Concern Mounting Over Hillcrest Cemetery in Temple
Historic Hillcrest Cemetery in Temple is letting itself go, to the concern of many. KWTX is reporting that one family has had enough.
Cheryl Danner has been having difficulty finding the gravestones of family members because of weeds, stickers, and tall, wispy grass. Her family has tried for three years to get the problem resolved, but the response from the City and cemetery officials have remained the same - not enough money.
The City of Temple allocates $50,000, but it doesn't seem to be enough. Temple City Manager Bryan Myers says City staffers are evaluating options at this time and will be scheduling a work session with the city council soon to discuss the issue.
Hopefully the problems can be solved. I was impressed with the cemetery when I first moved to Temple in 2002. I found it one night about 1 in the morning when I took a wrong turn off the Loop. This was before the fencing, so I came up over the railroad tracks and my headlights on the old bread truck flashed on a bunch of gravestones. That'll pucker your bung hole.
I found it again the next day, and love looking at all the old family plots. Since then there've been a number of vandalism issues. That's when the fence was constructed, and now the upkeep has become a problem. It's sad, because I feel you can really judge a community by the way they respect their dead.