agenda of the Senate finance committee for consideration this week. When it moves from finance it will then move to the floor of the Senate for consideration.” According to Magee’s spokesperson, Troy Waffner, the bill “would highlight and promote the groups taking care of the cemeteries right now. It would give an official feel to it and make it a statewide organization, similar to the adopt a highway program in that there would be no funding for this either.”
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