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‘People can't even rest in peace':  Frustration grows over trashed cemetery

By Liz Foster
By Liz Foster

RICHMOND COUNTY, N.C. — Trash is littered throughout a Richmond County cemetery and it is frustrating family members of those buried on that land.

Harold Riley has eight relatives buried at the cemetery on Earle Franklin Drive in Dobbins Heights.

“It’s like we pay you for a plot for our loved ones, the least you could do is keep the land up. If you can’t keep the land up, why take the money?” Riley told Channel 9.

Riley took his concerns to the Dobbins Heights Town Council, but he was told their hands are tied because the cemetery, which contains hundreds of plots is private property.

Channel 9 anchor Liz Foster checked with the North Carolina Cemetery Commission and confirmed the cemetery is not regulated. The state’s law on cemeteries was enacted in 1975 and the cemetery has plots from the 1950s and earlier.

“I’m thinking the reason it’s not (regulated) is because it’s grandfathered in,” Dobbins Heights Mayor Antonio Blue said. “It’s been there so long.”

Blue has seven family members buried there. He told Foster the trash dumping has been a problem for years, and he’s spoken with the owners.

“Their response is they’re not really making any money off of it,” Blue said.

He’s asking the community to report people illegally dumping, getting license tag numbers and turning them over to the Sheriff’s Office.

In the meantime, Riley plans to start collecting signatures on a petition to force the owner to clean the property.

“People can’t even rest in peace,” Riley said. “There’s no way.”

In an email, a spokesperson with the state’s cemetery commission wrote: “We are not aware of the facts or details concerning the Dobbins Heights cemetery and, as such, couldn't state if the cemetery should or shouldn't be licensed to operate by the Commission.”

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