Erosion still undermining Iowa cemetery

Published Friday June 8, 2012 ";var zflag_nid="1431";var zflag_cid="512/511";var zflag_sid="1";var zflag_width="1";var zflag_height="1";var zflag_sz="31";

LEHIGH, Iowa (AP) More land is sliding into a ravine at a rural cemetery near Lehigh where heavy rains a while back caused erosion so severe that caskets, vaults and bones were exposed.

The damage, which happened in 2009 and 2010, is in a section at the back of Oak Grove Cemetery that has the oldest graves. Last year a contractor donated his labor to build an 18-foot retaining wall to prevent further erosion. The wall didn't last long.

The middle section of the modular plastic landscaping brick has collapsed, and the rest of the wall appears to be failing too. Turf the length of the wall has sunk. So has the fencing. But no graves are exposed.

We had a lot of volunteer labor to help. It was a good charity, but we still have the same problem, said Phil Berglund, a member of the Yell Township Board of Trustees, which oversees the cemetery.

It's just as bad as it was before, only now we don't have the graves out over the edge, he said.

A judge ruled last year the state could issue permits to have remains at Oak Grove exhumed and reburied. All but two graves closest to the ravine have since been moved to other areas of the cemetery, Berglund said.

Webster County Board member Eddie Peterson said the trustees are responsible for the care of the cemetery, but there's a limit to the money available to fix the problem.

Someone stepped up to fix it and it looked good for a while, but a lot of it is just dropping off. I don't know if there is a good way to fix it; it's a pretty steep ravine. People talk about how the trustees need to do something, but they are doing their very best, Peterson said.

The contractor who built the wall, Tim Schultz, said he doesn't know what is causing the problem.

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Erosion still undermining Iowa cemetery