“You know, sometimes all you need
is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of
just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will
come of it.” Benjamin Mee in
We Bought A Zoo
The
2011 movie We Bought A Zoo which
starred Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson is based on the 2008 book
of the same name and is a dramatic retelling of the true story of
Benjamin Mee, a Brit with little zoological background who bought a
wildlife park in England. While I haven't seen the movie I take it
that it's a story about serendipity, about seizing a crazy
opportunity and discovering unlooked for happiness. Well, the city
hasn't bought a zoo but we may have inherited a cemetery. Whether or
not that's serendipitous remains to be seen.
For several years
now the Lakeview Cemetery Association has been losing money.
Certainly it hasn't been for any kind of malfeasance on their part.
As a rule, cemeteries are funded by burials and frankly, people
aren't getting buried very often any more. When I was a boy growing
up in Milwaukee as far as I knew only Hindus cremated their dead. But
over the last fifteen or more years cremation has ceased to be an odd
or unusual practice and has seemed to have become the norm. In my
early years of ministry in Chetek, I was frequently called upon by
Burnham-Ours Funeral Home to preside at a funeral of a person I did
not know. That hardly ever happens any more and I don't think it's
because I've done a bad job of it. People do their own minister-less
memorial gatherings these days and the cremains (I don't recall ever
presiding at a funeral in the 90s where a body wasn't present) go
either home with the family or are disposed of in a sentimental
place. (According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal,
custodians at Walt Disney World and Disneyland are regularly called
upon to vacuum up human remains that have been spread on the dearly
departed's favorite ride. Really!)
In Wisconsin, it's
entirely legal to place cremains in “any lawful manner” as long
as the remains have been reduced to a particle size of one-eighth of
an inch or less. So, that can be the woods, Lake Chetek or Lake
Superior or wherever the deceased's favorite haunt may have been.
(Let's hope it wasn't the Tilt-A-Whirl at the Barron County
Fairgrounds). Fewer burials means fewer dollars for the association
to work with to keep up with the mowing and the trimming to say
nothing of the calls the sexton will get to locate either for a
funeral or for people doing family research. Because of this for
several years now both the Town and the City of Chetek have been
subsidizing the cemetery annually in equal portions according to an
agreement signed in 2012.
Year Amount
(both municipalities' contributions)
| 2012 | $1,500.00 |
| 2013 | $2,500.00 |
| 2014 | $3,000.00 |
| 2015 | $3,000.00 |
| 2016 | $7,500.00 |
| 2017 | $10,000.00* * The LVCA purchased a new mower |
| 2018* (estimated) | $8,000.00 |
| 2019* (projected) | $8,000.00 |
As you can tell,
it's not that we didn't see this juncture coming. When I spoke
informally the other day with former sexton Robert Lund off the top
of his head he figured that there had only been seven full burials
this past year. Seven! Of course, that doesn't count the placement of
urns nor the unofficial spreading of ashes that he and the other
former employees of the LVCA frequently find throughout the cemetery
grounds. How can you stay financially fluid in conditions like these?
As the
Chetek Alert reported just last week on September 25 (City, township to take over Lake View Cemetery) it became
official: the Lake View Cemetery Association that has been in
operation since 1882 voted to dissolve. So what happens next? Well,
under Wisconsin law an “abandoned” cemetery ultimately becomes
the responsibility of the municipality in which it is found. If we
left it alone for one or more years the city – or, at least that
part of the cemetery that resides within the city limits – could
take it over if we chose to. However, after five years of being
orphaned we must
take it over, even if we'd rather not (this according to Section
157.115(1)(b). And if we don't take it over, a county circuit judge
will order it
to be done. So lump it or leave it, we got it (or at the very least
that part that's on city land).
 |
| The newer part of Lake View is in the back and is where all the burials now take place |
Interestingly
enough in 2007, then Chetek Alert reporter Rachel Westberg did a
story on this very eventuality with then LVCA sexton Bob Arneson (Future of Lake View Cemetery undecided).
According to that article, Arneson said: "It's a lot a
cheaper for us to run the cemetery than to let the city run it. If
the city would take over, then they have to put someone on as a
licensed salesman for plots, and someone to keep records, and they
don't want that. They'd just rather have us continue to keep it
going." Then President of the
Lake View Cemetery Association Jim Fults added: "If the city
took over the cemetery, it would go on the tax rolls and they would
have to pay city workers nearly two times as much as what we're
paying workers now.” This bridge was projected to go out way back
then.
 |
| Lakeview Cemetery (front and back) |
Back
in September the members of the Chetek City Council and the Board of
the Town of Chetek sat down in our council chambers to see if we
could come to some agreement. Frankly, it reminded me of a lot of
dances I attended during my middle school years – boys on the one
side and girls on the other, with neither one willing to make the
first move. For our part, we'd rather not run it as our current
public works staff already struggles to get our own work done. What's
more, people will be calling – and have been calling
- City Hall – looking for where grandma is buried or wanting to
purchase a plot. While it doesn't seem like a lot of extra work, I've
been informed in no uncertain terms that it definitely will distract
from the business that Carmen, Cassandra and Karen already have to
tend to. Finally, two-fifths of the cemetery – essentially the
front, older section that is practically full – is on city land
while the three-fifths of the newer section in the back is on
township land. With that math, the council is not in favor of simply
a 50-50 financial split. We're we to take it over the council would
pursue some equitable solution with the township.
I'm sure we're
going to work something out even if it is ultimately us caring for
our part and them caring for theirs. I don't think that's the best
way to do it and neither do they but right now come December 24 (the
end of the 90 day period at which time we have to inform the state
cemetery board what our association will look like hereafter) if a
better plan cannot be agreed upon that's exactly what's going to be.
Depending on your perspective that may be a lump of coal in our
stocking and not a gift worth unwrapping.
