Dear editor,
May I, through the medium of your paper, express some dismay and, perhaps, disgust over the condition of our local graveyard.
A little background is in order: As some of your readers may know, In my position as the Poppy Chairman of our local legion branch, some years ago I took it upon myself to place recycled poppy wreaths upon the grave sites of persons that I personally know were veterans. I ask nothing for this; although, each year one family does give me a donation for the poppy fund in memory of their Father (thank you Jackie and Colleen).
Over the course of about the twenty years I have been doing this task I have watched the graveyard deteriorate to the point where, if something is not done soon, it will take a major undertaking to renovate the place. Marker stones are sinking into the ground through subsidence where, very soon, it will be hard to find them. And, when we have one of our wet events, they are in a pool of water. It surely would not take much to lift a stone and put a bit of fill under it to level the ground. And, you people with loved ones there, please go and remove your old withered tributes and jam jars. They look awful and the jars, if they fill with water and freeze, will break and become a hazard to people and animals.
Finally, the condition of the flower bed around the cross, the roads and walkway down "section one" as I choose to call it: the weeds are taking over. On the walkway there is a particularly interesting spiny-type weed the deer are browsing down to a height of about eight inches that could become a tripping problem to older persons. The flower bed is full of weeds and, lastly, the roadways are becoming overgrown with moss with copious weeds growing along the curbstones.
Thank you, Gazette, for the use of your letters section, and to the general public. If you have any veteran who is in the graveyard that I am not aware of, please let me know who they are.
Thank you,
George Kearey, Royal Canadian Legion
Port Hardy